Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Seoul International Book Fair to be held for 10 days from Friday
By Park Ji-won
Poster for the Seoul International Book Fair 2020 with Son Heung-min as ambassador of the event
By Park Ji-won
The annual Seoul International Book Fair (SIBF) 2020 will be held for 10 days, starting Friday. It will also be streamed online all throughout the event.
Various book seminar and exhibitions on current issues such as COVID-19, gender and the environment will be held in bookstores and art spaces in Seoul on the sidelines.
Under the theme “XYZ: Entanglement,” which has been postponed once due to the pandemic, 198 publishers will participate in book exhibitions with 280 books exhibited online and 800 books on show in physical locations, while some 200 authors will take part in discussions and lectures in some 40 programs, some of which will be released on YouTube.
The Korean Publishers Association, the organizer of the event, said “This year's SIBF seeks to offer an experience that traverses the online and offline worlds with books as intermediaries that connect the two worlds ... (the theme) will bring them face to face with diverse contemporary topics including the Anthropocene, climate change, millennials, feminism and crime.”
Specifically, in the opening session, Yonsei University culture professor Lee Sang-gil, Yonsei University anthropology professor Seo Bo-kyung, Yonsei University ecology professor Kang Ho-jeong and Kyung Hee University physics professor Kim Sang-woo will talk on the theme of “aesthetics of entanglement and ethics on co-existence.” Discussions and lectures on the themes of society and COVID-19 will be presented by professors, authors and experts.
Lectures on the millennial generation will also include the key themes of labor, sexual minorities and feminism. Discussions and lectures on the science fiction genre by authors and experts will be presented while YouTube and Naver talks will feature authors and experts from overseas such as Tony Cho, director of Slow Futures Lab; Peggy Ju and Ivy Lee, directors of Or Bookstore in Taiwan; Shie Okabe, a director of Utrecht in Japan; Martina Barth, key account manager at Frankfurt Book Fair and Wedha Stratesti Kompas Gramedia in Indonesia.
Up to 25 programs will be held in Community House Masil in Myeong-dong, Seoul, where live talk shows, lectures and autograph events will be held.
Visit sibf.or.kr for more information.