The Seoul International Book Fair, the country’s largest book event, kicked off Wednesday at Coex in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul.

A total of 530 companies, including 170 foreign companies from 36 countries, are participating in this year's book fair, the first since the complete lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

The number of participating companies nearly tripled compared to last year’s 195 companies from just 15 countries.

“The power of culture is truly remarkable. And the power of books is the underlying factor in that remarkableness. This is because, when we turn over a page of a book with our fingers, our imagination and thoughts grow infinitely, and those thoughts become the source of power that can move one's life,” said South Korean first lady Kim Keon Hee, who attended the opening ceremony.

Noted figures in Korean and international publishing including Culture Minister Park Bo-gyoon, Korean Publisher Association President Yoon Chul-ho, International Publishers Association President Karine Pansa, the Sharjah Book Authority Chairman Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi and award-winning Canadian novelist Yann Martel also attended the opening ceremony.

Sharjah, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, has been selected as the guest of honor country at this year's SIBF, while Canada, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with Korea, has been chosen as the spotlight country.

About 100 speakers from 17 organizations and companies from Sharjah are attending the fair to introduce the literature and culture of the country. About 30 Canadian publishers are participating in the book fair.

“The theme of this year’s fair -- inhuman, beyond human, into a human -- brings to my mind our current fascination for technology and especially artificial intelligence,” said Pansa. “Our gathering here in Seoul is also about the human, those personal contacts that we create that help us understand each other, our societies, and our world a little bit better.”

In his opening remarks, internationally bestselling novelist Martel of "Life of Pi," said, “It is through books that we can think and feel most deeply about life, about what it means to be human."

"The only other way to learn as deeply as we can from books is to travel with an open mind and heart, attuned to the teachers we might meet along the way. In that, just as a book can be a world, the world is also a book, every country, a chapter, every person in that country, a sentence."

"To read is to travel, to travel is to read," he said. “And so I’m delighted to be with you, on the opening day of the 2023 SIBF, because my presence here means I am combining both the pleasure of books and the pleasure of travel."

Under the theme of “Nonhuman,” the five-day annual book fair aims to break away from an anthropocentric perspective, inviting engagement with and participation in the nonhuman.

Internationally recognized literary figures including Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Sympathizer,” Korean American novelist Kim Ju-hea of "Beasts of a Little Land," Anton Hur, the double-nominated translator for the 2022 Booker Prize and Nicolaj Schultz, a doctoral fellow in sociology at the University of Copenhagen, are also taking part at the book fair.

Meanwhile, a group of cultural organizations including the Writers Association of Korea held a press conference and protested against the appointment of novelist Oh Jeong-hui, a key member of the Arts Council of Korea during the Park Geun-hye administration, as an ambassador for the book fair. The Park administration was found to have compiled a blacklist of cultural figures.

“We are outraged that the ministry and the association have selected a ‘blacklist executor’ as an ambassador for an international event to represent Korean literature,” they said in a statement issued Wednesday ahead of the opening ceremony.

Several protesters clashed with security guards before the ceremony. They have also announced that there will be another protest on Sunday, when Oh is scheduled to give a talk.

“I noticed a protest just beforehand, and I have to say I find it quite thrilling,” Martel said. “The organizer must be disheartened by it … but I think we should remember in a democracy that we get along by first of all, not getting along and these things are essential in a democracy,” he said on the stage before delivering his opening speech.

The book fair runs through Sunday, with some 170 programs.