518 Gwangju Citizens Transcribe Hangang Artwork

City Library, Events Throughout November

Gwangju City Library Transcription Event Poster. [Image provided by Gwangju City]

An event will be held where 518 citizens of Gwangju transcribe memorable passages from the works of author Han Kang.

The Gwangju Municipal Library announced on the 4th that it will hold the event "Transcribing Representative Works of Author Han Kang" throughout November at Mudeung, Sajik, and Sansu Libraries. This event was organized to revisit the history of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, which inspired the representative work "The Boy Who Escaped," and to promote a "culture of reading among citizens."

518 citizens will be recruited on a first-come, first-served basis to operate "Transcription Zones" at Mudeung, Sajik, and Sansu Libraries, where they can transcribe passages that left a strong impression on them. The Gwangju Municipal Library plans to gather the transcriptions written by citizens and hold an exhibition.

Mudeung, Sajik, and Sansu Libraries will additionally acquire and provide books by author Han Kang, and starting this month, will increase the number of books that can be borrowed per person from 5 to 10, supporting the enhancement of reading culture. Along with this, a series of lectures exploring Han Kang’s representative works to help understand her literary world will be held.

On the 15th at Sansu Library, Professor Lee Gang-seon will give a lecture on "The Vegetarian"; on the 16th at Mudeung Library, literary critic Heo Hee will lecture on "The Boy Who Escaped"; and on the 21st at Sajik Library, Professor Kim Hyeong-jung will present a lecture on "No Longer Human."

Song Gyeong-hee, director of the Gwangju Municipal Library, said, "Through this event, we aim to raise pride in Gwangju as a cultural city that produced a Nobel Prize-winning author, and to use the reading craze following Han Kang’s Nobel Prize in Literature as an opportunity to spread a culture of reading."