Ko Un
 
Prizes & Honors
Korean Literature Prize(1974)
Korean Literature Prize(1987)
Manhae Prize in Literature(1989)
Joong-Ang Prize for Literature(1991)
Daesan Prize for Literature(1994)
Honorary resident of Jeong Seon County, KangWon Province (1997)
Manhae Grand Prize(1998)
Buddhist Literature Prize(1999)
The Republic of Korea's Silver Order of Merit in Culture (2002)
Danjae Prize(2004)
Unification Award(2005)
Bjornson Order for Literature, the only Norwegian Order for Literary Merits(2005)
Swedish Literary Prize ‘the Cikada Prize” (2006)
Young-Rang Poetry Award(2007)
Yusim(Mind) Literature Prize(2008)
Lifetime Achievement Prize, Griffin Fund for Excellence in Poetry, Canada (2008)
Korea Academy of Arts Award(2008)
Honorary doctoral degree from Dankook University (2010)
Winner of The America Awards for a Lifetime Contribution to International Writing (2011)
Honorary doctoral degree from Jonbuk University (2011)
Honorary resident of Jeju Special Autonomic Province (2011)
Membership of Honor Committee of World Poetry Academy (2011)
Honorary citizenship of Gwangju Metropolitan City (2012)
Honored to be a Human Evergreen Tree (2012)
Honorary Fellowship from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy (2013)
Goncho Literature Prize (to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the birth of poet O Sang-soon) (2014)
Golden Wreath Award of Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia (2014)
Goodwill Ambassador for Peace of UNESCO Korea (2014)
6th North-South International Literature Prize, Pescara, Italy (2014)
1st Grand Prize for Poetry from Poetry and Poetics (2014)
Honorary Doctoral Degree from Hanshin University (2015)
Fellow of Ambrosiana Academy, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy (2015)
Sim Hoon Grand Prize for Literature (2015)
The International Poet Prize from the Foundation of Rome (2017, 2, Rome, Italy)
Sim Hun Grand Literary Prize (2017, 9, Seoul)
The New Golden Age Prize 2018 (2018, 7, Mexico City, Mexico)
Voices
Ko Un is one of the most important poets of our time.
- Robert Hass, former U.S. Poet Laureate


Not just holding his Zen insights and their miraculous workings tight to himself .. Ko Un outfoxes the old masters and the young poets both.
- Gary Snyder


Ko Un is a demon-driven Bodhisattva of Korean poetry, exuberant, abundant, obsessed with poetic creation.
- Allen Ginsberg


Ko Un’s poetry holds up a mirror to Korean soul.
- Time


In the world of poetry his reading is unique. There is no one who reads like this. Ko Un delivers his language with the intensity of one who was forbidden to learn his native Korean language as a child, but learned it anyway.
- Michael McClure


He has ten times victorious crossed the Acheron, if I may be allowed that modification of a famous line, allowing me to slip in here the name of Nerval.
- Michel Deguy


Ko is a bundle of raw energy as he offers up short, sharp, sensual shards that coalesce and melt into a kaleidoscopic mosaic of colour and shade.
- Jonathan Amid, South Africa


Ko Un is a wild Korean dance.
- Barry Hill


His mind is always searching and each living moment is celebrated with a beauty and stillness that is itself a form of birth, death and renewal.


-Micheál Ó hAodha