Amidst high stacks of books good-hearted bargaining goes on between a bookseller and a customer. This is a flea market for books.

- Prices are really low. A book costs about seven or eight dollars in retail, but here I bought seven books for around three dollars. I wanted to read books from different genres.
- I don’t read that many books at home, but here it’s fun to browse and there are some new books I want to read.
- I sold about 100 books. I bring my children’s old books once a year and sell them. It’s good to share the books.

This book market was fun for both booksellers and buyers. It was part of the Seodaemun Book Festival that was held on September 7 and 8.

In Paju, Korea’s publishing Mecca, Paju Book Sori, the nation’s largest book festival is in full swing. Last year’s celebration attracted some 450 thousand people and the organizers are forecasting an even bigger draw this year. The Seodaemun Book Festival and Paju Book Sori are not the only book-related events hosted this time of the year. In September alone roughly 6,700 book and reading-related events were sponsored by local governments and public libraries. Fall is supposedly the best season to read books. Books are everywhere and there is a wide variety of programs that bring the public and books closer together.

Beautiful sounds of the violin fill the Namsan Public Library. In marking September, the month of reading, the library sponsored a collaborative event for music and literature on September 14. The Literature Concert features both music and book reading. Here’s Ms. Hong Jung-sook of the Namsan Public Library’s Cultural Activity Support Division.

The program combines music and book reading. The music is supposed to heighten the feelings stirred up by reading. Two writers each recite Kim Dong-ni’s short story and Yoon Ho-young’s essay. The reading would provide the audience with a chance to deeply appreciate the works of writers who defined modern Korean literature and motivate them to read other works of these writers. Enjoying both the music and books would be a great cultural and artistic experience for the public. I hope this event would make reading more fun for them.

The music seems to intensify the emotions evoked by the book. Perhaps this is the most romantic way to read a book.

-As I watched the library’s Literature Concert, I realized that books were easier to understand when they were read to me by someone else. The music made the experience much better, because it amplified my ability to imagine about what the books said. The concert lasted an hour and 20 minutes, but it felt like 30 minutes. It was really nice.
- I was able to empathize completely with the story, because the emotions I felt through the music and stories were greatly deepened. I thought a mixed genre event like this one is better than just reading, because the music helped me really get into the experience and the authors’ reading made the stories easy to understand.

Making pop-up books for children was part of a book festival that opened at Seodaemun Independence Park in September. The event was sponsored by Seodaemun District Office, one of numerous book festivals hosted by district offices in Seoul. The festival featured many interesting programs, including talks with authors, used books market, and a book concert. It was a book fair totally different from the ones in the past, where people just bought and sold books. Here at Seodaemun Book Festival people and books were brought together through various channels. Here’s publication critic Jang Dong-seok.

This book festival doesn’t just display books, but attract people with interesting events. A play is staged at the children’s books section and singers come to perform in a concert. The variety of events attracts people’s attention and motivates them to get more interested in reading. Also, this kind of event helps to bring writers and publishers together. These days people don’t seem to read as many books as before, but this book festival could again make books an important part of people’s lives.

The highlight of the festival was the book concert.

The day’s guest was famed political cartoonist, Park Jae-dong. He gave a talk about how he came to represent Korea’s political cartoonists. Here’s Mr. Park Jae-dong to tell us more about himself.

My parents used to run a comic book shop when I was little, so I got to read a lot of comic books. My home was like a treasure island for me. I read 20 books a day. That’s 7,000 in one year and after three years I had finished 20 thousand comic books. No one read as many comic books as me. While reading the comic books, I learned how to draw cartoon characters, how to develop a story and deliver knowledge, and about imagination, friendship and venturing spirit. My childhood experience of reading so many comic books helped me immensely in drawing political cartoons later on.

Park Jae-dong brought a book called “My Father’s Diary,” a compilation of his father’s journal entries written for 20 years since 1971. At the book concert Park was able to reminisce about his father and share an aging son’s love for his deceased father with the audience.

I think people would gain some peace of mind through this event at the book festival. Children can also learn to associate books with celebration and fun. I believe that grownups actually want to immerse themselves in reading, but can’t because of their busy lives. If not for an opportunity like this, people’s desire to relax with a good book gets buried in everyday life. An event like this is a valuable opportunity to remind ourselves that we really love books and teach our children about the true value of reading.



Elementary school children have gathered at Jongno Public Library to make reading newspapers. Based on the books they’ve read, the young students conduct mock interviews with the main characters of the books and write articles about their thoughts and feelings. Here’s Ms. Jeong Hye-won, who writes children’s books and leads the newspaper-making class.

The most recent class we had was about world classics like The Merchant of Venice and Pied Piper of Hamelin. Next week we plan to read Korean classics, but before we get into that we are making a newspaper to wrap up the previous lessons. The students would write columns about the characters or events featured in the books, draw cartoons about the books’ themes, conduct imaginary interviews with main characters, and even design the newspaper’s layout. It’s a time to record their impressions of the books.

Jongno Public Library also has a program that teaches young students about the literature works introduced in their textbooks. Most students think reading is a chore and do not appreciate the true value of the amazing literary works featured in textbooks. So Jongno Public Library decided to show how inspiring and important those works are. Here’s Jongno Public Library’s librarian Kim Yeon-jeong to tell us more.

We chose some 20 literary works featured in elementary school textbooks and invited their authors to come and teach young students. The authors talk about their books in depth and encourage the students to discuss their thoughts and write them down. The event was planned to show children how fun reading is and bring them closer to the books through various channels. For older students, a library is often thought of only as a place to study, but I hope these programs would help them realize that they can also have a variety of interesting experiences at the library.

Reading literary works should not be just about taking tests. Students should learn to appreciate the stories, think in depth about the characters and events, and ultimately enrich their minds.

- I get to read the books one more time, so it helps me understand them better.
- I think it was fun talking with the authors, but it helped me think about the stories a little bit more. They told me a lot about their works and helped me analyze the stories. I think my imagination grew a little bit. I’ll try to read at least one book a day.

Volunteer Kang Hye-jeong is recording a book at Seongbuk Braille Library. Reading volunteers record audio books so that visually impaired readers can enjoy books more easily. This is a great job for book lovers, because they can do something good for others and read books at the same time.

I tend to read books only the subjects I like. But recording books at the Braille library allows me to read books from a variety of fields, even study aids, children’s books, and fantasy and science fiction. Reading such a wide range of books helped cultivate my mind. Also, I don’t have to spend a lot of money buying new releases. This is why I volunteer to record audio books. It’s a rewarding experience and makes me feel alive.

Seongbuk Braille Library updates its audio book selection once a month, so the job of reading volunteers is very important. Here’s Ms. Kim Yun-na of Seongbuk Braille Library to tell us more about this book-reading volunteer work.

Audio book recording is the most popular volunteer work at the library. We test volunteer applicants first and only the ones who passed the test can record audio books. They receive training twice a year and recorded files are uploaded once a month. The files are accessible online. Korean fiction is most popular. Our all-time favorites are Jo Jung-rae’s Arirang and The Han River, and Park Kyung-ni’s The Land. Newly released Korean novels are also popular. People also borrow lots of foreign best sellers, essay collections, and history books.

Reading volunteer Kang Hye-jeong’s next assignment is a travel essay. Soon her voice will guide the visually impaired readers to wonderful places they only imagined in their dreams.

Before the time of computers and smartphones, all the information in the world was stored in books. Books were the fountain of knowledge and creator of new culture. Although the influence of books has shrunken in recent decades, they still are and will remain the treasure trove of wisdom and knowledge, as attested by numerous book festivals being held all over the country.