Author Kim Soo-hyun held her first-ever book signing event in the Philippines

Kim Soohyun, a South Korean writer and illustrator, recently went to Manila to meet Filipino supporters. She has given solace to many readers of hers, sharing her views on self-love, self-respect, and personal relationships.

In an exclusive interview that we had with Soohyun, she shared how she started becoming a writer. During her 20s, she was also about her future and went to find the common factor in all her interests. She then came to the realization that she liked creating things, and had a mindset of “Let’s go for it, I am destined to do it”.

She later on wrote ‘I Decided to Live as Me’, with the understanding that people’s lives were different now, especially with the existence of social media. This sometimes makes the lives of the people unbearable, always questioning if they are doing well with their lives upon seeing another’s life. This led her to find an answer and write this book, focusing on individuality, the ‘self’.

Her next book, ‘Being Comfortable Without Effort’, is more focused on relationships, after a number of her audiences asked about their shared worries about human relationships. “For some audiences, maybe some of the messages I wrote in my first book may sound a bit biased. So in my second book, I tried to show some other complementary messages.”

“I wrote this book for you,” was the last line in ‘I Decided to Live as Me’. It is also one of Soohyun’s favorite lines in her book. Her books bring comfort and may offer a new perspective for the people who need it. Soohyun tells fans that are having a hard time trying to look outside of the situation and also cherish themselves more.

Soohyun likes to ponder upon different issues and different ideas and has interests in sociology, psychology, and religion studies. Since she writes essays, she tends to critique other essays she comes across. Outside of essays, she wishes to create a children’s book that can also be read by adults, like the ‘Little Prince’.

When asked about her personal tips and/or practices for writing, she states the following: “The most crucial question is: What story do I really want to tell?” She proceeds to say that the message you want to say is the most important, and after that, the writing will follow. “I hope you can write for the sake of love of writing,” she says.

Soohyun also shares that she is currently planning to release a book in April 2024.

If you still haven’t checked her out, she suggests that ‘I Decided to Live as Me’ should be one of the first books of hers you should read! Visit Apopbooks to see how you can purchase yourself a copy of this book. You can also follow this link to get yourself a discount!

Special thanks to Apopbooks for making this event possible.