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Once more, mad props to LTI Korea for putting this seminar together – it was everything it needed to be: Frank, friendly, informative, at times critical, and at the end pointing at directions towards the future. Congratulations to President Kim Seong-Kon, Helen Cho, Park Chanwoo, and all the other staffers who brought this thing home without a flaw.

The last presenter was Claude Mouchard, a professor emeritus at the Univerity of Paris and the Editor in chief of Po&sie, a French poetry review and his presentation was a bit more biographical and not so focused on the future of literature so much as how it had affected him.

Mouchard talked a bit about the perception of Korea in France, and noted that in recent history it had been dominated by images of war, and the threat of continued war. LOL, it was reassuring to hear that the US wasn’t the only country that has this myopic view of Korean history.

Mouchard, as all the other presenters, noted the possibilities that the web provide, particularly for poetry. Finally, he struck a chord with me when, in his paper, he talked of “this Korean adventure which began 15 years ago.”  As this is nearly co-terminal with when I met The Translator and began my journey, I felt a sense of kinship with Mouchard.

Then it was on to the award ceremony, which was awesome and I include a picture of the three winners here:

Marzena Stefanska, Dennis Maloney, LTI Korea President Kim Seong-Kon, and Claude Mouchard,

Finally it was time to nosh, and I spent a moment doing that, and noticing that awesome poet Kim Hye-soon had shown up, as she has a personal connection with Claude Mouchard. One glass of wine, though, and I had to dash down to the convention floor for a meeting which I’ll detail tomorrow.