Born in South Korea in 1941, Chiha Kim was first imprisoned in 1964 and sentenced to death in 1974 for writing poetry that provoked the military government of Chunghee Park. World-wide efforts to save him resulted in his sentence being commuted in 1980. A legendary figure in South Korea, Chiha Kim won the Lotus Prize, generally regarded as the Third World's Nobel Prize. This book gathers poetry from all phases of his career, including those poems that lead to his imprisonment and torture and those written from prison. Author of eight volumes of poetry, Chiha Kim was nominated for the Nobel Prize in both Peace and Literature in 1975.

Translated by: Won-Chun Kim