'Banned Book Club' authors make major statement by canceling US tour

The cover of "Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit" by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada / Courtesy of Penguin Workshop

With a heavy heart, American illustrator Ryan Estrada canceled a four-month trip to his home country with his Korean wife and collaborator, writer Kim Hyun Sook. After years of planning, and Kim quitting her day job, they ultimately decided that the United States is no longer a safe place to travel.

"All it'd take is for a border guard to even suspect Hyun Sook was attending a book conference to falsely accuse her of planning illegal work and have ICE drag her handcuffed to a concrete cell. Finding out she writes BANNED books might put them in a mood to make things worse," Estrada said in a social media post on March 13.

"WHO KNOWS how much worse things will get by the summer when we planned to leave, or while we were there. She wrote her book about living under a dictator to warn us that it was possible. Time has proven that it is, and I don't plan to make her relive it."

Author Kim Hyun Sook / Courtesy of Ryan Estrada

Estrada and Kim, both Busan residents, gained global recognition with the release of "Banned Book Club," their graphic novel published in 2020 based on Kim's experiences at university in the 1980s when Korea was under a dictatorship.

They have since published a sequel, 2024's "No Rules Tonight," and were preparing for the release of the third and final book, "Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit," due out in October from Penguin Workshop.

"When we started this book series, Americans were shocked at the things that had happened in 1980s Korea. But now, things are happening in the United States that shock and terrify even the people who survived kidnapping and torture back then," Estrada told The Korea Times.

"I really hope that all the unseen, unheard victims of kidnapping and human trafficking currently being done by the U.S. government also have their stories told — theirs are far more important than ours. The more people draw attention about the dangers, the faster solutions can be found."

Their decision not to visit the U.S., a country both have returned to numerous times over the years, kicked off a media firestorm. USA Today reported on their decision in an April 10 report, and other media outlets picked up and amplified the story.

"We are not nervous people who are just panicking after skimming a few articles. We have both lived and researched the historical context for this situation and know what unpredictable dangers we would face on a trip to America," Estrada said.

"I have been thrown from a moving train by Indian police. I was nearly eaten by lions in Kenya. I had to sneak past men with machine guns when I accidentally wandered illegally into Myanmar. Hyun Sook is someone who smuggled banned books under the nose of a dictator, protested in front of tanks and was interrogated by secret police."

A preview of the art in "Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit" by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada / Courtesy of Penguin Workshop

The third in their book series, "Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit," is a story about people who have been pushed apart — by generation gaps, nationalism, family trauma and political differences — coming together and caring for one another. As well as Korean traditional culture and historical tragedy, it also explores queer themes and examines Korea's 1980s-era relations with the U.S. at a time when the U.S. showed support for the Chun Doo-hwan regime. The inclusion of an American character, who initially feels isolated from the Korean characters, helps to draw connections between the two cultures in both humorous and deeply touching ways.

For their planned U.S. book tour, Estrada had built a giant, portable art exhibition and experience space where readers could see and touch every piece of art used in the making of the book, as well as make art of their own.

"Since we won't make it, I'm currently looking for venues to take the event around Korea," he said. "I'm also working on a tour of Korean schools. If anyone wants to host us, they can get in touch."

He added that they have also recently done book tours in Japan and Thailand and are continuing to hold virtual events in America.

"I'm also still touring around America virtually and Zooming into libraries, schools, museums, festivals, conferences and festivals every night," he said. "So I might end up even busier because I'm working in two different time zones."

Estrada added that he was in Korea during the martial law crisis in December but said it didn't faze him the way the news does of the U.S.' abductions, suspension of due process and extraditions to overseas prisons. In fact, the way the martial law crisis was handled ended up giving him hope that Americans could learn from how Korea prevented a plunge into authoritarianism.

American illustrator and author Ryan Estrada / Courtesy of Ryan Estrada

"When martial law was declared in Korea, hundreds of people in America reached out in a panic to ask if I was safe. I told them that I'd never felt safer," he said. "This was a terrifying, violent act, threatening to rip away decades of progress, but it was resolved within hours, and the consequences have kept coming since. I said that I was overjoyed to live in a country where there are limits to power and corruption has consequences. I saw politicians bravely standing in front of guns and jumping over fences to do the right thing. Crossing party lines to work together to save the country. I saw people flooding the streets in their pajamas to demand their voices are heard and ensure that their neighbors were safe. I saw soldiers refusing to follow unjust orders. I was so proud of Korea and honored to have a home here."

Last year, Estrada and Kim's books became the target of a coordinated campaign of book bannings across the U.S. The irony that their writing, which explores how reading books banned by a dictator helped to uplift democratic values, should now face such censorship in the U.S., the so-called land of the free, is not lost on them.

"Some people look at book banning as a badge of honor, but it is far from it," Estrada said. "In America, books are being banned hundreds at a time. Teachers and librarians are being forced to risk everything to defend them. Students are losing the ability to find books they can relate to. It does no good for anyone."

The latest book includes a dedication to librarians, "our heroes... who fight to protect our stories."

Meanwhile, their books have faced very little opposition in Korea. Estrada could only think of one incident.

"I was once selling our books at a book festival in Busan when an old Korean man came up to my booth, flipped the pages for a few seconds and proceeded to scream at me for 10 full minutes that my book was communist propaganda," he said. "I listened dutifully, then explained that it was my wife's true story and he should read it before he made any judgments. So he did. He bought it, went out to the hallway, sat on a bench and read the book. I wish the book banners in America would do the same."

He added that he is working on a new story influenced by U.S. conservative attacks on their books.

Visit ryanestrada.com for more information.