What Is This Year’s One Book? ... Busan Citizen Library Conducts Public Voting

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Busan Metropolitan Citizen Library will conduct a citizen vote from the 14th to March 16th on 12 candidate books for children, youth, general, and Busan categories to select this year's One Book.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of One Book One Busan, and to commemorate this, 'Busan Books' have been additionally selected.

The One Book One Busan Steering Committee, composed of reading experts, systematically reviewed and discussed last year to select 110 candidate books for 2023 One Book.

Then, over two days on the 18th and 19th of last month, the 110 books were carefully narrowed down to 59 and then 12 by dividing into review groups for general & Busan books and youth & children’s books, finally selecting 12 candidate books with 3 books per category.

The children’s candidate books are "6-Minute Novelist Ha Jun-su," "The Color of Lies," and "How We Eat Cake," while the youth candidate books are "Climate Debate Right Now," "Peppermint," and "Hulhul."

The general candidate books are "House of Words," "Caring Heart," and "The Used Bookstore Ghost Collector," and the Busan candidate books are "Mothers Hammering: A Historical Journey of Kkangkkangi Village," "Living in Busan," and "Hotel Haeundae."

This year's One Book candidates.

Voting will be conducted simultaneously online and offline. Online voting can be done through the websites of the Citizen Library and public libraries in the Busan area, as well as elementary, middle, and high school websites, while offline voting is available at public libraries in the Busan area.

After the citizen vote, the One Book of the Year will be selected for each category, and various reading culture events will be held both online and offline throughout the year with Busan citizens.

Cheon Jeong-suk, Director of the Citizen Library, said, "This year, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of One Book One Busan, we have prepared many diverse and rich events, including adding 'Busan Books' to the candidate books," and added, "We ask for much interest and participation in the One Book selection citizen vote."