By Sa Eun-young
Staff Reporter
The city of Jeonju in North Jeolla Province is bustling with prominent literary figures from two continents as the 2007 Asia-Africa Literature Festival (AALF) in Jeonju took off Thursday. It will host extensive literary and cultural programs for seven days. The largest-ever international literary festival in Korea involves around 70 Asian and African writers on top of more than 200 Korean literary figures.
The opening ceremony for the festival was held on Thursday afternoon with an opening address from Paik Nak-chung, chairman of the festival's organizing committee, together with speeches from Korea's leading poet Ko Un and Chinese novelist Mo Yan from among more than 100 writers.
Paik expressed excitement in that ``Asian and African writers are transcending the boundaries of region, race, nationality and ideals" to meet and discuss the long-cherished desire for a peaceful world.
This festival aims to support a cultural-diplomatic exchange through literature and create a worldwide literature network. Some topics the weeklong discussions deal with are the life and literature of Asian and African women, and establishing a publication market overseen by both continents. It also held an academic program on Friday that provided a stage for writers to meet and discuss Diaspora, language, women, peace and conflict.
Other events that last throughout the week are lectures on literature, a literature market, numerous publishers' booths, talks with writers and literature performances.
The 2007 Asia-Africa Literature Festival runs until next Wednesday. For more information visit www.aalf.net.