{
  "id": 2932431,
  "title": "Book lovers flock to buy cover art, collectibles, literary buns",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/book-lovers-flock-to-buy-cover-art-collectibles-literary-buns-2932431",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-24T03:37:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/books/20260824/book-lovers-flock-to-buy-cover-art-collectibles-literary-buns"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "At noon on Sunday, the third floor of Yongsan's I'Park Mall in Seoul became a mini-representation of what is trendy among young Koreans. Instagram-worthy desserts, fashion labels, electronic keyboards, anime, and Harry Potter merchandise dominated the space. However, amid all the modern-day trinkets, visitors were engrossed in leafing through classic literature. They had traveled for hours to be there. The books were part of \"Beyond the Sentence,\" a temporary pop-up store by Minumsa, one of Korea's most renowned publishers, and the intellectual property brand Today's Cuteness. The pop-up, which ran from August 11 until Tuesday, transformed the publisher's well-known World Literature series and poetry books into collectible items. The publisher's familiar World Literature series and poetry books were paired with deliberately loose, childlike illustrations and wide-eyed animal characters. The project will relocate to Busan on August 28 and remain open until September 30. This scene encapsulates a burgeoning publishing trend in Korea: books are now purchased not just for reading, but for their visual appeal, customizability, portability, and collectability. This development signifies a shift in how literature is perceived and valued in contemporary Korean society.",
  "summary": "At noon on Sunday, the third floor of Yongsan’s I’Park Mall in Seoul offered a compact map of what is famous among young Koreans: Instagram-famous desserts, fashion labels, electronic keyboards, anime and Harry Potter merchandise. In the middle of it all, visitors were quietly leafing through Virginia Woolf, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ernest Hemingway and Jane Austen. They had waited hours to…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "Book lovers flock to buy cover art, collectibles, literary buns",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/book-lovers-flock-to-buy-cover-art-collectibles-literary-buns",
        "published": "2026-08-24T03:32:03.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}