VOL.69/2024.04

 

Writer Hwang In-Chan

Writing poems is like asking new questions over and over again

 

2023.11.06

 

Poetry is often stereotyped as being more difficult than other literary genres. However, some people call reading poetry a “secret pleasure” because once you fall in love with it, it gives you new joys and broader literary horizons that can’t be found anywhere else. There is a person who has fallen in love with poetry and has always carried his identity as a poet in his heart. Poet Hwang In-Chan has been actively engaged in various activities, such as writing picture books, writing lyrics for idol groups’ songs, giving lectures, and hosting radio programs. Still, he says that writing poetry is the most important thing to him. He says that he has become a more generous and broad-minded person through his various activities, and that all of his other activities are connected to poetry. He was a person who loved poetry more than anyone else. Following is an interview with Hwang In-Chan, a poet who has been asking new questions to the world and himself by writing poetry.

 

 

It’s a pleasure to have you with us on K-Book Trends. Please briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

 

Hello, everyone. I’m poet Hwang In-Chan. I am writing poetry in the hope that literature can help us live better lives. I feel like it is still a long way off, but with all of you book lovers out there, I know it won’t be too far.

 

Your poetry collection Let’s Call This My Heart (Munhakdongne) was published last June. Could you give us a brief introduction and your thoughts on it?

 

Writing poetry is a process of constantly looking at and thinking about things that you can’t be sure of. Even though I’m getting older and there are more things I can’t be sure of in my life, I have always wanted to ask new questions through poetry. However, even with my fourth poetry collection, I’m not sure if it is a new question or the appropriate question. So, I feel ashamed to say that I have published another poetry collection.

 

 

Poetry gives me great joy that I can’t get anywhere else.

 

 

You made your debut as a writer at the young age of 22 and won the Kim Suyeong Literary Award, garnering attention from the literary circle. Your poetry collections, such as Washing a Myna (Minumsa Publishing) and A Strange World (Minumsa Publishing), have also been greatly loved by the public. The title of your new collection, Let’s Call This My Heart, seems to reflect the concerns and commitments of a “young poet” in his mid-30s. Please tell us how it reflects your perspectives on life and the world.

 

Well, that is not an easy question to answer! As for the title, I would say that it is my take on the recent popularity of the MBTI. The MBTI test is not really a test that reveals your inner self, but rather a test that gives you an identity by putting you into a category. So, it is like a fun way of explaining who I am and where I belong. We all live in a world where it is hard to explain who we are, and that is why “identity politics” has become even more important. So, in a time when everything is so opaque, I thought that the act of defining what one feels about oneself, whether it is right or wrong, is important.
I believe that once you determine who you are, you will think about whether it is wrong or right, and through that process, it will become easier for us to live together. You might be able to gauge your distance from yourself by temporarily setting your own coordinates - and that’s how I came up with the title.

 

 

You are also involved in various activities, such as teaching at the Seoul Institute of the Arts, participating in recitals, and hosting a radio program. Why do you continue to engage with the world beyond your readers?

 

I don’t do those things because I really want to communicate. I’m doing them because people have suggested them to me first, but I have also gained a lot from these activities. Most importantly, I have been able to realize that there are other ways to communicate and have things to say, besides what you can do with literature. I think the whole process has made me a more generous person than I was before, and the greatest joy is that I have been able to meet people I wouldn’t have been able to meet if I had only focused on literature.

 

Last year, you published a picture book, Did You Say I Am Pretty? (Springsunshine Publishing), and you even participated in writing a new song for the idol group TOMORROW X TOGETHER. As you continue to expand your creative horizons, we are curious to know how these activities help you grow as a writer.

 

I think they are all related to poetry. Writing lyrics uses a completely different language than poetry, but you still have to pull from poetic sensibilities. In the case of the picture book Did You Say I Am Pretty?, it was very close to the language of poetry, which made it easier to work with. I learned a lot from working on the picture book, especially because even within the same genre of literature, literature for adults and literature for children work in completely different ways. Writing for children was an opportunity for me to really expand my thinking about literature because it was something I had never done before.

 

* K-Book Trends Vol. 60 – Go to the interview with SpringSunshine Publishing Co.

 

 

You have been working non-stop in many fields since your early 20s. What are some of your tips for staying focused on being yourself when you have a full schedule?

 

I don’t think I’m really concerned with keeping a sense of who I am, because I’m not even sure what that is in the first place. But, no matter how busy I am, or how many other things I do, I try not to forget that being a poet is the most central part of myself. I spend my days thinking that writing poetry is the most important thing to me, and that everything else I do is for the sake of poetry.

 

You mentioned that you often find inspiration from Japanese subcultures. What are some of your own ways of getting ideas to stay inspired in your writing?

 

In fact, you can get ideas from almost anything. If an ordinary utterance suddenly strikes me as something new and fresh, it is probably something that could mean something new to me in some way. If I write it down and keep it in memory, it will eventually become a sentence or a poem. I would say that subcultures are a bit more like this, because they use uncommon sentiments and language.

 

 

I try not to forget that being a poet stands at the center of my life.

 

 

Could you tell us about an event or author that really inspired you as a poet?

 

One of my biggest inspirations has always been poet Kim Chun-Soo. He wrote incredibly beautiful poetry, but at the same time, he was also someone who was very difficult to admire as a human being. For me, that was the biggest question: what is the relationship between a work and a writer, what is the impact of that relationship on each other, and what should I be as a writer? I don’t think that question will be answered anytime soon.

 

Poetry is a genre that embraces the “unknown” as opposed to genres like fiction or non-fiction. Do you have any tips to help us understand such characteristics and enjoy poetry?

 

The only way to really enjoy poetry is to fall in love with it. The deeper you fall into it, the more you don’t know; the more you love it, the more you don’t know. But that’s why, once you do fall in love with it, it gives you immense joy that you can’t get anywhere else. I would encourage you to dive deep into one poetry collection, or one poet, to begin with.

 

As you continue to explore new territory and write beautiful poetry, tell us about the topics and goals of the stories you are planning.

 

At this point, I can’t say that I have any specific plans for the next poem. I just hope that I can continue to write new poems. Along with that, I plan to work on a picture book later in the year. I have got a few stories rolling around in my head, and I’m hoping to have them organized and work on them soon.

 

 

---