This year's Seoul International Book Festival from June 26-30 will run at COEX Mall in Seoul's Gangnam-gu District. Shown is a visitor at last year's event looking at book displays. (Yonhap News)

By Kim Hyelin
 

The Seoul International Book Fair, the country's largest event of its kind, has opened in the capital's Gangnam-gu District.

Marking its 66th edition this year, the expo has as its theme "Houyhnhnm," or the race of rational and intelligent horses in the classic fantasy novel "Gulliver's Travels" by Irish writer Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).

Approximately 450 programs will be held during the five-day festival at COEX Mall in Seoul's Gangnam-gu District, including market operations, book exhibitions, lectures and signing events. A combined 122 publishers and related organizations from 18 countries and 350 domestic publishers will take part. 

The guest country of honor is Saudi Arabia, which held the same title in the 2012 event. The nation will promote Arab culture programs like through book talks and exhibitions, cultural performances and films.

About 180 famous writers and celebrities from home and abroad will attend, including winners of the Man Booker International Prize.

A talk between novelist Eun Hee-kyung and Jokha Alharthi, the first Arab to win the Man Booker in 2019 and who will represent Oman at the fair, will discuss human dignity and freedom.

Also scheduled to speak and mingle with visitors at the event are novelists Kim Yeon-su, who wrote a novel on the theme of "Gulliver's Travels," Kim Keum Hee, Kim Ae-ran, Kim Jin Myung and Kim Choyeop, biologist Choe Jae Chun, physicist Kim Sang Wook and picture book author Kang Hye-sook.

The fair ends on June 30.

This is the official promotional poster for this year's Seoul International Book Fair. (Korean Publishers Association)