Kim Yong-ik

Kim Yong-ik (born in 1920) is a South Korean writer.

He was born in Choong-moo a South Korean seaport. Kim lived in Tokyo, where he studied English Literature at Aoyama Gabuin College. At the age of 28 he emigrated to the United States, to study English Literature at Florida Southern College (Ling, 207). He later studied creative writing at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. While he worked there, he had a substantial and acknowledged impact on the poetry of Robert Bly.  From 1957 to 1964, Kim taught in Korean Universities, Ewha Womans (sic) University and Korea University. Kim returned to the United States in 1965 where, prior to his retirement in 1990, he taught at the University of California at Berkeley and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Kim returned to Korea in spring of 1995 and suddenly passed away on April 11, 1995 (Ling 19).

He has written, nonfiction, novels, essays, and collections of short stories. His stories have been published in Atlantic Monthly, The Hudson Review, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New Yorker. Two of his stories were included in Martha Foley’s Best American Short Stories, and his short story Crown Dick (A rewrite of They Won’t Crack it Open) was made into a PBS film, after winning the PEN Syndicated Short Fiction Project in 1984.
Kim’s granddaughter is American classical pianist Angela Jia Kim.

WORKS


A Book Writing Venture (Essay)
The Sheep, Jimmy and I
Gourd Hollow Dance (unfinished)
Moon Thieves (Play)
Kim Yong Ik: short story writer (Essay)
Home Again
Gourd Dance Song
The First Election
Blue in the Seed
The Gold Watch
The Smugglers Boat
After 17 Years
From Below the Bridge
From Here You Can See the Moon
Mother’s Birthday
The Nun’s Advice
The Sea Girl
The Seed Money
The Sunny Side after the Harvest
The Taste of Salt
The Wedding Shoes
They Won’t Crack it Open
Love in Winter (includes Love in Winter)
Moons of Korea
Crown Dick / Andy Crown
The Diving Gourd
The Happy Days
The Shoes from Yang San Valley
Village Wine

  1. Amy Ling, Visions of America, pp.207
  2. All via Amy Ling, Yellow Light. p. 19