[Perspective]
Expat angst becomes artistic output

Kathryn Whinney

Anyone who has spent time living in a country that is not their own has dealt with difficulties getting into the flow of the new culture they find themselves splashing around in. This angst translates into a whole range of different pursuits, from chronic complaining and agoraphobia to enthusiastic artistic output.

In Seoul, the expat community is teeming with people who have put their excess energy into the latter (as well as plenty who devote their time to moaning). The live music scene in Hongdae, for example, has an inordinately high ratio of foreigners to locals, especially when considering that percentage over the country as a whole.

Also, many of the vast majority of the world’s population who believe they have a novel in them actually start to get some work done here. This productive push is evidenced by Seoul Writers, a group of local would-be best selling authors who have put together a book that comes out this weekend.

The launch party for their compilation, “Every Second Sunday,” is at Dear Chocolate in Apgujeong on Saturday evening.

If right now you’re saying, “It would be difficult for me to care less, as other than this wonderful publication I am now perusing, I tend to only read the slapped-together free magazines I get at my local expat drinking hole,” fear not - the event is sponsored by Veuve Clicquot, and there’s free Champagne for the first 150 guests. (Tickets are 35,000 won at the door, or 30,000 won beforehand.)

If reading that now has you thinking, “Well, I don’t even drink, and that was pretty rude about the local free magazines,” then perhaps you will be inspired by the fact that the whole project is for charity. (As for the magazines, I’m sure it will soothe you to know that I read them whenever I can get my hands on them - that is, on my regular trips to my local expat drinking hole.)

All proceeds from the Every Second Sunday venture will go to Moonbears.org, an organization battling what it calls “a secretive but lucrative trade within Korea” of bear gall bladders, and the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, whose name is pretty much self-explanatory.

Kathryn Whinney, a founding member of Seoul Writers and co-editor of the book along with fellow fabulist Chris Sanders, is understandably psyched. “When we started writing the book last year,” she said, “we never believed we could do something like this. We’re so excited. ... The idea of having a small press where people can get their stories in without being a corporate success, for me as a writer, is inspiring.”

Expat energy has been a big factor in getting the book out. Whinney said the project may never have happened had she not left the comfort zone of her native England.

“At home, people are often wrapped up in their own lives. But Korea has a very ‘anything can happen’ feel to it. If you look at the local arts scene, people are really making things happen.”

More info can be found at http://everysecondsunday.wordpress.com.

By Richard Scott-Ashe Deputy Editor [richard@joongang.co.kr]