Jack Saebyok Jung is a poet, translator, and educator whose creative practice navigates the intersections of literature, technology, and identity. Known for his translations of Korean poetry, notably the cutting-edge works of Yi Sang, Jack explores how language moves between cultures, capturing nuance and existential depth through rhythmical precision.

Jung once planned on drawing vampire hunters and mech pilots—but then he stumbled into poetry and never left. A Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he helped bring Yi Sang: Selected Works to life (Wave Books, 2020). He’s also a 2024 NEA Translation Fellow working on Kim Hyesoon’s Lady No for Ecco Press in 2026. Meanwhile, his own poetic sorcery, Hocus Pocus Bogus Locus (Black Square Editions, 2025), proves he’s not afraid of a little word magic.

James F. Thomas is a writer based in New York City. His first novel, Idlewild, published in 2023, was longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His essays and criticism have appeared in The Paris Review, Vulture, and James Joyce Quarterly. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he was an Iowa Arts Fellow. He is a lecturer for the MA in Writing program at Johns Hopkins University.

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