Today's Morning Vocabulary

The South Korean poet and playwright explores loneliness, alienation, and flashes of togetherness, creating a world that his translator calls “overcast, yet playful.”

Yoo writes poems that invite readers to reflect upon daily sorrows, while also illuminating single moments full of strange and arresting images that suggest the passage of time—a hardened piece of bread, a train about to arrive, a crumpled piece of paper. This debut collection in English chronicles contemporary life in a minor key where loneliness and existential ghosts thread the pieces. But Yoo’s title also points to his fascination with language, and how each day offers chances to understand new vocabularies and new meanings—of words, of living.

About the author

Born in 1980, Yoo Heekyung is the author of several collections of poetry and prose that query subjects such as photography, poetry, stories, presence and absence, and clouds. He is also the owner of Wit N Cynical, a poetry bookstore and project space in Seoul. Yoo's publications include the essay collection Photography and Poetry (Achimdal Books, 2024) and the poetry collection Winter Night Rabbit Worries (Hyundae Munhak, 2023). Yoo is a recipient of Today’s Young Artist Award (2023) from the South Korean Ministry of Culture, the Hyundae Munhak Literary Award (Contemporary Literature Award, 2020), and the Gosan New Writer Award (2019). He studied poetry under Kim Hyesoon (Autobiography of Death trans. by Don Mee Choi).

Stine An is a poet and translator based in New York City. She received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant and an NEA Translation Fellowship for her translations of Yoo Heekyung. Her work has appeared in Best Literary Translations 2024, Best American Experimental Writing 2018, Words Without Borders, Poem-a-Day,World Literature Today, Poetry Daily, Asymptote, The Southern Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University and a BA in Literature from Harvard College. Her debut poetry collection, B-Dragon Suite, is a winner of the 2023 Nightboat Poetry Prize.

Summary

The South Korean poet and playwright explores loneliness, alienation, and flashes of togetherness, creating a world that his translator calls “overcast, yet playful.”

A student of Kim Hyesoon, Yoo writes poems that invite readers to reflect upon daily sorrows, while also illuminating single moments full of strange and arresting images that suggest the passage of time—a hardened piece of bread, a train about to arrive, a crumpled piece of paper. This debut collection in English chronicles contemporary life in a minor key where loneliness and existential ghosts thread the pieces. But Yoo’s title also points to his fascination with language, and how each day offers chances to understand new vocabularies and new meanings—of words, of living.

Foreword

• Advance galleys to Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New Yorker, NPR.
• Translator is applying for funding to bring the poet to the US in March 2025.
• Outreach to Asian American Writer’s Workshop, St. Mark’s Poetry Project, other New York literary venues for events for the translator.
• Co-op available.
• E-blast announcements to our list of 250 reviewers, literary journals, bloggers, and literary organizations.
• Review copies to 15-20 literary journals, with special attention to those that have reviewed our earlier Korean books (LA Review of Books, LondonKoreanLinks, Boston Artsfuse, and others).
• Readings for poet and translator in Los Angeles and northern California in March 2025 in conjunction with AWP (Associated Writers and Writing Programs Conference).
• Outreach to Asian and AAPI bookstores in New York, Berkeley, and elsewhere.
• Feature and review campaign to Korean and Asian media in US (Korean Quarterly, Asian American Press, and other Asian media in US), Asian literary journals (Manoa, Rice Paper, Asian Review of Books, Asian Literary Review), and markets with substantial Korean populations (LA, NYC, San Francisco).
• E-blast announcements to Zephyr’s list of 1,700, and social media campaign on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram.
• Featured title at Boston Book Fair, Brooklyn Book Festival, ALTA, AWP.
• Promotion to translator website http://www.gregorspamsa.com/ and social media.
• Special e-blasts to Korean Studies programs in North America (UC Berkeley and LA, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Ohio State, Vancouver, Toronto, York, Universities of Chicago, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Indiana, Washington, and Korean/Asian academic associations.
• Potential core text for World Literature, Creative Writing courses.
• Submit to all relevant awards, including PEN Poetry in Translation Award, Griffin International Poetry Prize, National Translation Award, Derek Walcott, Poetry Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Award, Harold Morton Landon Award, and others.

Product details

• Authors: Heekyung Yoo
• Assisted by: Stine Su Yon An (Translation)
• Publisher: Zephyr Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 02.04.2024, delayed
• EAN: 9781938890291
• ISBN: 978-1-938890-29-1
• No. of pages: 180
• Subject: Fiction > Poetry, drama