The Department of Asian Studies community is invited to take part in the 2026 Vancouver Korean Book Festival, presented as part of Korean Heritage Month in British Columbia. The festival brings together Korean literature, graphic storytelling, film, and community programming, offering multiple ways to encounter contemporary Korean culture through books and related media.
For UBC students, faculty, and staff, the festival offers opportunities to connect classroom learning with writers, artists, and readers beyond campus. Programs will be especially relevant to those interested in Korean literature and language, graphic narratives, film and popular culture, and the ways stories move across languages and media.
Festival programming includes the “Jari” Korean Graphic Novel Exhibition, conversations with authors, community book clubs, a special film screening, and other public events. Featured guests include novelist Sang Young Park, author of the internationally acclaimed Love in the Big City, and poet Eun-sil Hur.
A featured event of the festival will be Book Talk with Sang Young Park on Thursday, October 15, from 4:30 to 6:00 PM at the Revue Stage on Granville Island. The event offers UBC students and the wider community an opportunity to meet the author and explore Love in the Big City in conversation, including its themes and its life beyond the page. The novel’s adaptation for both film and television also makes the event particularly relevant to those interested in the connections between contemporary Korean literature and popular culture.
Together, these programs invite audiences to explore Korean stories across literature, visual storytelling, and screen media, while considering how cultural works travel across languages, media, and communities. Whether you study Korean, teach or research Korea and Asia, follow Korean film and popular culture, or are simply interested in discovering new books and perspectives, the festival offers an accessible way to engage with Korean stories and the communities that bring them to life in Vancouver.
Explore the full festival program and register for events at www.koreanbookfest.ca.
