"Library Culture Madang" at City Hall on April 5
Author Lectures and Citizen Writer Training Programs
The 12th Library Culture Festival held last year at the outdoor plaza of Gwangju City Hall. Provided by Gwangju City
Gwangju City Library is continuing the "reading craze" sparked by author Han Kang's Nobel Prize in Literature by offering a variety of reading culture programs.
On the 29th, Gwangju City Library announced that this year it will operate various reading culture programs with the goal of making Gwangju a city where people "read more books and buy more books."
Following the city's representative library festival, "Library Culture Madang," the library has prepared a wide range of programs that make books easily accessible to everyone, from author lectures to classes where participants can write and publish their own novels.
On April 5, the City Library will hold the 13th annual "Library Culture Madang," the region's leading library festival, at the City Hall Citizen Hall and outdoor plaza. With over 40 libraries, reading organizations, and bookstores participating, the event will feature author lectures, performances, reading lounges, book markets, and a variety of other programs. Citizens can relax and read books in the plaza or purchase books at the book market.
To promote reading culture, the City Library will operate more than 140 reading culture programs at Mudeung, Sajik, and Sansu Libraries. A wide range of regular courses will be offered in the first and second halves of the year, including humanities classics, art, and foreign language conversation.
In April, to celebrate "Library Week" and "Book Day," Mudeung, Sajik, and Sansu Libraries will host author lectures, hands-on experiences, and exhibitions under the theme "Seeds of Dreams, Ask the Library."
During the summer vacation in August, Sajik Library will host the "Danmuji (Simple, Infinite, Sustainable) Reading Camp" for families, and in October, Sansu Library will hold a book concert to inspire citizens' enthusiasm for reading during the season of reading.
This year, there will be a particular focus on supporting "writing activities" programs that allow participants to become authors themselves. Mudeung Library will offer autobiography publishing for seniors, Sajik Library will run a poetry writing class, and Sansu Library will hold essay and short story writing courses. Works completed in these classes will be published and shared with the local community through exhibitions.
The City Library also plans to support the reading activities of diverse groups by purchasing the latest books and expanding its collection of large-print books, multicultural (bilingual) books, and audiobooks to meet citizens' various information needs.
In addition, the library will secure an additional 35,000 books and expand the number of participating bookstores in the "Hope Book Direct Loan Service," which allows citizens to borrow desired books directly from nearby bookstores, thereby promoting higher reading rates and mutual growth with local bookstores.
Song Kyunghee, Director of Gwangju City Library, said, "To foster a 'Reading Gwangju,' we will actively support citizens in making reading a part of their daily lives and help both individuals and the community grow together through creative activities."
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