Books, Performances and IP Businesses Come Together as "2026 Paju Fair Book & Culture" Opens Oct. 9

Held for 10 days through October 18 across Paju Book City
More than 280 publishers and independent creators to take part; Car, the garden and Lee Seula among performers
IP export consultations and international forum to explore expanding publishing contentેણ

The 2026 Paju Fair Book & Culture, bringing together books, performances and publishing intellectual property (IP) businesses, will be held from October 9 to 18 across Paju Book City in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

Visitors enjoy a performance on the outdoor stage at Paju Book City during last year's "2025 Paju Fair: Book & Culture." Paju Book City Culture Foundation

The Publishing City Culture Foundation announced on October 7 that this year's event will take place at the Asia Publication Culture & Information Center and venues throughout Paju Book City. The festival will bring together major publishers, authors, readers and bookstores, as well as performances, exhibitions and global content businesses.

Singer-songwriter Car, the garden, author Lee Seula and singer Lee Chanhee will take the stage at the opening performance on October 9. From midday on October 10 until the early hours of October 11, indie artists will perform at "MOBBO: Let Me Go." On October 11, the program will include a dance festival for children and teenagers, a waacking class led by Mannequeen crew member Funky Y, and an Afrobeat class by the Kulch team.

During the festival's final stretch, from October 16 to 18, the book-focused "Booksori" sessions will take place. The program will include a book market featuring around 280 companies, including leading domestic publishers, distinctive small and medium-sized publishers, and independent creators. Authors and creators will also offer audience-participation programs at their booths as part of the "Nan-jang Program" and "Nan-jangpan." The event will also feature curated exhibitions and book talks.

B2B programs will also support the secondary expansion of publishing content and its entry into overseas markets. An "IP Export Consultation" event will explore ways to adapt books into films, webtoons and musicals, and to find overseas markets. An international forum will discuss strategies for taking publishing IP global. The "Next Chapter-Youth Partnership Project," which supports young creators, is also planned.

Programs that use Paju Book City itself as a festival venue are also being expanded. They include the "Gwanginsa-gil Flea Market," featuring tenant companies, live performances and "Book Village Drawing Walk," a children's outdoor drawing contest. The festival will also present "Paju, the City Becomes an Art Museum," a project that will install large banners featuring artworks on the exterior walls of major buildings in Paju Book City.

Kang Sung-min, chairman of the Publishing City Culture Foundation, said, "This is the largest festival ever, with a diverse range of performances and dance events, around 100 programs by tenant companies, and nearly 300 publishers and bookstores taking part." He added, "With people in their 20s at the center of planning and greater participation from teenagers, we will broaden the reach of Paju Book City, which aspires to be a city of books, culture and the arts."

He added, "Many local experts have joined the effort to make this the first year in which Paju residents become the true owners of Paju Book City." He said he hoped the festival would be "a launching pad for Paju Book City, the world's only city of books, to emerge as a vanguard in making South Korea a global powerhouse in IP."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.