The Seoul International Book Fair is held from Oct. 7 to 11 at the COEX convention center in Samseong-dong in Gangnam-gu District, Seoul.
Korea's largest book fair, the Seoul International Book Fair 2015, took place from Oct. 7 to 11. The theme this year was "The Public Reads 70 Years of Liberation and Writes 100 Years Into the Future." It was held at the COEX convention center in Samseong-dong in Gangnam-gu District, southern Seoul.
Marking its 68th anniversary this year, 18 countries took part in the book fair, including Italy, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia. Visitors to the fair enjoyed seeing books at a total of 543 booths from 311 teams or companies present at the fair.
Visitors to the Seoul International Book Fair 2015 look around the writings of famous Korean language scholars and early editions of well-known Korean publications.
In this year's event, various exhibits focused on the Korean language and on Korean books that marked the 70th anniversary of Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule. Fair visitors were able to see early editions of Korean publications from the time of independence and books by well-known language scholars such as Ju Si-gyeong (주시경, 1876-1914). There were exhibits of first editions from renowned poets, like Yun Dong-ju (윤동주, 1917-1945), and there was even a copy of the “Baekbeom Journal" (Baekbeom Ilji, 백범일지, 白凡逸志) by Kim Gu (김구, 1876-1949), a Korean independence activist and politician.
Children make paper decorations in the 'book art handicraft workshop' at the Seoul International Book Fair 2015.
This year's event extended to exhibits targeting child readers, too. The book fair opened a new section for children, dubbed the "book art handicraft workshop.” Here, various children's books were on display where they could not only read, but also touch, feel and develop all five senses and even create books of their own.
As this year's guest of honor, Italy showcased a total of 65 original paintings and 11 books, including "In bocca al lupo” by the well-known Italian illustrator Fabian Negrin, who won the top prize for picture books in Italy.
This year's guest of honor, Italy, has a range of items on display that introduce Italian arts and history, as well as drawings by well-known Italian illustrator Fabian Negrin, at the Seoul International Book Fair 2015.
The book fair also featured an exhibit of works that have won the Bologna Ragazzi Award, known as the "Nobel prize for children's literature," where both Korean and non-Korean writers' works were on display.
Visitors to the book fair were able to meet with Hwang Sun-mi, the author of "The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly," as she was selected as the Writer to Watch at this year's fair. Hwang shared her thoughts and daily routine with readers and held a Q&A session where she received questions via the Facebook profile of the Seoul International Book Fair.
The book fair included a range of other sideline programs, including seminars, lectures from representatives of Korean and overseas publishing companies, meetings among readers and writers and lectures on writing compositions.
By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Writer
Photos: Jeon Han, Yonhap News
arete@korea.kr
Visitors to the Seoul International Book Fair look around the books on display there.
Visitors take a look at the books on display at the Azerbaijan booth at the Seoul International Book Fair 2015.
Poster of the Seoul International Book Fair 2015
