VOL.74/2024.09

Publisher Prunsoop

A Beautiful Forest Filled with Books and People of Various Colors

 

2021.03.08

 

Prunsoop. With its name giving off a fresh and lively mood, publisher Prunsoop – meaning “a beautiful forest of books” is an all-around publisher that produces books about various values and ways of life and stories that will be remembered forever. As a beautiful forest consists of a variety of animals and plants, people with many different characteristics have gathered and made Prunsoop what it is today. Following is the story of publisher Prunsoop, who wants to be a precious courier of spiritual culture that lightens the future by learning from the past and cultivating moments of today.

 

 

Please introduce Prunsoop to overseas publishers.

 

Established in 1988, Prunsoop has been an all-around publisher that makes books of various genres, including culture, liberal arts, politics, society, and children’s books, while pursuing books that embody values and merits to change the world.
We have been offering warm consolation and hope, not to mention helping them realize how precious living a healthy life is, through books such as Daughter of the Wind, A Journey Around Korea, Chicken Soup for the Soul, March to the World, Off the Map, My Sister Bong-Soon, You are Enough as You Are, and Late-Night Diner for Cure. Also, we have contributed to the publicization of politics & society books with books including Shut Up, Do Politics, The Journalist Joo, Journalist Joo’s Fight for Jurisdiction, and Let’s Go to Pyongyang that shook the political paradigm in Korea with bold attempts to explain politics easily for the public, introduced works of Yú Huá, a Chinese novelist for the first time in Korea such as Chronicle of a Blood Merchant and To Live, and discovered various overseas novelists such as Peter Swanson of The Kind Worth Killing and Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl.
In 2000, we launched “Prunsoop Junior,” a brand for preschoolers, kids, and teenagers to help our future generation have the right values in life, and published various series including Lee O-Young’s Thinking School, Prunsoop Junior Jinggeomdari Classics, and Prunsoop History Books for Children. In 2013, we set up another brand called “Lime,” where we widened the spectrum of children’s and teen books by producing titles including Nora’s Welt 2084, and One Day in Gyeongseong. Also, in 2016, we embarked on two other brands - “Simsim” which is a liberal art & psychology brand and produced books including The Upward Spiral and Wild Remedy, and “Benchwarmers” that focus on hobbies and practical activities and made My Ultimate Stationery and How to Make Coffee to interact with more various readers. 

 

 

 

Prunsoop aims to publish books that embody values and merits to change the world.

 

 

 

Is there a standard or value you consider when choosing an author or work?

 

We choose authors or books that well suit Prunsoop’s values of diversity, publicity, and connectivity while matching the spirit of the times and giving readers the joy of reading and happiness of learning.

 

The phrase “I dare to be reborn as Thoth in this era” is quite impressive. Why is “Thoth” the symbol of Prunsoop, and what path is Prunsoop pursuing to take?

 

“Thoth” is the god of wisdom in the ancient Egyptian myth. The Greeks thought of Thoth as the same character as Hermes, the messenger of the sky. Just as “Thoth,” Prunsoop aims to become a publisher that produces knowledge and delivers precious culture and wisdom of humanity.
Prunsoop aims to produce books that embody the values and merits that can change the world. We would like to become a messenger of invaluable spiritual culture by learning from the past through books, the repository of boundless knowledge, cultivate today, and lighten the path towards the future. 

 

If you could introduce some of your books to the readers of K-Book Trends, what would they be and why?

 

 

1.Now I Have Someone to Walk With / Written by Biya Han, Antonius Van Zutphen / Prunsoop
It is an experimental essay written by an emergency rescue specialist couple, Biya Han and Antonius Van Zutphen, who got married in their 60s and live separately in Korea and the Netherlands, about finding their own meaning of life.

2. My Veganism: Comics / Written by Bosun / Prunsoop
It is a comic about veganism written and illustrated by a vegan author. Made to introduce veganism, it talks about how to respect beings different from myself, attitudes that de-individualize or non-individualize animals, uncomfortable truth about the meat diet, and inhumane exploitation of animals.

3. Planet of Robots / Written by Yi Yeon / Prunsoop
This book throws a question, “If there is a robot that has the same intelligence and desires as a human being, should we regard it as a live human being?” As a Sci-Fi novel where a human-type android seeks to find its rights, freedom, and genuine dream, it asks a philosophical question as to whether this world is only reserved for human beings.

 

Please introduce us to the recently published books of Prunsoop.

 

 

1. Path of Poor / So Jun-Chol / Prunsoop
This book, from the perspective of a researcher of urban sociology, looks into the nature of poverty through an old lady that makes her living by collecting recyclable items which is deemed as the epitome of being poor in this era and her life history.

2. The Answer / NewYorkJumin / Prunsoop
An investment record of NewYorkJumin, a top 1% hedge fund trader in Wallstreet, and Youtuber with 130K subscribers that discusses the US stock market. In the book, she provides insights, principles of investing she learned through cases on Wallstreet, and the wisdom of the legendary investors. She shares her experience in the world’s greatest stock market.

3. Your Destiny / Han Youn-Seop / Prunsoop Junior
This book is a new work by writer Han Youn-Seop of The Boy Who Delivers a Letter. Featuring the army raised in the cause of justice and national independence in the late period of Joseon, it describes the story of a boy becoming a member of the army and traveling to Manchu. The story of the courageous boy that did not succumb to the darkness and stood up to find light gives readers a lingering, touching impression.

 

Many of Prunsoop’s books are warm in their own unique way. What kind of mindset do editors of Prunsoop have?

 

Our editors are proud of connecting readers with authors, and with the world through books. To make meaningful books that can be read for a long time, we always pay heed to the stories of various voices and lives in the world and explore the world both online and offline, looking for stories that have not yet been discovered.

 

The major readership of Prunsoop Junior and Lime are children and teens. What is the difference between the two?

 

Freedom. To liken it to children or teens, Prunsoop Junior is like the scholar-type, the best student in the class, while Lime is rather like that kid that sticks out in class. So when we plan to publish a book, we tend to make rather difficult books for Prunsoop Junior, covering social issues such as human rights, environment, peace, and history, you know, providing lessons. Meanwhile, for Lime, we produce books of such kind, but it covers more diverse fields.

 

What do you prioritize when choosing books for Lime, the “fruit of thinking?”

 

As Lime’s books are for growing children and teens, we are trying to make the collection helpful for those to build good values and views toward the world, not to mention the capacity to interact with this world. So we are putting quite an effort into planning and editing every single book for Lime.

 

 

 

We would like to create a venue where readers and authors
can have bountiful talks about books.

 

 

 

What kind of publisher does Prunsoop want to become, and what are your future plans?

 

Prunsoop is communicating with readers through various channels. We have an account for Instagram and Facebook, and we created a Youtube channel this year, developing content that can make viewers happy. From the long-term perspective, we would like to create a venue where readers and authors can have bountiful talks about books. But as always, we will explore what the spirit of the times of living in the present is and create content that contains the spirit of that era.

 

Website prunsoop.co.kr
Instagram @prunsoop
Twitter @prunsoop
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/prunsoop
Youtube Prunsoop Publishing

 

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Organized by Lee Ji-Hyeon