세계의 해녀이한비 어린이
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작은 물이여진 어린이
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바다신호등이한비 어린이
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성게 까는법이여진 어린이
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Children's poem <A 12-year-old Haenyeo>

It is the first book of children's  poems by Kim Shin-sook, who is a poet, cultural planner, and small bookstore operator. It contains 93 poems based on the oral history of her mother, who was born in Udo Island and became a haenyeo at the age of 12.  It is said that the story of the haenyeo grandmother, who has vague memories, is so precious that many parts of the story she told her are told as it is, so at the same time, there is a lot of emotion that comes from real experience and words.

The life history of Jeju haenyeo in the 1950s and 1960s is set in the background of Udo Island, where she first learned how to get seafood , and it also tells the story of the Haenyeo and village community. Above all, the life of a female diver, seen with the eyes of a child, is sometimes depicted mournfully and sometimes pleasantly, and makes one think about what value the culture of female divers should lead to the next generation.

Memories of little haenyeo who loved the sea of Jeju Island

Author Kim Jin-cheol, who wrote the statement, said, "The memory of a 12-year-old haenyeo who loved the sea of Jeju is Jeju's memory and our memory," and found the meaning of this collection in "The Transmission of Memory."
It is also the first book in the "Working Halmang" series, and hopes to "tell children the stories of grandmothers who grew up in a place full of nature so that they can learn wisdom to gain a lot without damaging nature."

Straightening of the horizon

I was born in Seogwipo, Jeju Island. I grew up in a small town called Sumoru. It is a small village where it is said to have been named "Smoru" because it has many roe deer in the forest or because it is a village at the end of an uphill road.

I lived in the nearest house to the beach in a village where about ten families lived together. So the way to the sea was like my yard. Jung-sook, Young-sook, Hee-sook, Shin-sook, and the youngest son, Ki-dong and Ok-hee, were born as the fourth daughters.

My father's childhood dream was to be a poet. My father told me that trees melt themselves like candles and produce fire-like flowers and fruits. I wanted to become a poet when I became an adult because he said a lot of great things. And I became a poet. I want to be a poet who looks like a candlelight.

I've loved reading since I was young. I realized that a person with a bright heart would not know what his left hand was doing by walking the bookcase from right to left. As an adult, I like books, so I live with my husband who runs a small bookstore selling only poetry in Seogwipo, and I work in a small library to organize books neatly. Writing and publishing a book in my hometown is the work of crossing the sea at night without anyone knowing and spreading the horizon.

Seogwipo is full of horizontal lines. I've been curious since I was young to imagine the world beyond the horizon. I put a letter in a glass bottle and went to the sea and threw it away. I wanted to grow as fast as a wave and reach anywhere cool. I enjoy listening to people's stories and writing them.

Let's combine the stories of the childhood of Ok-hee, the haenyeo, heard between last summer and winter. My mom who is over 70 years old, I think she gave birth to something else. Congratulations. by Kim Shin Sook


Poet Kim Shin-sook's poetry seems to be going in quickly without knowing where it is. It's like swimming. The words swim. I think I'm swimming by the words. Most of the poems here are very vivid. I have seen haenyeo in the sea, but I didn't know there were so many haenyeo stories. Poet Kim Shin-sook tells the story of a haenyeo that we didn't know about. Some poems unfold like plays. Now we can see the haenyeo anew when we go to the sea. It would be good to read this book of poems at the beach. I want to draw a picture next to a poem. By 12 years old, Shin Ji-min


Kim Shin-sook

Poet on Children's Peom, Culture planner, Director of independent bookstore and village library. 

She was born and raised in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, and she write books on children's poems and fairy tales. She wrote storytelling fairy tales such as "Yongyong Will Live," "Heoundeggi," "Wangbaenong Flower Banon," "Youngju Mountain Proposal," and "Finding Rainbow Birds." She published a collection of poems, "We Sleep in One Night". 

Recently, she has been teaching children how to write Children's poem. Besides, She run an independent bookstore in Seogwipo. Also under opearating Donghongdong Village Library "Pongnang Library" 

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