Nowon-gu Selects 'Book to Read Together This Year' Through Resident Vote

Nowon-gu Selects '2023 Nowon-gu One Book Reading' Books Through Resident Voting

Two Books Chosen on the Recently Popular Themes of 'Aging' and 'Life of the Elderly'

Year-round Programs Continue Including Relay Reading with Residents, One Book Gallery, and Discussion Sessions

June 10 Rooftop Starlight Festival to Feature Author-invited Book Concert, Promoting Social Reading Activities Together

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it has selected the books to be read together with residents throughout 2023 through a resident voting process.

The district will officially launch the '2023 Nowon-gu One Book Reading' project this month to strengthen the local community through social reading activities 'together' with residents.

The resident voting for selecting this year’s one book was conducted online and offline from April 1 to April 10, with a total of 2,173 participants.

The selected books are "I Once Was" by author Ji-woo and "I Decided to Age in My Own Way" by author Lee Hyun-soo, both focusing on the life of the elderly. This reflects the concerns of residents about aging in a super-aged society.

Among the selected books, "I Once Was" is a picture book. It warmly reflects on various events and moments of change experienced through hair over a lifetime.

The other selected book, "I Decided to Age in My Own Way," is a humanities book by Dr. Lee Hyun-soo, a psychologist. It serves as a guide on aging, offering warm yet practical advice on coping with anxiety and confusion about growing old and naturally embracing old age.

The district plans to operate various library programs linked to the two books selected as this year’s one book until December, including relay reading, one book gallery, discussion sessions, and meetings with the authors.

One Book Reading - Relay of Book Delivery Scene

Among these, the 'One Book Relay,' newly introduced this year, is a project designed to share the joy of reading by passing books hand-to-hand. Starters, consisting of about 100 people including the reading community Book Momo, the one book selection committee, and reading activists, will read the books and then personally pass them to family, neighbors, or colleagues they want to recommend the book to, continuing reading among residents.

The Nowon-gu Public Library website will encourage relay reading activities by allowing residents to leave one-line reviews of this year’s one book to share impressions with each other, and by inserting book list cards on the back of the books to record and leave traces of those who have read them so far.

Next, the 'One Book Gallery' will operate a traveling exhibition of original illustrations inserted in the books at 11 libraries. In cooperation with publishers and authors, original illustrations that best convey the book’s themes will be selected and exhibited, providing a unique reading experience by appreciating the book through a different medium.

On June 10, a book concert inviting the authors is scheduled as part of the Summer Harmony Rooftop Starlight Festival.

Additionally, various discussion sessions and book concerts will be held to provide opportunities for residents to share their impressions and to activate social reading activities.

The district will operate one book relay storage locations at a total of 11 places including public libraries and Nowon Lifelong Learning Center bookshelves to make it easy for residents to access this year’s one book, and plans to place the books in small libraries within the area in May.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “To support residents’ reading activities, it is important not only to build library infrastructure within a 10-minute living radius but also to continuously develop and provide engaging reading content. We will continue to carry out various programs through one book reading so that residents can share thoughts and emotions and communicate with each other.”

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