Kwon Cheon-hak

Born in 1946, the poet, essayist, and writer made her debut with a short story called ``Sand Castle’’ in the monthly magazine Woman Joongang. She worked as a columnist for Seoul Newspaper and Gwanak Munhwa Newspaper.

Kwon has published a number of works over the years, including ``Dictionary of Korean Proverbs and Quotations,’’ ``The Sky in the Bronze Mirror’’ and ``I am Still in an Apple Seed.’’

As the editor-in-chief of Blue Note, the online magazine of the Korea Digital Library, she has also won numerous awards, including the Modern Buddhism Literary Award and Poem and Awareness Literary Award.

Koo Byung-mo

Born in Seoul, 1976, the novelist Koo Byung-mo studied Korean literature at Kyunghee University. The writer made her debut with the novel ``The Wizard Bakery.’’ The novel, which contains a bit of mystery, horror and fantasy revolving around a 16-year-old boy, earned her the 2nd Changbi Youth Literature Award last year, pushing her to the top of the list of young and talented novelists in Korea.

``I think adolescence is a time when it’s even meaningful to just let it pass by, without having all the pressure you have to actually grow up during that period,’’ she said during an interview about her award-winning novel.

She is currently writing a new fantasy series ``The Sewing Machine Lady’’ on Naver’s ``Today’s Literature.’’

Jeong Ji-ah

Writer Jeong Ji-ah was born in Gurae, South Jeolla Province in 1965. After studying creative writing at JoongAng University, she debuted with ``Partisan’s Daughter’’ in 1990. In 1996, she won the Chosun Ilbo Literary Contest with a short called ``The Lotus-Persimmon Tree.’’ Another short novel of hers, ``Scenery’’ also won her the 7th Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award in 2006.

The author’s novels deal with various issues, such as war (``Partisan’s Daughter’’), Korean history (``Euljiso’’), loneliness and families (``Happiness’’ and ``Spring Light’’). She most recently wrote a biography on the prominent Japanese bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), ``Noguchi Story,’’ for children this year.

Hwang In-suk

Poet Hwang In-suk was born in 1958 and studied creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Hwang made her debut with ``I Shall be Reborn as a Cat’’ in 1984 in the Kyunghyang Daily Spring Literature Contest. She is regarded as a poet who pursues escape from reality and daily life based on making a positive change and imagination. She won the Dongseo Literary Award in 1999, and also the Kim Su-young Literary Award in 2004.

Other impressive works by the poet include ``A Bird Releases the Sky Freely,’’ ``Sorrow Wakes Me.’’ ``My Dear Melancholy One’’ and essays ``Pattern of Voices’’ and also a novella ``People on the Roof.’’