Moon Tae-jun

Mun Tae-jun (, born 1970) is a South Korean poet.

Career Mun Tae-jun has published several poetry collections since his prize-winning debut in 1994, and the great artistic potential of his works have gained the attention of many literary artists and critics.

Mun Tae-jun's poems employ a comforting language to soothe the wounds of the soul. His poems seek to assuage the pains of those suffering from the violence and oppression of a heartless society. He values "conversation" highly, emphasizing full empathy between two existences, such as when he says, "That over there, is in me here; and I here, am in that over there. Let me respect that which is not me, and therefore those things that are me." The poet aspires to a state in which the subject and object are not distinct form one another, but fused together. In this respect, Mun Tae-jun carries on the traditional lyrical tradition. His poetry collection The Development of Dusk (2008) was translated to English by Kim Won-Chung and Christopher Merrill and published as The Growth of a Shadow (2012). A handful of his other works have also been translated.

Selected works Works in translation The Growth of a Shadow: Selected Poems of Taejoon Moon (2012) - translated by Kim Won-Chung and Christopher Merrill

Works in Korean (partial) Poetry collections Crowded Backyard (, 2000) Bare Feet (, 2004) Flatfish (, 2006) The Development of Dusk (, 2008) A Distant Place (, 2012) Our Final Face (, 2015) What Is the End of What I Long For? (, 2018)

Prose collections Embrace: Holding You, I Am Stained (, 2007)

Awards Dongseo Literary Prize (2004) Nojak Literary Prize (2004) Midang Literary Award (2005) - for "누가 울고 간다" Yushim Literary Prize (2006) Sowol Poetry Prize (2006) - for "그맘때에는"