Gangwon Wonju City, Where the Epic Novel Toji Was Completed, Selected as '2022 Book City of Korea'

Declaration Ceremony of Book City in Wonju on the 24th... Online Live Broadcast
Sept. 23-25, '2022 Korea Reading Festival' Held

The proclamation ceremony announcing the venue for the largest book culture festival in Korea, the '2022 Korea Reading Festival,' will be held at 3 p.m. on the 24th at the Wonju Cultural Center auditorium in Wonju, Gangwon Province. Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The late author Park Kyung-ri’s epic novel Toji was completed in Wonju, Gangwon Province, which has been selected as the 'Book City of Korea' this year.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Hwang Hee) announced that the proclamation ceremony announcing the host city of Korea’s largest book culture festival, the '2022 Korea Reading Festival,' will be held at 3 p.m. on the 24th at the Wonju Cultural Center auditorium in Wonju.

This event, broadcast live online, will include the proclamation of the 'Book City,' the handing over of the symbolic flag, introduction of recommended books, and a special lecture by author Yoo Eun-sil, who wrote Sunrye Jutaek, the book selected for Wonju’s 'One City One Book Reading' program this year.

Wonju, selected as this year’s Book City, has steadily developed its local reading culture capacity through various projects encouraging publishing centered on the 'One City One Book Reading Movement' and picture books since 2004. In 2019, it joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of literature and was designated as the first cultural city by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in December of the same year.

After the proclamation ceremony, Wonju will actively promote reading programs to revitalize grassroots local reading culture in cooperation with organizations related to reading, publishing, libraries, and bookstores under the theme 'Daily Life ON with Books.'

Additionally, it will continue the reading festival programs such as the 'Park Kyung-ri Author Reading Challenge,' 'Philosophy Book Lecture of the Month,' 'Reading Marathon,' and 'Connecting Famous Passages in Books,' which have been ongoing since the beginning of the year. The main event will be held throughout Wonju from September 23 to 25, and the achievements of the year-round reading festival programs will be expanded.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, "Wonju is preparing a citizen-led reading culture festival by developing themed programs that reflect the region’s characteristics such as author Park Kyung-ri and picture books, and operating the 'Book ON Table' linked with existing cultural city projects. We hope that a culture of reading books together by all citizens will spread widely."

Since 2014, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has selected one local government each year that leads the promotion of reading culture and holds the nationwide-scale reading festival 'Korea Reading Festival' in September, the month of reading, in the selected region.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.