By Lee Sun-kyo
Moonhak Soochup and Harry Potter have nurtured young adult literature in Korea. Kim Jong-chul, CEO of the Korean publisher, is trying to foster poetic creativity and to contribute to making a publishing culture where poets can make a living from their profession.
“Harry Potter is the first mega-hit young adult book in Korea. After Harry Potter, publishers began paying attention to young adult literature,” said Kim.
It wasn’t only that books “for” young adults began to receive attention. Soon after the publication of Harry Potter, Moonhak Soochup saw that books written “by” young adults could be published as well. For four years since the publication of the first volume of the Harry Potter series, it ran a website called “The Harry Potter Club,” where readers could be assigned to one of four houses in Hogwarts ― Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff ― play games and share thoughts on the fantasy novel.
Its editors noticed that some of the posts and comments by the young readers on the site were written at a literary level. It was through the website that they discovered Kim Hye-jung, 15 years old at the time, and published her first work, “Runaway Diary.” She is now an established novelist.
The CEO’s vision to foster literary creativity led him to start a quarterly literary journal that shares the name of the company, which translates as “Literary Notebook,” in 2003. As the magazine failed to make a profit, it went into indefinite suspension after its 28th issue was published in 2009. Kim used personal assets worth 2 billion won to start “The Poet’s Notebook,” a poetry review. The journal operates separately from the publisher Moonhak Soochup and the second issue came out on Aug 8.
“The editors of ‘The Poet’s Notebook’ aim to make the journal accessible and enjoyable to average readers. We also wish to contribute in creating a custom of paying poets properly for their manuscripts,” said Kim, who is also an award-winning poet that made his debut 40 years ago.