A Korean poet and his English translator met with readers in Edinburgh this week to explore what can be lost and be newly found when a poem crosses a language barrier.

Poet Lee Seong-bok and translator Anton Hur discussed the former's poetry collection “That Summer’s End” at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Thursday, part of a second consecutive year of partnership between the festival and the Korean Cultural Centre UK.

The conversation, chaired by poet and writer Andrew McMillan, examined the themes of love, loss, pain and beauty in Lee’s work and the choices involved in rendering its compressed language in English.

Hur discussed how he sought to preserve the rhythm, ambiguity, imagery and emotional resonance of the Korean originals while allowing the poems to stand on their own for English-language readers.

The festival describes Lee as one of Korea’s most influential poets and notes that he has published eight poetry collections as well as other works.

Hur has translated Korean works including Bora Chung’s “Cursed Bunny” and Sang Young Park’s “Love in the Big City,” and previously translated Lee’s book of aphorisms, “Indeterminate Inflorescence.”

The literary event also included a discussion Wednesday titled “In Other Words,” bringing together Hur, Polly Barton and Daniel Hahn to talk about the role of human translators in an era of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence.

The session, chaired by writer and translator Adam Biles, focused on translation as a creative act rather than simply a bridge between languages and cultures, according to the festival.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is running through Aug. 30 under the theme “Changing Your Mind,” with nearly 600 events and writers from 41 countries, festival organizers said.

"Featuring poet Lee Seong-bok and translator Anton Hur, this event offered British readers a window into the depth of modern Korean poetry and the creative possibilities of literary translation," said Park Hyo-gon, director of the Korean Cultural Centre UK. "Building on our partnership with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, we will expand opportunities for exchange so that a diverse range of Korean literary voices can reach local readers."

The Korean Cultural Centre UK and the Korea Publishing Industry Promotion Agency said they will continue working with major overseas literary festivals and publishers to introduce Korean literature to readers around the world.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.

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