Mapo-gu wins national reading city grant, set to become South Korea's model book-friendly district

Mapo-gu has been selected for the "2027 Reading-Based Regional Revitalization" grant program run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Publishing Industry Promotion Agency, securing 200 million won ($151,000) in national funding.

The competition was designed to connect reading with local cultural and tourism resources, drawing residents who do not ordinarily read into book-related activities while injecting vitality into community life and the local economy.

Four districts nationwide passed an initial document review and then underwent on-site evaluations, project presentations and question-and-answer assessments. Mapo-gu was among the two local governments ultimately selected.

The district entered under the project name "A City Where Books Flow — Mapo Chaengbit Naru."

The proposal earned high marks for its inclusive, infrastructure-rich programming: an outdoor library along Mapo-gu's 8.2-kilometer stretch of Han River frontage — the longest among Seoul's autonomous districts — paired with "bookcation" tours and bookshop trails linking more than 5,131 publishers and 73 neighborhood bookshops, a reading crew centered on resources around the Hongdae area, a reading club for people with developmental disabilities, and a children's book-gifting initiative through Purme Children's Hospital.

The vision — summed up as "connecting Mapo and its generations through books, from the Han River to the neighborhood bookshop" — won over judges by moving away from the conventional model of drawing residents to libraries and instead bringing books directly into the spaces where people already walk, travel and rest.

Combining the 200 million won in national funds with an equal 200 million won from the district budget, Mapo-gu will deploy a total of 400 million won from January through December 2027 on a range of reading-culture projects across the district that weave together books, travel, culture, the arts, creative activities, welfare and local spending.

"Mapo is a city where the Han River and forests, publishing and bookshops, youth and the arts coexist within a single living area," District Mayor Yoo Dong-kyun said. "This selection is the result of connecting the places, people and cultural strengths Mapo possesses through the single thread of reading." He added that the initiative would go beyond simply encouraging people to read. "We will help residents naturally become readers by discovering books in their daily lives, reading together, and traveling and spending within the community," he said. "Mapo-gu will build a model reading city that sustains lasting relationships among residents' reading crews, neighborhood bookshops, publishers and libraries — a model for all of South Korea."