Korean Poetry and Plays Meet French Audiences Through Readings and Dance

[Financial News] Marking the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, a literary festival introducing Korean poetry and plays through readings and dance will be held in France.
Jebikkot Company, a performing arts organization specializing in literary performances, announced on the 9th that it will hold ‘Korean Poetry and Plays in Provence: Korean Literature Expressed Through the Body’ from the 12th to the 14th in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, France.

The Department of Asian Studies at Aix-Marseille University, De Crescenzo Publishing, and Geulmadang, a Korean literary magazine, are co-hosting and organizing the festival. It is supported by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea and the Institute for Asian Studies at Aix-Marseille University.
Five writers, including Kim Ki-taek, Cho Yong-mi, Kim Sun-woo, Lee Seon-sik, and Choi Chang-geun, will take part in the festival and present works on the themes of ‘the body’ and ‘the senses.’ Dancers Guk Ji-in and Seong Eun-ji, who work in Europe, will interpret Korean poetry through dance.
Poet Kim Ki-taek, whose collection ‘A Knife Named Sickle’ is being published in French in France by De Crescenzo Publishing, will read poems including ‘Cow’ and ‘Tie.’ Poet Cho Yong-mi will present works including ‘Ronchamp Chapel’ and ‘Beautiful and Strange Ways of Life,’ while poet Kim Sun-woo will introduce ‘Sleeping Beneath the Peach Blossoms’ and ‘Menopause.’
Poet and landscape architect Lee Seon-sik will read poems including ‘Farmer’ and ‘A Gift in October,’ and introduce ‘Seiheon,’ a house he built himself. Playwright and director Choi Chang-geun will read his play ‘A December Story’ with students from Aix-Marseille University.
Representing France will be Guy Le Tiec, dean of Aix-Marseille University; Kim Hye-kyung, head of its Institute for Asian Studies; Vice Dean Jad Nguyen; Jean-Claude De Crescenzo, head of Geulmadang; and Mikael Battala, director of the Marseille International Poetry Center, among others.
Choi Chang-geun, head of Jebikkot Company, said, “This will serve as a stepping stone toward publishing outstanding Korean literary works locally while sustaining the friendship and solidarity between writers from the two countries.” He added, “We will convey in depth to French audiences the physical sensibility and flexible expansiveness of Korean literature.”
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