Encountering the word ‘literary’ naturally leads people to think about literature. They think about things related to literature or things that have the characteristics of literature. But getting lost in books isn’t the only way to enjoy literature. We can take part in literary acts by simply visiting places embroidered with traces of literature or by entering communities held together by literature. This is also why this issue of Korean Literature Now has focused on the idea of bookshops, where a range of literary experiences unfold.

If in the past bookshops were simply places to buy and sell books, these days they are the sites of a plurality of events. Of course, some events are designed to lure customers, but more important are programs like poetry readings and book clubs, which are meant to express the unique personality of each bookshop. This is not a shift in what it means to be a bookshop, but a movement toward affirming their identity. And as experiences mount, a small miracle occurs: a customer turns into a participant and a space turns into a place. Perspective readers become actual readers, and actual readers are reborn as active readers.

The title for this special edition of KLN is ‘outside the Book, Inside the Bookshop.’ The essay by Han Min-jeong, the owner of a bookstore in Jeju called Goyo Letter, shows through the connection of related forms of media that literary experiences can expand to become cultural experiences. Gu Sun-A, the owner of Yeonhui bookstore, shows through reader-centric programs that events at bookshops must be oriented toward the concept of togetherness. Keum Jungyun talks from the perspective of both a reader and a writer about domains of experiences that can never be known unless one experiences them firsthand. Some things can only be learned by going, some by doing, and others by reading.

In Featured Writer, we will spend time with Yi Won, a poet who has reinvented herself time and time again for the last thirty years. Serving as stepping stones into the world of Yi Won’s poetry is her interview with fellow poet Ahn Miok, as well as a thoughtful piece by critic Song Hyun-ji. And we will enjoy the onset of winter as we read the short stories of Kim Byungwoon and Seo Ije included in Bookmark, as well as poems by Lee Jenny and Go Myeongjae. I hope you come and stay for a while at KLN, a wonderful space to experience and enjoy literature.

— Oh Eun, Editorial Board Member, KLN