The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister HWANG Hee, MCST) together with the Korean Publishers Association (KPA, President YOON Chul Ho), the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA, KIM Junhee), the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI, President, KWAK Hyo Hwan), the Gwacheon National Science Museum (GNSM, President YI Jeongmo), and the Korean Cultural Center in Mexico (KCCM, Director PARK Youngdoo) will organize and run Guest of Honor Pavilion at ‘2022 Bogota International Book Fair’ from April 19 (Tue) to May 2 (Mon).

The year 2022 marks the 60^th anniversary between the Republic of Korea and Columbia. Commemorating the six decades of long friendship between the two nations, Korea will be the Guest of Honor at FILBo 2022 and Korean delegation will visit the Book Fair from April 19 (Tue). The Colombian Book Chamber will be the entity in charge of organizing the event most awaited by readers and Corferias (a convention center located in the city of Bogota Colombia) will once again be the stage

Participating as the Guest of Honor at the FILBo 2022 was first discussed as agenda when the President of Columbia, Iván Duque Márquez, made visit to Korea last August. Commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two nations, South Korea as Guest Honor to FILBo 2022 will serve as laying solid ground to establishing and cooperating in publishing industry. Columbia, in turn, will be playing the role of Guest of Honor to the Seoul International Book Fair, which will be held in June this year.

Starting from 1988, ‘FILBO 2022’ is the second largest book fair in Latin America, where the annual visitor records approximately 600,000 people on average. With the area of 51,000㎡ venue, 600 companies (agencies) will be participating and open 1,500 cultural, literature, and art events. In particular, this year the international book fair is more than meaningful as this is the face-to-face book fair which is held in three years since 2019 due to COVID pandemic.

Under the theme of “togetherness, convivencia “, Korea will operate diverse performances and events at the Guest of Honor Pavillion on the topics of co-existence between humans, nations, and between human and nature. To look at the programs in detail, exhibitions will be categorized into different themes, including  “Themed Exhibition”, which shows 100 books dealing with the issue of humans and nations during the COVID pandemic, and “Korean Authors Exhibition”, showing well-known book by five Korean authors, including EUN, Heekyung and JEONG Yoojeong.  Also, there are exhibitions on “The most beautiful books exhibition” and “Picture Book Exhibition”, introducing excellent Korean picture books and authors who are drawing attention from abroad, such as LEE Suzy and BAEK Heena.  

Also, six authors, including KIM Kyungook and EUN Heekyung will have a talk with authors in Latin America. Organized by LTI, Colombian authors will be exploring the writing world of Korean authors’ and discuss with local visitors.

Under the theme of “Voice, Harmony”, KPIPA will display 170 books including participating authors and picture books by BAEK Heena and Korean books translated into Spanish. Moreover, there will be authors’ events participated by LEE Suzy, winner of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Awards (the highest international recognition given to an author and illustrator of children’s books) in 2022, Colombian writers, and critics.

In addition, there are also cultural events waiting for visitors. GNSM operates “Science Experience Pavilion” by utilizing tools to understand the logic of science, and KCCM will also open events for wearing Hanbok (Korean traditional clothes), taking picture with the background of Hanok (Korean traditional type of house), and making Korean crafts. The King Sejong Institute Foundation (KSIF) will introduce and promote the standardized Korean language course curriculum, and studying mobile programs. The Asia-Iberoamerica will run forum discussing on the cooperation between the two countries focusing on diverse cultural aspects and similarities of the two countries. With the both modern and traditional dance performances, Korea will be able to share the dynamic atmosphere in Colombia. During the Fair, there will be places where people will can also enjoy games that were popular in the drama “Squid game”.

The opening ceremony of the Book Fair and the Pavilion will be held in April 19 (Tue) 6PM local time. Minister HWANG from MCST, Korean Ambassador to Colombia CHOO Jong-yeon will participate from Korean delegation and Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez and Minister Angélica María Mayolo Obregón from the Ministry of Culture from Colombia will be taking part from Colombian side.

Minister HWANG said “This International Book Fair will be a good opportunity for writers to advance into Latin America and will serve as good venue to set good cooperative relation in publishing industry between the two countries.” He also added that the event will give both countries to solidify friendship and close ties and walk toward mutual cooperative future. For more information, please visit the official website of FILBo https://feriadellibro.com/en