Two Dankook alumni from the Department of Literary Creative Writing were selected as finalists in this year’s spring literary contests, the annual literary contests hosted by local newspapers for new writers. Hui-seok Ryu, who graduated this February, was chosen as a finalist in the Seoul Shinmun’s spring literary contest. His poem titled ‘Random Box’ was praised as a “song of our times that could only be written by someone who has experienced both success and failure” and was viewed as “a reliable [piece of work] as it pushes forward with poetic thought and a critical mind from beginning to end.”
Ryu, who started writing after reading a poetry book for the first time as a high school senior, became immersed in writing poetry during college, fascinated by the beauty of contrast between text and white space in poems. “University was a place where my creative desires were endlessly stimulated. It was like a second home to me where the people I met shared a common love for creative writing, supporting each other and where I was able to passionately write poems,” said Ryu, expressing affection towards his alma mater. He also encouraged current students to “interact with the people around [them] and spend time pondering for productive writing.”
Min-hee Kang (class of 2006) was selected as a finalist in the critical writing category of the Gwangnam Ilbo spring literary contest. Her work titled ‘A Topos called Convenient Store’ talks about the role of convenience stores as a place that instills meaning in the lives of characters and functions as a literary subject that embraces social and moral qualities. Judges said that “the greatest virtue of the winning work was how it goes beyond interpreting individual texts and displays a broader perspective that projects the entire field of literary arts.”
Kang, who received her undergraduate, master’s and doctorate degrees from Dankook University, currently serves as a full-time lecturer at the Daegu Haany University’s College of Culture and Information teaching students writing and creative writing.
Meanwhile, DKU’s Department of Creative Writing is attracting attention for continuously nurturing finalists for best new writer awards and renowned literary contests including Yeji Choi(class of 2014), who is also a graduate of the Department of Creative Writing and was chosen as a finalist in the Maeil Daily’s spring literary contest in 2016.