Who are you?

I am Hyun Woo Kim, a writer living in Seoul and a finalist of the 2023 Los Angeles Review Short Fiction Award. My published works can be read here. When not writing, I am often busy telling people online that my name is Hyun Woo, not Hyun.

What is this Substack about?

I began to write in English only after years of trying to establish myself a writer in my first language, Korean. Since then, I have regarded my acts of writing in English, submitting my works to outlets of the Anglosphere, etc., as requests of certain literary exile. On this Substack, I aim to maintain records of such requests while musing on what it means to write in English for both those who had to learn it consciously and those who acquired it naturally.

Why subscribe?

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.

Subscribe to Requests of Literary Exile

On writing literature in a non-native language

People

Hyun Woo Kim

@hyunwookimwriter

I am a writer living in Seoul, a finalist of the 2023 Los Angeles Review Short Fiction Award. My works have been published by Necessary Fiction, BarBar, Half and One, and others. By the way, my first name is Hyun Woo, not Hyun.