Poet Yun Je-rim wins Baeksok Literary Award for 'Reflecting on Being Twenty-Five'

Poet Yun Je-rim, 66, has been named this year's recipient of the Baeksok Literary Award.

The Baeksok Literary Award Committee announced Thursday that Yun's poetry collection "Seumuldaseotssal-eul Banseongham" ("Reflecting on Being Twenty-Five," Changbi, 2026) has been selected as the winner of the 28th Baeksok Literary Award.

The jury described the collection as "a remarkable work that fully displays the poet's distinctive vitality and reflective optimism, grounded in a warm humor that embraces its subjects," adding that Yun "takes aim at the essential problems of our time without losing his characteristic cheerfulness, offering the concrete texture of life in plain poetic language as if in jest, and in doing so opens a path of reciprocal communion that dismantles the binary of you and I."

Yun was born in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, and graduated from Dongguk University with a degree in Korean language and literature. He launched his literary career in 1987 when he received the Munye Jungang New Writer's Award for the poem "For the Deep-Rooted Stars." His published works include the poetry collections "Samcheolli-ho Bicycle," "Mimi's House," "Missing Love," "He Comes on Foot," "The Face of a Bird" and "I Just Write That I'm Doing Fine in Letters," the selected poems volume "By the River," the children's poetry collection "The Turtle Is Late Again Today" and the essay collection "I Walked Back." He has received the Jihun Literary Award, the Kwon Tae-eung Literary Award and the Yeongrang Poetry Award, among others.

The Baeksok Literary Award carries a prize of 20 million won ($15,000). The award ceremony is scheduled to be held in late November alongside the Manhae Literary Award, the Shin Dong-yeop Literary Award and the Changbi New Writer's Award.