Korea's first international children's book fair to descend on Busan's Bexco this month

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Korea's first international children's book fair to descend on Busan's Bexco this month

Published: 19 Nov. 2024, 16:35 Updated: 19 Nov. 2024, 17:56

LEE JIAN
[email protected]

Organizers and participants of the upcoming inaugural Busan International Children's Book Fair speak to the press at the Korea Publishers Association's office in Jongno District, central Seoul. From left are: Director of the Seoul International Book Fair Joo Il-woo, Korean Publishers Association President Yoon Chul-ho, children's book author and illustrator Hanna Cha, Kim Ji-eun, critic and professor of creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts, and designer Lee Eun-ha. [KOREA PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION]

World-famous children's book authors and illustrators are joining forces at the inaugural Busan International Children’s Book Fair (BICBF) to connect future generations with literature.

Running from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 at the Bexco convention center in Busan, BICBF is the country's first-ever international children's book fair. A total of 193 companies and organizations from 16 countries and 118 authors and speakers are slated to participate, including Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Lee Su-zy, Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Baek Hee-na and local bestselling author Hwang Seon-mi.

It is hosted by the Korea Publishers Association, which is also behind the annual Seoul International Book Fair.

Poster of the 2024 Busan International Children's Book Fair. This year's theme is “Laputa,” a floating island that appears in Jonathan Swift's “Gulliver’s Travels” (1726), in a bid to create a space of "unlimited hope and imagination that children bear." [KOREA PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION]

Now is the best time to debut BICBF, according to Korean Publishers Association President Yoon Chul-ho. "[Homegrown children's books] are much more competitive these days, and as the child population declines and new media rises, we see now as a good time to hold this book fair."

The fair aims to hold meaningful conversations about children, mirroring the Bologna Children's Book Fair, a similar, prominent event in Italy. Critics and authors will discuss how children’s books can tackle social and environmental issues, the role of adults in fostering children's development and ways to keep children optimistic while also helping them understand reality.

But unlike the Bologna Fair, which is centered on copyright exchanges and doesn’t actually allow children to enter, BICBF will welcome them.

Over 400 children’s books will be available for browsing at the fair’s exhibition center. It will likely be the most extensive physical collection where children are actually allowed to “open, touch and feel the books,” said Kim Ji-eun, critic and professor of creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts and chief of the Library and Arts Information Center. “Children these days were born and raised amid Covid-19, and their experiences of purchasing a book are often online or seeing books covered in plastic. But to fall in love with books, I believe it is important to be able to flip through them, feel them and hug them.”

The fair also comes at a time when societal hostility toward kids is growing nationally. Not only are people less willing to have kids, but many are in favor of antichild policies, such as the expansion of the "no kids zones" in public facilities.

“Especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, I think we often find ourselves in the reality of telling kids not do something. This book fair will hopefully provide a place for children to thrive and really have fun,” said Kim.

In addition to the exhibition, the fair will host a series of hands-on workshops, signing events with authors and seminars that children and adults can enjoy together.

"I am so excited to meet all the readers and other fellow authors," said Hanna Cha, the Korean American author and illustrator who was recently awarded the Caldecott Medal. She is also a tentative speaker at the upcoming fair.

Copyright exchanges for publishing houses and literary agents will be available at BICBF's Rights Center.

“Luckily for Korea, our content is receiving a lot of overseas attention right now, and so many foreign agents are looking to buy homegrown content,” said BICBF's director Joo Il-woo, and added that the fair plans an expansion of its Rights Center in the future. It hopes to invite more Western buyers to the coming editions.

Entry to BICBF is free for those who preregister online on bicbf.or.kr/en/. On-site tickets are 5,000 won ($4).

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]