Mayor Choi Hyun-deok: 'We will prepare thoroughly so Namyangju can rise as Korea's leading humanities city'
Namyangju has been selected as the host city for the 2027 Korea Reading Festival, the country's largest annual celebration of reading, publishing and culture, the city announced Monday.
The Korea Reading Festival rotates among local governments nationwide each year to promote a culture of reading. The 2027 edition will mark the event's 14th installment.
Namyangju will officially receive the festival flag at the main ceremony of the 2026 Korea Reading Festival in Chuncheon on Friday, marking the formal start of its preparations for the 2027 event.
The official slogan for the 2027 festival is "Drawing Tomorrow's Wisdom from Jeong Yak-yong's Study." The city plans to spread reading culture into residents' daily lives and promote Namyangju as a humanities city built on a reading public.
The festival will draw on the philosophy and reading spirit of Jeong Yak-yong — the Joseon-era scholar and Namyangju's most celebrated historical figure — weaving them throughout the program to create a distinctive event rooted in the city's identity.
The city plans to run a range of programs reinterpreting Jeong's three classical reading methods in a modern context: jeongdok (reading carefully and in depth), jilseo (reading while recording thoughts and questions), and choseo (transcribing important passages). The aim is to foster a reading culture that goes beyond simply finishing a book, encouraging people to turn what they think and record into practical wisdom for daily life.
The festival will run as a year-round program from January 2027, centered on 13 public libraries and the Jeong Yak-yong Library. In March, a "City of Books Declaration" ceremony will mark the official launch of the festival season and build momentum for public participation.
The main event will be held over three days from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26, 2027 — during National Reading Month — at key venues across the city, including the Jeong Yak-yong Library and the Jeong Yak-yong Historic Site.
The city said it will develop a wide range of reading culture programs connecting books, people, urban spaces and communities, with the goal of turning the entire city into a stage for the festival.
"Winning the right to host the 2027 Korea Reading Festival is a meaningful achievement made possible by the library infrastructure we have built and the attention our citizens have shown toward reading," Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyun-deok said. "We will prepare thoroughly so that every resident can encounter books and the humanities in their daily lives, and so that Namyangju can rise as Korea's leading humanities city."
pjh@heraldcorp.com
