By Kim Seon Ah

A slew of events overseas scheduled for this year aim to globalize Korean literature.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on April 4 said it will hold such events mainly through Korean Cultural Centers (KCC) to spread the nation's literature abroad.

The KCC in Sweden, in cooperation with the Korea Picture Book Publishing Association, hosts through April 30 the exhibition "Imagine the Stories." The event features about 80 Korean picture books amid growing Swedish interest in them.

Last month, a Q&A in Stockholm and Umea for the Swedish-language edition of author Han Kang's latest work "I Do Not Bid Farewell" saw a packed crowd in both cities.

Author Baek Heena in 2020 also became the first Korean to win the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award of Sweden, an honor for children's literature.

In Los Angeles, the KCC there this month will host a booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which attracts over 150,000 people every year, to introduce Korean books and provide cultural experiences. The event will also hold an invitational lecture and book signing by author Bora Chung (Chung Bora), who wrote "Cursed Bunny," a 2022 finalist for the International Booker Prize of the U.K.

In October in Poland, the KCC in Warsaw will invite to Krakow, which is designated a UNESCO City of Literature, author Cheon Myeong-kwan. He will attend the literary Conrad Festival to mark the release of the Polish-language edition of his novel "Whale."

In Vietnam, the KCC in Hanoi this month hosts a Korean literature and theater festival and also this month in Spain, author Kim Hye-jin will talk to fans at the KCC in Madrid.

The KCC in Mexico from July through December will hold a bilateral translation competition for picture books, and that in Indonesia in October will host the exhibition "K-Book: New Future of Hallyu."

"K-books are forming a new wave of Hallyu," said Yong Ho-seong, director-general of the ministry's Global Public Relations Content Division. "With KCCs worldwide leading the way, we will introduce a range of K-books and aggressively help Korean writers advance abroad by boosting collaboration with related domestic institutions, bookstores in host countries, and cultural and artistic organizations."

sofiakim218@korea.kr