Ko Won (1925–2008) was a distinguished Korean American poet, translator, and scholar. He published twenty volumes of poetry in Korean as well as numerous translations of poetry from English to Korean. He won the 1966 Kansas City Star poetry contest for poems written in English. Ko was the recipient of the Korean American Literature Award (1993), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Korean Language Society (1997), and the Overseas Korean Literature Award from the Writers Association of Korea (2006). Ko Won is one of the most prolific and significant Korean American poets, whose poetry continues to draw interest from readers in America, Korea, and beyond.

Photo credit: Young-Ah Ko