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Lee Jenny

Lee Jenny is a South Korean poet. She made her literary debut with the poem “Peru” in 2008, which won her the Kyunghyang Daily News New Writer’s Award. She has since published four poetry collections, the most recent of which include 있지도 않은 문장은 아름답고 (The Sentence That Doesn’t Even Exist Still Is Beautiful And, Hyundae Munhak, 2019) and 그리하여 흘려 쓴 것들 (Scribbles I Thus Spilled, Moonji, 2019). She was awarded the Pyeon-un Literature Award for excellence in poetry and the Kim Hyeon Prize, in 2011 and 2016, respectively. Most recently, in 2021, Lee received the Hyundae Munhak Prize. Lee is known for lyricism, rhythm, and wordplay in her work; critics have likened her poetry to incanting a spell.

Translation Folio

Spring 2023

Unappeasable Peas

By Lee Jenny, translated by Archana Madhavan

Translator’s Note On translating poetry, Ezra Pound once wrote, “That which appeals to the ear can reach only those who take [the poem] in the original [language].” Yet in my […]