Paju book fest beckons children

May event to feature record lineup

By Chung Ah-young

With the aim to unite the country’s favorite children’s writers with their readers, the 9th annual “Paju Book City Book Festival for Children,” will open its six-day event on May 5.

Under the title of “Waglbagl Book Festival for Children,” the event will feature the works of the country’s representative authors and illustrators of literature for young people. Visitor will also be able to enjoy a variety of exhibitions and performances especially for children, scholars, artists and anyone who loves children’s books.

“More than 100 publishers and book-related organizations will participate in this year’s event to make it the largest ever. Since its inception in 2003, the festival is the pride of the Korean publishing industry,” said a spokesman for Paju Book City, a regional publishers’ community that was established at the Gyeonggi Province town in 1999.

“The children’s book festival is gaining more and more attention from publishers and we are getting more visitors year after year as well. The event showcases the wealth of talent in the authors and illustrators that are devoted to children’s books and breathes new energy into the publishing sector.”

Modern children’s literature in Korea has come a long way since colonial era author Choi Nam-sun began writing nursery rhymes in 1903. Since then, children’s literature has evolved and expanded to several genres such as novels, plays and poems.

Publishers of children’s books are now hoping to achieve a significant boost in readership through the advancement in technology, with the popularity of mobile Internet devices like smartphones and touch-screen tablets expanding the platform for content.

This year’s event will showcase children’s books published by some 100 authors and provide a special exhibition that will allow visitors to overview the history of modern children’s literature in the country.

One of the highlights of the festival will be a special display of the works of Hong Young-woo, a famous author and illustrator of children’s picture books.

Hong will be featuring his other creations beyond paper and ink, such as mobile artworks and other artworks that are based on the drawings of his most popular books. Born in 1939 in Japan, Hong lived there for most of his life, but critics distinguish his work as representing uniquely Korean emotions and sentiment.

The municipal authorities of Paju will hold a writing contest for children in conjunction with the event and it is expected to be established as a permanent part of the festival.

Aside from author presentations and workshops, a separate program will allow visitors to make their own books, while a variety of street performances and other shows are planned as well.

A film festival, called “I Am a Film Director, Too,” will feature short films made by children. Young readers will be tested of their passion for reading in the “Books Olympics,” which will award contestants by the number and variety of the books they have read.

For more information, visit www.pajubfc.org or call (031) 955-0055.