Unknown Book Festival in Incheon’s Baedari book street, Oct. 17–18

Old bookshops, new zines

The festival links Baedari’s used-book shops, independent bookstores and Changyeong Elementary School. The main market occupies the school gym and forecourt, with programmes spreading into nearby shops. Bangkok’s SPACEBAR ZINE works with Jiphyeonjeon, and singer-songwriter and illustrator wadfah with Nabinalda Bookshop.

A zine is a small independent publication built around a maker’s own interests. The programme ties together choosing old books, photographing the street and cutting paper into a publication.

Jiphyeonjeon and SPACEBAR ZINE

According to Incheon’s 2022 historical account, the street grew from mobile booksellers who gathered after the Korean War, and Jiphyeonjeon began selling books in 1953. This weekend it hosts the SPACEBAR ZINE collaboration from 1–6 p.m. on both days.

SPACEBAR says it has produced more than 100 zines and art books with Thai and Asian artists and has taken part in fairs including Tokyo and Seoul. Its Independent Print Club in Bangkok combines retail with a gallery, mini-library and workshops.

Wiew’s zine consultation runs from 10–11:30 a.m. on each day on Jiphyeonjeon’s third floor and costs KRW15,000. Participants may bring works in progress or come without an idea. The session is in English with interpretation and starts before the festival’s general 11 a.m. opening. On October 12 its page showed a purchase button without a SOLDOUT label; the number of remaining seats was not confirmed.

Wadfah at Nabinalda

Wadfah’s work moves between music, illustration and video. The organizer says she made a 2025 zine with Supersonic Studio recording things she noticed in Seoul. Her Baedari workshop applies the same method: participants walk the neighbourhood, take photographs, then return to Nabinalda to turn them into drawings for a small book.

The photograph serves as a working note; redrawing it means choosing what to keep and what to leave out.

Nabinalda’s collaboration is listed for 11 a.m.–4 p.m. on both days. The separate paid English-language workshop on October 18, 4–6 p.m., showed SOLDOUT when checked at 8:44 p.m. KST on October 12. That label applies only to the class.

Other programmes

Jeju-based duo Logout Island’s blueprint workshop combines prepared words and images, prints them by cyanotype and folds the result into an eight-page zine. The October 17 session at Abel Bookstore also showed SOLDOUT.

The programme also lists an open zine-making table with paper, glue, scissors and old magazines. Shin Jisu’s CUT-OUT NARRATIVE exhibition reworks images cut from books found in Baedari into paintings. Times and charges for individual activities are set by the organizer.

Visitor information

General festival hours are 11 a.m.–6 p.m. on October 17–18, across Patchwork, Changyeong Elementary School and the bookshop district. The Jiphyeonjeon consultation is at 3-1 Geumgok-ro, Jemulpo-gu, Incheon, third floor; wadfah’s workshop is at Nabinalda, 35 Ugak-ro 15beon-gil in the same district. Individual sessions keep different hours.

VISITKOREA lists free access to the street, with purchases charged and shop hours varying; not every festival programme is free. Parking is limited, and public transport is recommended. Language support varies by programme. Japanese interpretation and lift access to Jiphyeonjeon’s third floor were not confirmed.

Information was checked on October 12, 2026, at 8:44 p.m. KST. The photographs are KTO archive images taken in March 2019 and October 2023, not scenes from this year’s festival.