Kim So Yeon was born in 1967 in Gyeongju. She was educated at Catholic University of Korea and attained a Master's degree in Korean Literature at the university's graduate school. In 1993 she published her first poem “We Praise” in the quarterly Hyundae Poetry and Thought. She has published the poetry collections Pushed to the Limit, The Exhaustion of Stars Pulls the Night, Bones Called Tears, A Mathematician’s Morning, and the essay collections Heart Dictionary, The World of Siot. She is the recipient of the Nojak Literary Award (2010) and the Hyundae Literary Award (2011).