SIBF 2025 18-22 June, 2025 l COEX Halls A & B1
Archive
Theme Lecture
Our long-cherished anthropocentrism is jeopardizing both humans and nonhumans.
What direction should we take as people whose current and future lives must be lived on this planet?
The Theme Lecture of the Seoul International Book Fair 2023 outlines the landscape of the future before us.
Listen to the multilayered voices that speak of new life beyond humans, a life with nonhumans.
Join us as we search for a new balance, one that rejects naive optimism.
They are watching us
Our focus will be on animals as part of the larger theme of nonhumans. Before presupposing an apocalypse in which all life vanishes, we will talk about the future of the animals that shared the planet with us after humans are gone and their memories of humans.
l Speaker: Choi Jae-cheon(professor of Eco-Science department at Ewha Womans University, chair professor, and director of the biodiversity foundation)
- Date/Time: June 14 (Wed) 14:30–16:00
- Location: Book Salon
Traces of What Has Passed
Fiction writer Kim Yeon-su will read “How to Enter the Water Without Getting Wet” and “A Guide to Amusement Parks for Young Couples.” The first of these stories is about the bizarre experience of a comedian who learns how to get into other people’s heads through writing after the death of his wife. The second is about couples who get into arguments about amusement parks. This reading will encourage us to ponder what is important in life. The reading will be followed by a discussion.
l Speaker: Kim Yeon-su(novelist)
- Date/Time: June 15 (Thu) 14:30–16:00
- Location: Book Salon
From Future’s Past
With each passing season, humans continue to grow and develop. That’s why writing—moving from past to present, from present to future—helps us get in touch with our inner child. With our heads held high, we greet the day through the eyes of a child. The Earth is sick, and both humans and nonhumans are in danger. What kind of adults did we grow up to be? We’ll discuss what we ought to tell the next generation and what kind of adults they should be.
l Speaker: Kim I-na(lyricist), Lee Seul-a(writer, president of Hey Uhm Publishing), Hwang Seok-hui(translator)
l Moderator: Lee Won-suk(Daybreak)
- Date/Time: June 16 (Fri) 14:30–16:00
- Location: Book Salon
A Conversation with the Author of Whale
Whale shook up Korea’s literary scene 20 years ago, and today it’s astonishing the world. The judges of the International Booker Prize 2023 described the novel as “a fiction that brims with surprises and wicked humour, from one of the most original voices in South Korea.” The judges added that while the book is full of memorable moments and images, readers will be wowed by a scene in which the mute Chun-hui—a tragic adult and female survivor—converses with a taxidermy elephant. Join us to consider the larger questions posed by this novel, which is not only fascinating, but also conveys a profound sense of humanity. You’re invited to explore a wild and wonderful world of epic proportions and the irresistible people who inhabit it.
l Speaker: Cheon Myeong-kwan(writer, director)
- Date/Time: June 17 (Sat) 14:30–16:00
- Location: Book Salon
