Poet Kim Hyesoon Becomes Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences... First Korean in 'Humanities and Arts' Division

Kim Hyesoon Becomes First Korean Honored in "Humanities and Arts"
Elected as Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The name of poet Kim Hyesoon (70) has been included among the 248 new foreign honorary members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) this year.

Poet Hyesoon Kim. Yonhap News

According to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on the 27th, Kim Hyesoon was listed among the 248 new members for this year. In the "Literature" section of the "Humanities and Arts" division, where Kim Hyesoon was included, there are eight new members this year. This is the first time a Korean has been included in this division. The other seven members, excluding Kim Hyesoon, are all Americans, including poet Kwame Dawes, playwright Katori Hall, and environmental and human rights activist and writer Rebecca Solnit.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization founded in 1780 to advance the arts and sciences. Its members have included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. The Academy is divided into five divisions: Mathematics and Physics, Biological Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Humanities and Arts, and Leadership, Policy, and Communications. New members are elected each April through an internal vote. The current membership totals about 14,500.

Those who are not American citizens are elected as foreign honorary members. Of the 248 new members this year, a total of 23 are foreign honorary members.

Kim Hyesoon began her literary career in 1979 by publishing poems in "Literature and Intellect." She has received high acclaim both in Korea and internationally. In 2019, she won the Griffin Poetry Prize in Canada for "Autobiography of Death." In 2021, she received the Swedish Cicada Prize, and in 2024, she became the first Korean to win the National Book Critics Circle Award for "Phantom Pain Wings." In 2022, she was selected as an International Writer by the Royal Society of Literature in the United Kingdom.

The induction ceremony for the new members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences will be held in October this year in Cambridge, Massachusetts.