Culture Ministry launches publishing, book events in France for Paris Olympics

The government is holding a string of events to promote the Korean publishing industry in France in tandem with the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, featuring exhibitions, talk sessions and more.

Children participate in a book-themed workshop. [MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM]

The government is holding a string of events to promote the Korean publishing industry in France in tandem with the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, featuring exhibitions, talk sessions and more.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA) is hosting four events related to the Korean publishing market in France, starting this month and running until October. There are also book talks being held from Tuesday to Friday.

An exhibition is running from June to August, with lectures from Korean authors scheduled for August and a culture fair scheduled for October.

The exhibition showcasing 110 major Korean books kicked off at the Korean Culture Center in France last week under the theme of "K-Book: The Origin of K-Culture," featuring winners of the newly established 2023 Korea Picture Book Award. It includes wordless picture books, Korean literary works published in France and web novels that have inspired webtoons and dramas.

Children participate in a book-themed workshop. [MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM]

The picture book section will feature eight award-winning works from the Korea Picture Book Award, such as “The Disappeared Dinner” (translated) (2022) by Kwon Jung-min and “A Round of Tightrope Walking” (translated) (2022) by Min Ha.

The Korean literature exhibition will present 38 translated works, including "I Do Not Bid Farewell" (2021) by Han Kang, who won the 2024 Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature and the 2022 Prix Médicis étranger. Thirteen web novels that have been turned into webtoons and dramas, such as "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?" (2013) by Jeong Gyeong-yun and "Semantic Error" (2018) by Jeo Suri, will be showcased as well.

A series of meet and greet sessions with four Korean authors also kicked off on Tuesday and will run until Friday.

The exhibition is themed around the phrase ″K-Book: The Origin of K-Culture.” [MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM]

The sessions will take place at eight different places around the Parisian streets, including bookstores Gros Calin and Libellule et Coccinelle, libraries Bibliothèque Louise Michel and the University Library Of Languages & Civilizations (BULAC), museums La Maison des histoires and Musée de poche and schools Armand Silvestre Elementary School and Gerson Private School. The sessions will include various events for local children.

The four authors will get together with French writers Adrien Parlange and Marie Caudry to delve deeper into the world of books and stories at BULAC on Friday.

Additional events will take place on Aug. 6 and 7 at the Paris Olympics' Korea House featuring Korean authors. A "K-Expo" event focusing on Korean culture will take place in October, according to the Culture Ministry.

"As global interest in Korean books increases, expanding the international readership, we aim to showcase the limitless charm of Korean books to European readers through the Paris Olympics, a festival of sports and culture,” said Kim Yong-sup, director-general of the Culture Ministry's Media Policy Division. “It will open a new chapter for Korean publishing on the world stage."

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]