'Hello! from Austraila' as part of the Nami Island International Children's Book Festival

Hello! from Australia
We are so thrilled to be able to report that the Hello! From Australia exhibition we first curated for the 2012 Bologna Book Fair has just opened it’s fourth showing in South Korea as part of the 6^th Nami Island International Children’s Book Festival from 25 April to 31 May 2013. The Nami Island committee have done a stunning job of adapting this exhibition to fit their venue.


Since this exhibition opening, we have been even more thrilled to hear that the National Library in Soul has received 20 requests for the exhibition and have asked if it can stay in South Korea for next 12 months to cater for at least 10 exhibitions in local cities!  Miss Hyo-jin Lee from the Australia-Korea Foundation, Australian Embassy Seoul, who we have been working with on this exhibition will meet with Tourism and State Offices on how to promote this and Australia to these host cities.

'Hello! from Australia' exhibition at the National Library for Children & Young Adults

When we arrived in Korea we went straight to the 'Hello! from Australia' Books Illustrated and APA exhibition at the National Library for Children & Young Adults in Seoul. 

While we are here we will be taking it down and helping to install the exhibition at the Korea Cultural Foundation Gallery, Seoul.

We were thrilled to see new additions to the exhibition, which help bring the books to life for children and adults visiting.

Arriving at the exhibition. 

Beautiful banner.

A Bear and a Tree

Bath time comes to life! (Goodnight, Mice!)

A Bus Called Heaven

Australian memorabilia

A whole section on the Laureate (with Magpie sculpture included!)

Are We There Yet?'s famous map... with photos too.

Lots of books on display. 

News from Nami Island

Nami Island is a major sponsor of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. 

The president of Nami Island is Mr Kang, who has been an author & illustrator since 1980 and now focuses his creativity chiefly on Nami Island.

Here are some pics of his paintings, playful sculpture and studio. Later that day when visiting him in his studio I remembered that we'd meet before and corresponded about trying to set up a KOREAN/AUSTRALIAN illustration exhibition in 1996!

King Kang

Snow sculptures

Internal Reflections

Mr Kang signs a cup for Ann Haddon

Mr Kang painting for Ann in his studio

My painting by Mr Kang!

Inside Mr Kang's Studio

Travelling exhibitions

Exhibition in Korea: Hello! from Australia 

We are looking forward to installing the ‘Hello from Australia’ exhibition at the Korea Cultural Foundation Gallery in Seoul on February 11. Leaving tomorrow, it's going to be an exciting trip. 

This is the promotional print exhibition shown at the 2102 Bologna Book Fair. These promotional exhibitions are an initiative of Books Illustrated and the Australian Publishers Association to promote a range of contemporary picture books through an exhibition of specially selected images from these books, presented as giclee digital prints. When invited to take this exhibition to Korea, we added a section onThe Lost Thing by Shaun Tan - from book to film, the DVD being screened as part of this extended exhibition.

During our visit we will  take part in workshops, talks and we'll visit Nami Island – also known in Korea as the Republic of the Imagination - more on this later!

This is the third venue for this exhibition in Korea, and with requests from some regional libraries, it looks like the tour will continue into 2013!