Boston Review / March 04, 2014

Kim Kyung Ju's poetry operates on the threshold where “the living are born in the dead people's world, and the dead are born in the living,” a world where no one seems to belong. Destructive forces like social isolation and disease are often transformed into gateways to the sublime—zones of verisimilitude, where human action takes on the mythic and chaotic quality of nature, and in turn, nature acquires human fragility. Hence the title of his first collection, I Am a Season That Does Not Exist in the World. Perhaps it is this conflation of human agency and natural order that has led some critics to call Kim's poems “both a blessing and a curse to Korean literature.”   Source: https://www.bostonreview.net/poetry/jake-levine-ghost-poet-kim-kyung-ju

bostonreview / March 04, 2014

When I wrote this work, I was living in Seoul and I didn't have any friends and I was also very alone. Because of the nature of the work I was writing, everything was mass syndicated in Seoul, through leaflets, or commercials, or through advertising, and because my words were reaching all these people, it was like I was embracing all the lonely strangers in Seoul through writing. At that time my editor was an actress whose only guideline was that whatever I write had to be able to turn her on. Really, turn her on. It was very difficult. We fought all the time. She'd shake her finger and say Bad Bad Bad. But what's really important is that we recognize all the ghostwriters and the job they do for society. There are many ghostwriters. And it is respectable work.   Source: http://bostonreview.net/poetry/jake-levine-ghost-poet-kim-kyung-ju

Asia Literary Review / April 15, 2016

The Spring 2016 issue of the Asia Literary Review is a celebration of contemporary Korean literature from the country's most exciting young writers. It also includes an essay by Deborah Smith, translator of Han Kang's The Vegetarian, shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. For a taste of what's in this issue, read part of Cheon Myeong-kwan's My Uncle Bruce Lee, where a group of village boys see the world through their obsession with Asia's Kung-fu hero. Follow that with an extract from Ae-ran Kim's The Youngest Parents with the Oldest Child: teenage parents struggle to cope as their child's accelerated growth makes him an old man at the age they were when he was born. Source: http://www.asialiteraryreview.com/inside-issue-30

International Examiner / May 06, 2021

The noted late Filipina artist Pacita Abad spent some fruitful years in Washington D.C. teaching and making art. On June 17, 2021, a jointly sponsored exhibition by PALM, the Rita Cacas Foundation, Philippines on the Potomac Project, the Philippine Embassy and the US/Philippine Soceity present “Pacita’s Colorful Palette: Memories of Pacita’s Years in DC.” Go to http://www.artnews.com/feature/pacita-abad-artist-tate-walker-art-center-exhibitions-1234589919 for more information. A show of work by Pacita Abad will be presented April 15 – Sept. 3, 2023 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Charlene Liu’s show of new works entitled “Lattice” is on view from through May 29, 2021 at Elizabeth Leach Gallery. It explores her mark making and image making via watercolors and woodcut prints. 417 NW 9th in Portland. 503-224-0521 or go to www.elizabethleach.com. Seattle artists Romson Bustillo and June Sekiguchi currently have work on view in the group show entitled “Reflections – 20 Years of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” which can be seen from the street level at the Gates Discovery Center on 5th Avenue between Harrison and Thomas. Davidson Galleries presents a group show of international print artists entitled “Chromatic Impressions”, vivid prints that revel in rich color. Includes work by Takeshi Hara, Akiko Taniguchi, Seiko Tachibana, Haru Maki and many others. On view through May 29, 2021. View online at davidsongalleries.com or in the gallery by appointment (Tuesday – Saturday). 313 Occidental Ave. S. in Seattle. 206-624-7684 or www.davidsongalleries.com.

Bandwagon Asia / July 22, 2021

K-pop is chock full of literary references in its complex concepts, and it's no surprise that the artists themselves are also voracious readers. Many K-pop fans also happen to be bookworms-there;s a growing community of YouTubers who explore the intersections between K-pop and literature, and dissect books that idols have read.

International Examiner / March 20, 2023

The Written & Spoken Arts