Biography.guide
Home › People › Playwright › Suji Kwock Kim
Portrait of Suji Kwock Kim

Suji Kwock Kim

b. 1969

Korean-American poet, playwright

Don't just read it — keep itBiographies to ownE-book · Audio · Video From $7 →

About Suji Kwock Kim

Born 1969. Suji Kwock Kim is an American playwright and writer.

Suji Kwock Kim is a Korean-American-British poet and playwright.

Early life and education Kim's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all born in what's now North Korea. Her maternal great-grandfather co-founded 조선어학회, the Korean Language Society, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. He later became a linguistics professor and Dean at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Kim was educated at Yale University, the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, Seoul National University and Yonsei University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, Stanford University, where she was a Wallace Stegner Fellow, and Princeton University, where she was a Hodder Fellow.

Career Kim's work has been published in Best American Poetry, The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, New Statesman, Irish Examiner, Slate, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, London Magazine, Poetry London, Poetry, recorded for BBC Radio (, "Notes from Utopia, Inc." at 29:50, and , "Sono" at 29:35), National Public Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Genoa, Radio Free Amsterdam, Poetry Unbound and The Slowdown; and translated into German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Croatian, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, and Bengali.

Whiting Writers' Award Northern California Book Award/ Bay Area Book Reviewers Award Griffin International Poetry Prize shortlist Lucille Medwick Award from the Poetry Society of America two George Bogin Memorial Awards from the Poetry Society of America O'Donoghue Award from Munster Literature Centre, Ireland International Book & Pamphlet Award, U.K. Hodder Fellowship, Princeton University 2026 Creative Capital Award 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship

Works Notes from the Divided Country (Louisiana State University Press) Notes from the North (Smith/Doorstop, U.K.) Private Property (multimedia play, Edinburgh Festival Fringe) Flights (texts for choral compositions by Mayako Kubo, Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, Chorusorganisation, Koreanische Frauengruppe Berlin, Japanische Fraueninitiative Berlin) War Songs (texts for soprano and chamber choir by Mayako Kubo, Das Berliner Frauen-Vokalensemble) Fragments from a Broken Country (texts for compositions for voice and orchestra by Jerome Blais, Dalhousie Orchestra, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Solera Quartet, Art Institute of Chicago)

Anthologies American Religious Poems, ed. Harold Bloom. (Library of America) American War Poetry: 1700-2020, ed. Lorrie Goldensohn. (Columbia University Press) Asian-American Poetry: The Next Generation. (University of Illinois Press) Backpack Literature, ed. Dana Gioia. (Pearson Longman) The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 13th edition (Macmillan) Berliner Anthologie (Alexander Verlag, in association with Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin) Best American Poetry 2018. (Scribner) Best American Poetry 2016. (Scribner) Big Brutal Acts. (Harbor Anthologies/ Small Harbor Publishing) Century of the Tiger: One Hundred Years of Korean Culture in America. (University of Hawaii Press) Contemporary American Poetry. (Penguin) Современная Американская Поэзия: Поэты США В Русских Переводах (Contemporary American Poetry in Russian Translation). (Dalkey Archive and OSI Publishers, Moscow, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts) Crossing State Lines: An American Renga. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writing, ed. Elaine Kim. (Temple University Press) The Future Dictionary of America, ed. Dave Eggers. (McSweeney's) The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology. (House of Anansi Press, Toronto, Canada) Inside Literature. (Pearson Longman) An Introduction to Poetry. (Pearson Longman) The Koreas, Charles Armstrong. (Routledge) Language for a New Century: Contemporary Voices from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond. (W. W. Norton) Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century. (Sarabande) Lineas Conectadas: Nueva Poesia de los Estates Unidos. (la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, and Sarabande, in Spanish translation, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts) Literature: A Pocket Anthology. (Penguin) Literature: A Portable Anthology. (Macmillan/ Bedford St Martin's) Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. (Pearson Longman) Love is Strong as Death. (Penguin Australia-New Zealand) A Mingling of Waters. (Supernova P&D Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, India, in association with the Kolkata Book Fair) On Occasion. (Coach House Books, Toronto, Canada) The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators and Waiting Rooms. (Picador) Places of Poetry: Mapping the Nation in Verse (Poetry Society/ One World, U.K.) Poet's Choice: Poems from the Washington Post (Harcourt) Poetry: A Pocket Anthology. (Penguin) Poetry For Students. (Thomson Gale) Poetry On Record, 1888-2006: 98 Poets Read Their Work. (Shout Factory/ Sony BMG Music) Poetry 30. (University of West Virginia Press) Roots and Seeds. (Hazel Press, U.K.) Staying Human. (Bloodaxe, U.K.) To Gather Your Leaving: Asian Diaspora Poetry. (Ethos Books, Singapore) The Wounded Line. (University of New Mexico Press) Twenty Years of Poem of the Week. (Madville Books)

Biography shop

Don’t just read it —
keep it.

Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.

  • E-book
  • Audio
  • Video
Browse the shop — from $7

Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free

Important facts

Born
1969
Birth century
Occupation
Nationality
Education
Stanford University, Yale College, Seoul National University, Yonsei University
Awards
Guggenheim Fellowship

People in Suji Kwock Kim's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Suji Kwock Kim's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Suji Kwock Kim?

Korean-American poet, playwright

When was Suji Kwock Kim born?

Suji Kwock Kim was born in 1969.

What is Suji Kwock Kim's occupation?

Suji Kwock Kim is a playwright and writer.

What nationality is Suji Kwock Kim?

Suji Kwock Kim is American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Suji Kwock Kim

· Wikidata: Q7635657

· DBpedia: Suji Kwock Kim

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Suji Kwock Kim. https://biography.guide/suji-kwock-kim/

MLA: "Suji Kwock Kim." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/suji-kwock-kim/.

Chicago: "Suji Kwock Kim." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/suji-kwock-kim/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Page generated 2026-09-27 04:58 UTC