His habit of reading seems to have been established very early and by the time he attended junior high school, he devoured all the books that he could find around him.

During that year he continued writing, and was eager to win the entry prize at spring literary contests.

In 1988, while he was a senior, his novel, A Circle, won the second best award at the spring literary contest sponsored by Daejeon Ilbo.

With his following works, My Mother’s Forest (Eomma ui sup), Sweetfish Memorandum (은어銀魚 낚시 통신通信 Euno naksi tongsin, aka Silverfish Memorandum), A Memorandum: Miari, 9 January 1993 (1/9/93 미아리 통신 Miari tongsin), and Once in a While, a Cow Visits a Motel (Soneun yeogwan euro deuleo onda gakkeum), Yoon Daenyeong established a reputation as a writer who captures the ethos and sensibilities of Korean people during the 1990s.

[6] Yun has written extensively: short story collections Sweetfish Fishing Reports, Behold the Southern Stairs, Many Stars Drifted to One Place, and There Walks Someone; and essay collections including; Things I Want to Tell Her and Mother’s Spoon and Chopsticks; and novels I Went to See an Old Movie, Miran - A Traveler in the Snow, Between Heaven and Earth, and Why Did the Tiger Go to the Sea?