Meet the Team: Haeon Kang
Word Alive Press recently welcomed a new Publishing Assistant to our team! Haeon Kang will be managing our social media and is very excited to be creating content for our followers. We’ve asked her a couple of questions so you can get to know her a little better.
Q: What is your favourite book and why?
A: My favorite book is Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. It is the most beautiful, poetic, heartbreaking, hope-restoring fiction book I have ever read. It can be a bit difficult to follow at first because of how poetic the language is but it is well worth the read!
Q: What is your favourite part about working in publishing?
A: I love the part where we get to tell people’s stories and give them a voice to inspire and build up others. I am so passionate about stories that uplift, encourage, and create meaning for people who are struggling, while also appropriately lamenting the suffering that we encounter in this life.
Q: What do people find surprising about you?
A: I think people are often surprised by how quickly I can work to produce quality content. I’m an artist and although some artists are the type to pore over their paintings or works for months and years, I am the kind of artist who likes to do many small projects that are relatively quick because it is my belief that I learn the most from these kinds of projects. I once heard a painter talk about the benefits of doing many small paintings as opposed to doing one large one. Of course, large paintings are beautiful and have their place, but small paintings are where we learn to apply solutions to many different kinds of problems relatively quickly. Each painting comes with its own problems and by painting small, we can try out solutions very quickly. We also see more problems in a shorter amount of time because we can do more paintings if they are smaller. I used to only paint large but in the last few years, I’ve seen the value of creating things that are small. Not only are they instructive, but small works are also more portable and easily shareable.
Q: If you could meet with any historical figure, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
A: Is it a cop-out to say Jesus? I’d really like to talk to him about what he thinks of our current socio-political climate and how he would approach changing the world into something that is closer to the Kingdom of God. I’d especially like to see how he would use (or not use) technology and social media.
Q: What is a hobby of yours?
A: I love creating children’s book illustrations, cooking, and reading!
Q: Would you rather read digital or paper books?
A: I love digital books for their portability. As a student in two university programs (Master of Marriage and Family Therapy and Bachelor of Fine Arts), I have tons of books I need to tote around (and textbooks especially are so heavy!). The advent of eBooks has really made my life easier, and I love that I can switch between my schoolbooks and my pleasure reading without having to bring another bag!
Q: How many physical books do you own?
A: I’ve never counted but I estimate around 500. After moving with so many books so many times, I’ve switched over to eBooks unless the book is an art book with lots of pictures. All the new physical books I’ve purchased in the last couple of years have been books that feature some of my favorite artists like Lauren Marx, Vincent van Gogh, and Hieronymus Bosch.
Q: What book is on your nightstand right now?
A: I am currently re-reading The Gift of Therapy by Irvin Yalom and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce D. Perry. I also have a massive stack of journal articles on shame and trauma psychology that I need to get through for a school project!