How do we experience literature today? This question lies at the heart of this issue’s Cover Feature. We consume and enjoy literature in various forms: from books to audiobooks, podcasts, movies, dramas, theatre, and even musical adaptations. The ways we consume literature have also evolved: whether by ourselves within our own homes and commutes or together with likeminded people in gatherings like book clubs. This issue carries essays by four people who engage with literature in different ways: an online bookstore merchandiser, the founder of a book reading platform, a producer of radio dramas, and a podcast writer who loves indie bookstores. I hope these essays will give our readers an idea of the different ways literature is being experienced in Korea today. Novelist Kim Kyung-uk is our Featured Writer for this issue. Read his interview to learn why he prefers to write not from experience but from imagination, followed by his short story “A Sheepish History” that was inspired by an unusual interaction with a taxi driver. Finally, an essay by literary critic Kang Yu Jung will round off your introduction to Kim Kyung-uk, the writer. This issue’s Inkstone section brings you the second installment of the classical tale of the swashbuckling hero Jeon Unchi. We’re excited to present you with two very different short stories in our Bookmark section: the first by writer Woo Dayoung is a science fiction-infused tale of two people destined to become one at adulthood, but the pairing might not be the one you expect; the second story by Han Junghyun is an expansive tale of shamans, crossdressing men, Joseon-era girl entertainers, and of borders on land and in identities. There are also two poems each by poets Jin Eun-young and Ahn Miok. We round off this issue, as always, with a look at Korean books from different parts of the world, starting with a graphic novel about the lives of artists and ending with an epic tale of three generations of women from the shores of Türkiye.

— Agnel Joseph, Editor-in-Chief