An annual literary festival will be held at Paju Book City in Gyeonggi Province, bringing over 500 writers from home and abroad to present and discuss a wide range of literary works.

“Paju Booksori Festival,” marking its fourth year, will kick off this week from Oct. 3-12 for a 10-day run at different venues in Paju Book City, a cluster of some 260 Korean publishing houses in Paju.

“Last year, in its third year, the festival was selected as a representative festival by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea,” said Kim Eoun-ho, chairman of the Bookcity Culture Foundation and organizer of the festival, at a press conference held in Jung-gu, central Seoul, last week. “I hope this festival serves as Asia’s largest and most diverse meeting place for writers, readers and publishers.” 

On Friday at the opening of the festival, prominent writers from across Asia will convene to discuss diverse mythologies in Asia and how they can be developed to attract larger audiences around the world. Participants include Korean novelist Kim Nam-il, poet Kim Hyung-soo, Indian poet Anvar Ali, Vietnamese novelist Y Ban and Thai anthropologist Suvanna Kriengkraipetch.

On Oct. 9, acclaimed novelist Kim Young-ha and British novelist Helen Oyeyemi will meet readers to talk about their literary works.

This year festival involves the creative collaboration of literature and diverse forms of arts.

Under the title “Peace Art Festival,” works by contemporary artists, including Nam June Paik, Kang Ik-joong, Lee Bul, Lee Ufan, Olafur Eliasson from Denmark and Ai Weiwei from China, will be displayed across Paju, which is located near the western Demilitarized Zone, to promote peace on the divided peninsula.

“‘Paju Booksori’ is a festival that goes beyond a marketplace where people buy and sell books and copyrights,” said Kim. “It is a place where participants share content and rediscover the value of the paper book, and give life to books.”

A number of diverse programs, including lecture series, panel discussions, street parades, concerts, book-making sessions and experimental programs for children, have been prepared for the festival.

The 2014 edition of the festival runs from Oct. 3-12 in Paju Book City. For more information, visit pajubooksori.org.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)