Sin Yong-Mok (born 1974) is a South Korean poet.
1. Life
Sin Yong-Mok was born in Geochang, South Gyeongsang Province. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Korean literature from Korea University. He made his literary debut in 2000 when his poems including "Seongnaedong otsuseonjip yurimun anjjok" (성내동 옷수선집 유리문 안쪽 Inside the Glass Doors of Clothing Repair Shop in Sungnae-dong) won the Writer’s World New Writer's Award. He has published six poetry collections including Geu barameul da georeoya handa (그 바람을 다 걸어야 한다We Must Walk All of the Wind), Baramui baengmanbeonjjae eogeumni (바람의 백만번째 어금니The Wind’s Millionth Molar), Amu narui dosi (아무 날의 도시 City of Any Day), and Nugungaga nugungareul bureumyeon naega doraboatda (누군가가 누군가를 부르면 내가 돌아보았다 When Someone Called Someone, I Looked Back); the novel Jae (재 Gray), and a volume of prose essays. He is currently assistant professor of creative writing at Chosun University. He has received the Baek Seok Prize for Literature, the Nojak Literary Prize, the Sijak Literary Award, the Yi Yuksa Poetry Award, and the Young Poet’s Award. The first English-language edition of his poems, Concealed Words, appears in November 2022.
2. Writing
Sin was influenced by older-generation activist poets, so-called "poets of the masses" (minjung shiin), such as Kim Nam-ju and Shin Kyeong-nim, and genuinely anguished over the problem of the path literature should take in society and history.
The quintessential "new poet", Sin's poems avoid overt ideology. Sin's clearly spells out messages of love for the community in soft, easy lyricism, and this is based in his own firm belief in the value of "co-existence with one's fellow man" over "self-happiness." Even amid the wave of neoliberalism in which competition among writers is considered a necessary evil, Sin sees meaning in even the smallest of hopes, in order to protect the dignity and liberty of the human being.
As in the lines "Every hour given me / I take my flashlight and go check the reins / to see if there is any damage" from "Gyeongbiwon jeongssi" (경비원 정씨 Jeong of the Guard), he places himself in the position of a "guard" responsible for "positivity." Sin's work argues that the value and importance of the spirit will never fade, even in the materialism of capitalist society. Sin's first collection to be published in English, Concealed Words, offers a selection of poems from Sin's earlier collections, intended to serve as an illustration of his evolution as a poet, alongside a complete translation of the poems from his fourth collection, When Someone Called Someone, I Looked Back. Beautifully translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé with close attention to the sonorous aspects of Sin’s lines, this collection also captures the larger themes within Shin’s work and his attention to the spirit of community and peaceful coexistence with others. These are poems with a powerful belief in humanity and the beauty of the smallest hopes.
