Lee Yeong-gwang (, born 1965) is a South Korean poet and educator. He was born in 1965 in Gyeongsangbuk-do. He graduated from Korea University’s graduate school. He has won the 8th Nojak Literature Prize in 2008, the 11th Jihoon Prize (Literature Prize) in 2011, and the 11th Midang Literary Award in the same year. He is a poet who depicts life’s sadness in elaborate language, but does not dwell in despair, and lyrically shows the image of gaining the will for starting life again. He has been a creative writing professor at Korea University since 2015. Life Lee Yeong-gwang is a South Korean poet and educator. He was born in 1965 in Uiseong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and grew up in Andong. According to him, in 1986, when he went to the Sea of Japan with his friend and was drinking, poetry suddenly came out. He began his literary career with publishing 10 poems including “Bingpok” (빙폭 Glacier Fall) in 1988 on Joongang Literary Journal. He graduated from Korea University in English literature (bachelor’s), and he earned a doctorate degree from Korea University in Korean literature with a thesis on So Chong-ju. He serialized his writing on newspapers for a long time, and he has also collected the writing he had serialized into Holim tteolim ulim (홀림 떨림 울림 Possession Vibration Reverberation) (Nanam, 2013). He has won the 8th Nojak Literature Prize in 2008, the 11th Jihoon Prize (Literature Prize) in 2011, and the 11th Midang Literary Award in the same year. He has been a creative writing professor in media at Korea University since 2015. He participated in the 2016 Seoul International Writer’s Festival. Writing In his first poetry collection, Jikseon wi-eseo tteolda (직선 위에서 떨다 Shivering Atop a Straight Line), Lee Yeong-gwang attempted to turn the agony of youth that endures great pain into literature. His poetry is thick with sadness for old things or ruins. Though this isn’t unrelated to his experiences during adolescence, literary critic Hwang Hyeon-san has said that this is “a result of poverty ridden life”. According to him, Lee Yeong-gwang feels that today’s world lacks something, and that he is conscious of how he is left for himself in this ‘age of poverty’. The poet, though he considers the world as an uncertain place, attempts to overcome that and find something certain. In the title piece of the collection, “Jikseon wi-eseo tteolda” (직선 위에서 떨다 Shivering