Jinyoung did not grow up as an enthusiastic reader. In fact, he only turned to books after becoming an idol. The repetitive rhythm of life as a performer had started to wear on him. Days were filled with rehearsals, schedules, makeup and performances, often following much the same pattern. Despite the demands of the job, he felt his mind growing sluggish. "I felt like my brain was swelling," he said. "We tend to work in similar patterns. We're freelancers, working on contracts, and even without

Books by South Korean authors, including Nobel laureate Han Kang and Hwang Sok-yong, were among the works listed as eligible for compensation in a copyright settlement involving Anthropic, the US artificial intelligence company behind the chatbot Claude. The Literature Translation Institute of Korea said it had identified at least 21 English-language editions of books by Korean authors on a list of works eligible for compensation under the settlement. The institute has notified the authors conce

Kyobo Book Centre, Korea's largest bookstore operator, has drawn attention for rejecting a suspicious order from an overseas company, amid growing concerns that bulk-ordered books could be used as training data for artificial intelligence. According to a Kyobo Book Centre official, the bookstore chain received a request from a foreign company with no prior transaction history to purchase 100,000 books. The buyer proposed purchasing one copy of every book, regardless of subject, instead of specif

A revised and expanded English edition of "Jingbirok," a Joseon-era chronicle of Japan's invasions of Korea in the late 16th century, has been published, offering an account of the war and its lessons by Ryu Song-nyong (1542-1607), a prominent scholar-official who reflected on the failures that led to the conflict. The new edition was revised and expanded by Choi Byong-hyon, a former professor at Honam University, more than 20 years after he published the first English translation, titled "The B

INCHEON — The growing international visibility of Korean literature has opened new doors for translators, but sustaining that momentum will require more than celebrated authors and award-winning books. Translators need greater support, more freedom to choose the works they translate and an industry that recognizes the demands of their profession, three prominent literary translators said at an international colloquium in Incheon. At "Translation: Text in Transit," a colloquium organized Oct. 8 b

The Singapore Writers Festival will return in November with more than 300 authors, speakers and moderators from around the world, bringing together fiction, journalism, memoir, translation and crime writing under this year’s theme, “Hidden in Plain Sight.” Starting Nov. 13, the 29th edition will feature more than 200 programs examining “stories and perspectives that can be overlooked, concealed or understood differently depending on who is looking.” Among this year’s additions is a dedicated foc

Karina has been spending some of her time in Canada with a book in hand. As Aespa continues its fourth world tour, the group has been touring North America since September. Between concerts, the singer has shared snapshots of her time offstage on Instagram, including visits to museums and galleries. On Sept. 16, she posted a series of photos from Toronto with the caption, “Collecting beauty.” In several of the photos, she is holding a fairly thick book at a library and near a pier. So, what was

Rhee Kun-hoo, a psychiatrist who became a best-selling essayist later in life, died Sept. 21. He was 91. Rhee spent more than three decades as a psychiatrist and professor, but it was after his retirement that he found another calling: writing about how to live. He published more than 30 books, many of them reflecting on aging, happiness, relationships and the small pleasures of everyday life. His 2018 bestseller, “If You Live to 100, You Might as Well Be Happy,” was translated into 16 languages

The 2026 Seoul International Writers Festival, opening Friday, will explore what makes us human through literature, asking a basic yet fundamental question through this year’s theme: Who Are We? The opening conversation on Friday will feature novelist Kim Ae-ran and International Booker-nominated Chilean novelist Benjamin Labatut. Under the subtheme “We Are Someone,” the two writers will discuss what makes us human and how literature today captures human existence and identity. “Literature ultim

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has become the second film this year — and the 10th foreign film in Korean box-office history — to draw more than 10 million moviegoers. Now its blockbuster momentum is spilling into bookstores, reviving interest in one of literature’s oldest epics. Books related to “The Odyssey” sold nearly 31 times as many copies last month as they did a year earlier, according to Kyobo Book Centre, one of the country’s largest bookstore chains. Sales of books with “Odyssey” i

South Korea is holding a "K-Book Week" in Paris this month as part of celebrations marking the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties with France, Seoul's culture ministry said Monday. The event, running from Saturday to Sept. 18 (Paris time) mainly at the Galerie Joseph cultural complex in the Le Marais district, aims to introduce Korean books to French and European audiences, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said. Co-organized by the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea, the

SOKCHO, Gangwon Province — For many Koreans, reading on the beach is still an unusual concept, just like seeing someone wear a bikini without a cover-up. But on a small beach in Korea, something is changing. On Aug. 26, two middle-aged women sat in beach chairs, their feet sinking into warm sand as gentle waves lapped at their toes. They both had a book in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Now and then, they looked up at the sea, then back down at the page. They had come to the Three Fe

Artificial intelligence can summarize an entire book in seconds and answer questions almost instantly. So, in an age when information is increasingly available at the touch of a screen, why do we need to read? "Will we still be reading books the way we do now 10 years from now?" Jung Jae-wook, CEO of Millie's Library, posed the question Thursday in Seoul at the company's 10th anniversary conference, "The Future of Reading." His answer was clear: The way we read will change, but reading will rema

A cake begins with thin layers, baked like the pages of a book. Between them are cream and fresh strawberries. On each layer — or page — is the ending of a mystery novel Irae loved but never got to finish. Then comes another unusual ingredient: memory. A cassette tape containing fragments of Irae's life is played through a "cakessette" player that infuses those memories into the cake. When you take a bite, the taste of strawberries, along with the contents of the book, unfolds like an illusion.

Thirty years ago, Anders Karlsson walked into a large London bookstore looking for books about Korea. He was directed to the Southeast Asia section. Today, Korean books occupy prominent displays in bookstores across London and around the world. Korean writers win major international literary prizes. Publishers compete for translation rights. And readers line up to meet their favorite authors. For Karlsson, a Swedish translator of Korean literature and an associate professor of Korean studies at