Ahn Sanghak

Ahn Sanghak () is a South Korean poet born in 1962. His poetry is based on the philosophy of constant change in life and nature and the harmony and dissonance of yin and yang. He emphasizes the importance of having hope for life through his poetry which is simple but deeply touching. Because of his second poetry collection (), he is known as the "Andong soju poet." He served as the Secretary General of the Writers Association of Korea and the Kwon Jung Saeng Culture Foundation for Children.
Life.
The poet was born in 1962 in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do. All the report cards that he received during the six years of elementary school say that he always seemed blue and reticent. His dream at that time was to become a painter. As a teenager, he had a hard time since he and his stepmother did not get along. Then one day, he found an illustrated poem in his room by a high school girl named Ryu Hyang, which impressed him, and he became determined to become a writer. Since then, he began to study Korean national literature and popular literature and worked at an industrial complex in Daegu. After the great demonstration of workers that lasted from July to August, 1987, he focused on writing poetry.
His career as a poet started after the newspaper "Joongang Ilbo" published his poem which depicts a grim landscape of the city in the 1980s. His second poetry collection gave him his nickname "Andong soju poet." His other poetry collections include , published in 2003, and , published in 2008. His children's poetry collection came out in 2018.
He became the Secretary General of the Writers Association of Korea and took on the memorial project of sorting out the articles left by the deceased children's literature writer Kwon Jung Saeng. He participated in the establishment of the Kwon Jung Saeng Culture Foundation for Children from the spring of 2008, and worked as the foundation's Secretary General over six years until the summer of 2014. He received the Kwon Jung Saeng Writing Fund () for his poem .
Writing.
Style.
Ahn's poems do not usually feature a strong-voiced narrator, but they observe the changes in the everyday lives and the times, while emphasizing the importance of having hope for life. He mostly writes simple and easy poems, but they are very moving especially because he restrains from exhibiting his emotions too overtly.
Some of his poems depict his longing for the sister who died young of cancer and for those who are gone now, while others talk about the pains of the contemporary people. Also described are his grandmother who longs for her hometown, the poet himself who is missing something like his grandmother, and his consolations for the every living being in the world. With such compassion he ultimately pursues love, which is 'the desire to communicate,' by sublimating the pains of the contemporary people into humor and jokes. His poetry was acclaimed for its standout delineation of humanity and benevolence carried out in such a sincere manner, without any fancy expressions or rhetoric.
Major works.
The characters who appear often in his poetry are poor, but they conform to their reality without any resistance and are sacrificed: for example, , in which the lady tells the story of her life as it is, and , as well as that show fatalism. Many of his poems are set in his hometown, Andong, like the poetry collection .
In his third poetry collection "," poems including , , are set in isolated places like an island. The poet also describes a person who cannot stay, captured by wanderlust, through the poems like , and . However, , and , narrate the possibility of finding a way of life by going back home to the countryside. In poems like and , the farmer who has come back home depicts what it is like to live in the rural area of Andong, in a vivid colloquial style.
"," his forth poetry collection, mostly deals with sympathy and longing. In the poem , the jokes thrown by farmers when they are tired from planting rice represent the virtue of caring and respecting the living things, which lets the readers know how people of the countryside live as a harmonious community. Poems including "" and show how much he misses his father, and creates a warm and humble mood by depicting the friendliness of his father who never forgets to smile.
Works.
Poetry collections.
, 1991 / (Are You Safe and Sound), Hangilsa, 1991
, 1999 / (Andong Soju), Silcheon Munhaksa, 1999
, 2003 / (Old Postcards), Cheonnyeonui Sijak, 2003
, 2008 / (Memories of Father), Aeji, 2008
, 2017 / (The Person Came Back and I Wasn't There), Silcheon Munhaksa, 2017
Children's poetry collection.
, 2018 / (Mom Who Drives the Planet), Changbi, 2018
Illustrated poetry collection.
, 2015 / (Reading the Language of Flowers from Poetry), Silcheon Munhaksa, 2015
Biography.
, 2004 / "," Korea Democracy Foundation, 2004
Works colloquialism in translation.
, 2018 / "—K poet" (Selected Poetry of Ahn Sang-hak), translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé, ASIA, 2018
Awards.
Gosan Literature Award Grand Prize (, 2015)
Kwon Jung Saeng Writing Fund (, 2016)
Dongsi Majung Literary Work Award (, 2018)