First Korean children's book published in Czech Republic

On the occasion of the biggest Czech international book fair World of Books held in Prague from May 17 to 20, the first Korean children's book published in the Czech language is to be released by Ideal Publishing House (www.idealknihy.cz).

"Dream about the Joy of Music" written byPark Eun-youngand illustrated by Koo Bo-ram is a story about the famous Austrian composer Mozart, whose famous operas were premiered in Prague. The Korean edition was published as part of a series of children's books about world-famous personalities by Great Books Publishing House.

"It is an important inroad into the Czech book market, which although it is relatively small is well-known for decades for its high-quality children books", Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa, Jr. of the Czech Republic said in a statement. "The Czech Republic is a traditional powerhouse of children illustrators and writers, who have often been awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award which is dubbed the Nobel-Prize for children's literature".

This was confirmed again this year when the Hans Christian Andersen Award was given to Peter Sis, a Czech illustrator and writer living in New York. His books are widely published and have been translated into Korean.

This is another successful event in increasing Czech-Korean literary interaction.

Almost 150 books written by Koreans have been already published in the Czech language, among them both classics by Kim Man-jung and poetry by Ko Un, and also more than 20 volumes of Korean comic books. There is also an increasing number of Czech writers being promoted among Korean readers, including Milan Kundera and Franz Kafka.

Some 50 Czech children's books saw Korean editions, as well as at least 10 titles of Czech modern and contemporary literature that were translated into Korean in this and last year alone.

Do Je-hae

[email protected]