Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 3rd that, as part of the humanities city project aimed at enhancing the quality of life through communication with books, it has finalized the selection of the 2024 Dong-gu Reading District 'Book of the Year' with active participation from residents and the selection committee.
For the selection of the 'Book of the Year,' Dong-gu, together with a 12-member book selection committee composed of experts from the Office of Education, libraries, reading organizations, and writers' associations, reviewed 208 books recommended by residents and experts through two meetings and narrowed them down to 20 candidate books. Then, through an online vote by residents and a final review, the final 10 books were selected.
The book selection committee set the theme for the '2024 Book of the Year' as #Together #Care #Reflection #HappyFuture, with the purpose of fostering humanities capabilities through voluntary reading, sharing the results of learning with the community, and growing together. They also announced the background for selecting books that embody this theme.
The selected books by category include the following for young children: ▲'Protect the Yellow Road' (Park Sun-young) ▲'The River and I' (Poetry by Na Tae-ju, illustrations by Moon Do-yeon). For children’s books: ▲'Mr. Just’s Animal Job Counseling Center' (Ahn Mi-ran) ▲'Ribo and Anne' (Uh Yoon-jung) were selected.
For youth books: ▲'Quiet Coincidence' (Kim Soo-bin) ▲'No Humans Land' (Kim Jung) ▲'Salt Child' (Lee Hee-young). For adult books: ▲'Dazzling Regards' (Baek Soo-rin) ▲'The Only One' (Choi Jin-young) ▲'Platforms Do Not Deliver Safety' (Park Jung-hoon) were finally confirmed.
Dong-gu plans to hold a 'Book of the Year' proclamation ceremony at 2 p.m. on the 30th at the Dong-gu Public Library Book Garden, and the selected 10 books will be used as theme books for the Dong-gu Reading District 'Book of the Year' programs, including author book talks and reading contests.
Additionally, to expand residents' reading opportunities, recommended books such as the 'Book of the Year' will be linked and supported with partnered bookstores (12 locations), and starting in May, a visiting reading class program will be conducted targeting schools, libraries, senior centers, and child care facilities.
Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, "The 2024 'Book of the Year' consists of books that remind residents of the meaning of a 'warm community' where people read together and care for each other's hearts." He added, "We will operate various programs centered on the final selected books to spread a model reading movement in the humanities city of Dong-gu."
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