16.139 Maekom Butter Bokkeum Bap

Cycle 16 – Item 139

Post 5,618

24 (Sat) May 2025

Maekom Butter Bokkeum Bap

3.0

at Nunggot Dweji

-Seongsu, Seongdong, Republic of Korea-

with Mirinae Lee, TB, JB, NT, et al.

What a day.

Previously known as the Open House Super Sale, but we found that most Koreans didn’t quite understand the concept of “open house,” so the event has been rebranded to the more literal (and snappier) Welcome to Our Warehouse Family Sale.

In the morning, it started with the warehouse sale.

Once again, our friends at The Korea Times provided news coverage in advance of the sale (see “dbBOOKS offers English-language warehouse sale“) – this photo of ES from the Red Sword launch party (see generally 16.118 Fried Chicken).

Several enhancements this time, including the Partner Pathway (hallway between the two halves of the warehouse), where publishers Honford Star and Penguin Random House were provided space to display their titles.

I have never seen TB talking to someone who wasn’t female.
The pathway also featured K-Lit Reviews that have been published in The Korea Times over the past year.

Sales were brisk, on track to exceed the warehouse sale last November.

In the afternoon, we hosted a book talk with Mirinae Lee, author of 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster.

Gorgeous poster designed by ES, who has really upped our game on the marketing front.

The first time that I worked with Mirinae was back in 2023, soon after the book had been released.  Based in Hong Kong, she was visiting Korea for a few days, coinciding with the dates of a book fair that we were running at Chadwick International, so I arranged for her to visit with a high school English class and do a book signing (see generally 14.138 Golbaengi with Jjol Myeon).  Since then, the book has taken off, garnering various awards and now in development for a television mini-series.

My personal copy of the book, which was my favorite read of 2023, is signed “To Katch, my first number one fan.”

Mirinae happened to be in town this weekend and didn’t hesitate to accept my invitation to do a book talk on the sidelines of the sale.

The book talk was a blowout success.  Held on the rooftop of our building, where we had previously hosted a meeting of the Seoul Silent Book Club (see generally 16.069 Chicken Tacos), standing room only.  Expertly moderated by ES and NT, Mirinae was an eloquent and passionate speaker.

The talk was co-hosted by Seoul Silent Book Club, which subsequently took over the space for a rooftop happy hour.  Mirinae stuck around to chat with fans.

Afterwards, Mirinae joined us for dinner.

I was so enthralled by the conversation throughout the meal that I forgot to take photos of the food until the very end.

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See also HANSIK)

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