The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST), in collaboration with  the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA), hosted the Visiting Korea Book Fair in New York on September 4 (Thursday) to 5 (Friday) at the NTC NYC Seminar & Conference Center.

Launched in 2015, the Visiting Korea Book Fair supports Korean publishers to expand abroad and delivered approximately USD 10.25 million in potential contracts via a total of 609 consultation sessions across three countries in 2024. Coming on the back of this year’s earlier series in Prague (Czech Republic), Warsaw (Poland), and Taipei (Taiwan), the New York consultation fair will accelerate the full-scale entry of K-books into the North American market.

Fifteen Korean publishers engaged in face-to-face export consultations with 46 U.S. publishers, including the global “Big 5”

Fifteen Korean publishers—including Munhakdongne, Changbi, Dasan Books, and Woongjin Thinkbig—were presented for the New York fair, while the BC Agency was engaged in export consultations for 100 consigned books on behalf of Korean publishers unable to attend in person. The global “Big Five” Publishers, including  Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster, also participated in the event, along with many others. Leading global literary agencies like Trident Media Group and The Wylie Agency also joined, alongside digital and audio content companies such as OverDrive and Recorded Books, to explore export opportunities extending beyond print books to a wide range of publishing intellectual property (IP).

K-books gain momentum in the US with literature award wins and expanding rights sales

The increasing interest in K-books in the U.S. market has been recently reflected in major literary awards and bestseller nominations. Poet KIM Hye-soon’s Phantom Pain Wings (Moonji Publishing) became the first Korean work to win the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, while CHA Ho-yun’s picture book The Truth About Dragons (Open Kid) earned a Caldecott Honor award in 2025, another first feat for a Korean author. Also in 2024, Kim Su-ji’s romance-fantasy web novel Under the Oak Tree was published in the US in print, going on to  reach No. 7 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list. LEE Min-jin’s Pachinko (Influential) was ranked No. 15 in 2024 by The New York Times in their 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

In particular, Korean genre literature—including mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, romance, essays, and works based on web novels and webtoons—continues to actively make its way into the U.S. market, reflecting the combined influence of distinctive Korean cultural themes and the global wave of K-culture. Recent successes include If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light (KIM Cho-yeop, Hubble) and The Dallargut Dream Department Store (LEE Miye, Factory Nine).

K-Books expand into North America: a new milestone for Korean publishing overseas

To expand access to K-books overseas, the ministry is also collaborating with Korean Cultural Centers, which serve as hubs to Korean culture, to recommend and display curated book selections tailored to local demand. To mark the start of the initiative, 322 children’s book titles have been newly recommended and displayed in the Korean Cultural Center New York (Director KIM Cheon-soo). In addition, a reader engagement event will be held in New York in September with Korean children’s book author Park Hyun-min.