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South Korean human rights activist Ko Un, published in the UK by Bloodaxe, has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Golden Wreath. The award is given to a living poet for his or her work overall.
Un will be presented with his award at the annual international poetry festival Struga Poetry Evenings this August in Struga, Macedonia.
The poet was first published in Britain in 2012 when a selection of his work was collected together for First Person Sorrowful (Bloodaxe Books). The book carries a foreword from former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion. In 2015 Bloodaxe will publish Maninbo 2: Peace and War, covering volumes 11 to 20 of Ko Un's epic work Maninbo (also known as Ten Thousand Lives).
Maninbo, which consists of 30 volumes in total, was started during Un’s imprisonment for dissident activities and aims to describe every person Un has ever met.
Former winners of the Golden Wreath include Pablo Neruda in 1972, Joseph Brodsky in 1991, and Seamus Heaney in 2001.