The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism from March 11-13 will participate in the annual London Book Fair at the exhibition center Olympia in the British capital and run an export consultation center for Korean books. Shown is a scene from last year's fair that ran from March 12-14. (Fair's official Facebook account)
By Aisylu Akhmetzianova
A group booth for Korean publishers at this year's London Book Fair, the largest event of its kind in the English-speaking world, will promote the global spread of Korean books.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on March 10 said it will participate in the fair's 54th edition at the exhibition center Olympia in London from March 11-13, as well as run an export consultation center for Korean books jointly with the Korea Creative Content Agency.
This is the first group booth for Korean paperback publishers since the 2014 fair, when Korea was the guest country of honor.
Launched in 1971, the event is the world's only business-to-business book fair that excludes business-to-consumer trade.
Over 1,000 companies and 30,000 publishing figures from around 100 countries are expected to attend the annual fair to negotiate book and content copyrights. They will also share publishing-related technologies and trends through some 100 programs such as seminars.
Covering 95 square m, the export consultation center will have the direct participation of 10 Korean publishers including Munhakdongne and Darakwon. Negotiations will also be held on 101 books from 38 domestic publishers unable to take part in the fair.
Following the London fair, the ministry will set up such centers at the Bologna Children's Book Fair of Italy late this month, Frankfurt Book Fair of Germany in October and China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair in November.
aisylu@korea.kr
