Asialink

Korea

Solrun Hoaas

Solrun Hoaas (1999), Korea

Solrun Hoaas migrated to Australia from Norway via Japan in 1972. She has worked as a teacher, academic and journalist, and then began filming in Okinawa in 1978.  She has since written, produced and directed several documentaries, including Sacred Vandals, Green Tea and Cherry Ripe, Pyongyang Diaries and the feature film, Aya. While in Seoul, Hoaas worked on an original feature film script and a documentary. She also gave lectures and film screenings and attended film festivals.  In 2001 she completed the documentary Rushing to Sunshine which reflects changes in South Korea in the wake of the ‘sunshine policy’ and increased contact with North Korea.
Gregory Bastian

Gregory Bastian (2003), Korea

Greg Bastian is a teacher and writer of critically acclaimed young adult fiction. His first novel for young adults was published in 1989.  Whilst researching his new novel in Korea, Bastian presided over the publication of an anthology of stories written by creative writing students and funded by the Sogang University English Department. The university had never before offered a creative writing class in English and the result is a delightfully eclectic Korean-flavoured fiction.

Supported by the Australia Council and the Australia Korea Foundation.

David Prater

David Prater (2009), Korea

David Prater is the editor of online poetry journal Cordite. His writing has appeared in a variety of Australian and international newspapers and journals, as well as online. His poem 'in a dim sea nation' was included in Best Australian Poetry (University of Queensland Press) 2003. In 2004 he completed a Master of Arts at the University of Melbourne, his thesis being an examination of that curious confection, marzipan. In 2005 he was an Asialink resident at Sogang University in Seoul, where he pursued his obsession with multiplayer gaming centres, PC Bangs. Prater returned to Seoul in 2009 as a guest of the Korean Language Translation Institute where he completed a first draft of a new novel, numerous new poems, and worked towards the creation of an Australian-Korean poetry anthology.

Supported by The Malcolm Robertson Foundation.

Petrus Spronk

Petrus Spronk (2004), Korea

Petrus Spronk is a traditional ceramic artist and conceptual sculptor.  His association with Korea began in 1999 on his first Asialink residency.  In 2004 Spronk returned to Korea to undertake the project Writing the Walk, a walking tour of Korea that he documented via a web-journal, as well as in a series of articles Letters from Korea in the Daylesford Advocate.  On his return, Spronk continued to inform his community about Korea through presentations to community groups and schools and with Words in Winter a public, illustrated, reading of his Korean letters.  As a result of his time in Korea, Spronk has also produced a number of stories which he plans to publish accompanied by stunning photos of the Korean countryside.

Supported by the Australia-Korea Foundation and the Australia Council.

David Prater (2005), Korea

David Prater is a poet and editor of Cordite Poetry Review an online poetry journal funded by the Australia Council for the Arts.  His poetry has appeared in various publications including Meanjin, The Age and Best Australian Poetry 2003.  During Prater's residency at Seoul's Sogang University, he taught two highly successful courses in creative writing and Australian literature, and researched Korean internet culture, in particular PC Bangs (interactive gaming rooms).  Prater created blogs written in different PC Bangs across Seoul, influenced by his gaming rooms colleagues as well as observations of everyday life in the city.  Prater's blogs and other writing are currently being prepared for publication.

Supported by the Australia-Korea Foundation and the Australia Council.
Warren Flynn

Warren Flynn(2001), Korea

Warren Flynn is a children’s writer from Albany, Western Australia. His Gaz series and Different Voices are popular fiction texts used in secondary schools throughout Australia. Whilst in Seoul he was hosted by the English Department at Sogang University where he taught A Look Into Australia, on contemporary Australian culture and writing. During the residency Flynn drafted a new novel for older teenagers that explores the theme of space - personal, cultural and physical spaces - in Korea. He found the opportunity to interact with students and ordinary Koreans, interview architects and develop his ideas invaluable.

Supported by the Australia Korea Foundation and the Australia Council.

No�e Janaczewska (1998), Korea

Noëlle Janaczewska is a multi-award winning Sydney-based writer whose plays, radio scripts and libretti have been performed and broadcast throughout Australia and overseas. During her residency in Korea Janaczewska created two new theatre works Connie And Kevin and The Secret Life Of Groceries, and Pyongyang Affair which was produced by ABC Radio National in 2002 and short-listed for the 2003 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and nominated for a 2003 AWGIE Award.  The residency also helped the development of a large-scale music-theatre script: The River Skaters.

Supported by the Australia Council. 

Don'o Kim

Don'o Kim (2000), Korea

Don'o Kim is a Korean-born writer and translator who has lived in Australia for many years. He has published three novels My Name is Tian, Password and The Chinaman, all of which have been translated into Korean. He has also written plays, screenplays, short stories and libretti, and his play, The Bell of Korea, is being produced this year by the renowned Hak-Chon Theatre during the  Seoul International Theatre Festival in September. Kim is currently working on The Grand Circle, a novel exploring the politics and the personal turmoil of reunification in Korea and Korea's relationship with Australia. Kim used his time in Seoul to complete this work and to teach Korean students about Australian culture and literature. 

Supported by the Australia Korea Foundation and the Australia Council.