2017 Nambook Festival

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Lalien Guillen Park

Photos = Lalien Guillen Park

Nami Island is more than just a famous filming location for soap operas. It's also the venue of the Nami Island International Children's Book Festival (Nambook). The entire month of May this year is dedicated to this festival.

What is the Nambook Festival? It's a literary festival full of interesting activities commemorating children's books. Not just any children's books, but the award-winning ones. I never knew it before, but Nami Island is an official sponsor of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards. The island-park's managing team works closely with notable international organizations, such as the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (BIB) and the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). The festival has performances, plays and exhibits of award-winning children books and illustrations.

If you aren't familiar with the Hans Christian Andersen Award, it's the highest possible international recognition for a children's book author or illustrator. Nami Island has a center where the award-winning works are exhibited.

My favorite exhibition is the Nami Concours 2017 Winning Works. The Nami Concours is one of the largest international illustration competitions in East Asia and is held every two years. The wall outside the exhibition hall was already enough reason to like this exhibition.

Would you believe me if I told you that this very artistic wall was made from books? Yes, that's right! As a book-lover, I didn't know how to feel about rolling up hundreds of books to make a wall, but I was artistically inclined to it. I couldn't help but feel awed and reminded of "The Starry Night" painting by the legendary Vincent van Gogh. 

There were a lot of amazing illustrations at the exhibition hall. Below are some of the award-winning illustrations.

For more information about the winners, please check them out here. 

(https://namisum.com/en/events/concours_1707/)

Aside from the exhibits, the Nambook Festival also has stage and musical performances based on some stories from selected children's books.

Not only that, they also built model houses from the well-known fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel." The inner child in me was really full of joy the moment I laid my eyes on them.

I came to Nami Island without any clue that something special was happening at the island-park. What a great surprise to stumble upon the Nambook Festival! It was very surreal to see the illustrations and the stories from the books brought to life through exhibits and stage performances.

wisdom117@korea.kr

Share this post