VOL.70/2024.05

 

Yellowpig

Picture books are good friends for children

 

2024.05.07

 

What was the first book that you ever read in your life? You might not be able to remember its title, writer, and story, but you will know one thing for sure - the book you eagerly followed with your eyes in your parents’ arms was a picture book. For children, picture books are not just the first books they encounter in their lives, but also good friends they will keep for the rest of their lives. Through picture books, they meet, interact with, and grow with the wider world. The world of picture books has been expanding in depth and breadth, not only for children that communicate through pictures, but also for people of all ages. Yellowpig is a publisher specializing in picture books that transcend age, language, and culture - making them a good friend for everyone. Following is an interview with Yellowpig, a publisher constantly growing while publishing picture books that will stay in the hearts of readers in this rapidly changing world.

 

 

It’s a pleasure to have you with us on K-Book Trends. Please introduce Yellowpig to our international readers and provide the meaning of the company’s name.

 

Yellowpig started with the aim to “make books that are like good friends to children, dreaming and growing up together.” Pigs are the most familiar animal that children are exposed to from a young age, no matter where they live in the world. Also, yellow is a symbolic color for children, as school buses are yellow in many countries around the world. So, we came up with the name “Yellowpig” as we wanted to make books that can approach children in a friendly way, stay with them, and be remembered for a long time.
In addition, yellow pigs have the meaning of growth and abundance. As one of the 12 zodiac signs, pigs are known to symbolize abundance and prosperity in Korea. Among them, the yellow pig, the so-called golden pig, has a positive connotation of being hardworking and dedicated to achieving goals. Thanks to these meanings, Yellowpig, as a publisher, has been able to grow steadily with children over the past 15 years.

 

Yellowpig is a picture book publisher. Why did you choose picture books among all other genres? What does Yellowpig find charming about picture books?

 

If you are a parent raising a child, you will choose a “picture book” as the first book for your child. As such, picture books are the first books that a child encounters after birth. As the story is based on pictures, young children who don’t even know how to read can stretch their imaginations as they follow the pictures. Also, children feel emotionally stable when they sit on their parents’ lap and read a picture book together. Good picture books can have an infinite impact on a child’s growth and development during the infant and toddler years, when imagination and creativity burst forth. So, it is no surprise that a picture book was the first book in our lineup.
And, the reason why we chose “creative” picture books was because they have more room for coordination and collaboration in terms of editing and design, as there is a lot of space for artists to be creative. Unlike many first-time publishers who start with foreign books and then try creative picture books, we wanted to publish Korean creative picture books from the beginning - it gave us a lot of difficulties at first. We had to give trust to our creators so that they could work with a publishing house that was just taking its first steps. However, enduring and persevering through those times allowed us to try different things in terms of the content we wanted to include and the physicality of the books. Also, when we see many of our writers who have been developing steadily since publishing their first books with us, we get to remind ourselves of the meaning of “growth” that we wanted to capture when we started the company. For us, picture books are the foundation that first introduced us to readers and created the relationships we have with our writers. Today, we are constantly pushing ourselves to go one step further, reaching beyond young readers and into centenarian picture books that are loved by all ages.

 

 

We hope to publish books that are like a friend to our readers,
giving them courage and encouragement.

 

 

In April, you published A Mart for the Soul, an emotional picture book for children. It’s the third book in the Healing Picture Books for Children series. It seems odd to have the words “children” and “healing” together, but at the same time, it makes sense. Can you tell us a little bit more about the series and the new book?

 

Children experience many different emotions in relationships and situations they encounter at school and at home, such as joy, sadness, anger, embarrassment, and frustration. However, because they don’t know how to handle these feelings, or how to express them, they face extra difficulties. Children need to learn to accept and express their first feelings so that they can grow up to be confident, positive, and empathetic, no matter where or when they interact with others. That’s what this Healing Picture Books for Children series is all about - it captures the heart of children through fun, whimsical stories as well as cute illustrations.
A Mart for the Soul features all the emotions that children can feel in various relationships and situations they encounter in school and everyday life. It warmly touches children’s hearts with familiar items such as a “hot pack for the soul,” “grass for the soul,” and a “bandage for the soul.” If the previous book, Cooking for the Soul, compared the soul to food, this book, A Mart for the Soul, describes it through various items sold in the store. It is a picture book that improves literacy through wordplay using homophones and polysemous words, while also being entertaining and humorous.

 

 

You have particularly worked a lot with Korean writers. While Korean picture books have recently been gaining global recognition, what do you think is the competitive advantage of Korean creative picture books?

 

The biggest characteristic and advantage of picture books is that they organize and convey their content through the language of pictures instead of words. Just as infants, who are unable to read, can expand their imagination through pictures, picture books have great scalability as they can be understood and shared even in different languages. Korean creative picture books, which have been produced since the late 1980s, have made a lot of progress over the past 30 years. Compared to the world’s picture book history of 130 years, their history is quite short, but the strength behind this remarkable growth can be attributed to talented writers. If I were to describe the trend and competitiveness of Korean writers in recent years, I would say “freedom.” Their compositions that go beyond the traditional grammar of picture books, their unique way of looking at things, and their free-spirited way of expression are captivating readers from all over the world. It’s believed that these works, making various attempts, are recognized around the world for their ability to transcend the limits of language and provide visual pleasure.

 

Can you recommend some of Yellowpig’s creative picture books that children in other countries can also find fun reading?

 

We would like to introduce 2 picture books that hold ever-lasting values in this rapidly changing and developing world. They help readers accept their true selves and recognize others as well.
A new start can be thrilling, but it can also make us feel intimidated by the worries that come with it. The picture book Beads to Soothe Anxiety is an uplifting and reassuring story of Ari, a girl whose mind is full of worries. As we follow Ari’s mind, we feel a sense of relief that it’s not just us, and as she finds the strength to overcome the anxiety within herself, we find the courage to think that we can do it, too.
It is common to see people stereotyping and excluding others just because they look or think differently from us. The picture book You Are Not a Rabbit makes us think about the discrimination and prejudice we often see around us. It is a picture book that conveys the message that we are all precious and special beings because we are different, and that we can truly be friends when we accept and recognize our differences.

 

 

You also have Blue Lighthouse and Green Library. It is interesting to see how you used color to distinguish each brand. What kinds of books are published by Blue Lighthouse and Green Library?

 

Blue Lighthouse publishes “guide-like books that help readers find their way in the sea of knowledge.” Representative titles are the Puzzle series, such as Pangpang Science Puzzle, Pangpang History Puzzle, and Pangpang Society Puzzle, which help develop literacy and problem-solving skills by solving puzzles, and the Literacy Quiz series, which trains readers to develop literacy skills by reading short texts on topics such as history, social studies, science, animals and plants, as well as understanding context and key points.
Green Library publishes “books that deepen the heart and thoughts, just like tiny leaves grow into thick trees.” It produces fiction and liberal arts books targeting teenagers, such as Psychopath AI, a novel about the light and shadow of an AI society, and A Dictionary for Girls and A Dictionary for Boys, which are body guides for pubescent teenagers.

 

 

Meanwhile, we can’t leave out another brand, Dalgrimm. Its warm and sentimental vibe, starting from the covers, makes it compelling for adults as well as children. Is there a reason for creating picture books for all ages?

 

Dalgrimm is a “sentimental picture book brand that awakens the heart like warm moonlight and a gentle moonshadow.” Unlike in the past when picture books were only perceived as books for children, they are now loved by a wide range of readers across generations. This is because pictures, a visual language, can be appreciated from a variety of perspectives by anyone with two eyes. In line with the widening readership of picture books, Yellowpig launched the brand Dalgrimm, starting with writer Ko Hye-Jin’s The Happy Fox. It has been steadily gaining attention not only in Korea but also overseas, publishing over 30 titles with a variety of themes and expressions. Representative titles include Go To The Home by Ko Hye-Jin, which was selected as the Illustration of the Year at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and The Black Rabbit by Oh Se-Na, Blue, Red and Transparent Me by Hwang Seong-Hye, and So Much Snow by Park Hyun-Min, who won the Special Mention of the Bologna Ragazzi Award Opera Prima.

 

 

You participated in the organization of a picture book contest hosted by the Korea Picture Book Publishing Association (KPP) in March. What was the contest about, and how did you get to take part?

 

The biggest characteristic of this picture book contest, which is jointly organized by more than 30 Korean picture book publishers, is that only “rookie writers” who have not yet published a commercial book can apply. In order for Korean picture books, which have been making significant progress over the past 30 years, to sustain their development in the future, we need to continue to discover hidden gems. The Korean picture book market will no longer be able to advance if it relies only on a few well-known writers whose books sell like hotcakes. It requires strong, experienced writers to lead from the front, and new writers to follow behind. The contest was designed to give new writers a springboard to take a step forward. We at Yellowpig saw the value in that as well, and therefore decided to join forces. The number of selected entries was large at 10, as we were joined by several publishers, and we also plan to connect writers with publishers that fit well with each other among the non-selected entries to give them a chance to publish a book.

 

 

For Yellowpig, picture books are the ones that made readers love us and
built relationships with creators.

 

 

Yellowpig is passionate about books that can be good friends with children. What is Yellowpig’s definition of a “book that makes good friends with children,” and what are you doing to make that happen?

 

When we see a manuscript that we fall in love with, we put all our love into its production, just as if we were knitting a garment. Yet, at the same time, we sometimes wonder, “Who will read our books when so many books are published every day?” However, we continue to publish books faithfully because we are confident that we can make books that will become friends to children. As we have done for the past 15 years, Yellowpig will continue to publish books that are like a kind friend who stays at your side and tells you sweet things, like a funny friend who makes you laugh so hard that you cry, and like a friend that gives readers courage and consolation.

 

We hope that Yellowpig will remain in children’s memories for years to come, sharing joys and sorrows like a close friend. Last but not least, what are your goals and plans for the future?

 

Yellowpig will continue to publish books like “good friends that stay by children’s sides.” If we have been focusing on picture books until today, we plan to expand to other fields, such as fairy tales and liberal arts books for children, and even literature and liberal arts books for young adults. We will do our best to continue to be a publisher whose books can always be trusted.

 

 

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