Disabled authors get chance to publish their books

Disabled authors get chance to publish their books. August. 18, 2016 07:22. by 서형석 기자. Seol Mi-hee (50) wanted to share stories of the disabled with people, but no publisher was willing to print her books. She had received the Korean Literature Award for People with Disabilities in 2009, but the world did not listen to stories of a disabled author. However, in June, she met a university student group, "Donghwahada" (meaning "blend in"), who told her, "We would like to introduce stories of disabled authors to the society," and after that, her passion for literature was rekindled.

Seol had her debut with her novel "Shin, Taxi Driver for the Disabled" in 2009. "Donghwahada" is an Enactus group of Konkuk University. Enactus was established to help socially marginalized people become economically independent. Enactus clubs are active in 30 universities in Korea.

Donghwahada was created in September last year with the goal of publishing disabled authors' books and letting the society know their life so that they can blend into the society. The club is determined to help disabled authors overcome difficulties that they face such as the profit distribution system that is disadvantageous for the disabled. Currently, three disabled authors including Seol are working with Donghwahada.

"The reality is that topics related to the disabled are rejected by publishers for being 'unprofitable'. There are also communication difficulties between disabled authors and editors. We wanted to change that reality," said Kim Hyeon-jeong (20), the leader of Donghwahada. "Our ultimate goal is to build a virtuous club that improves the rights and interests of the disabled by helping disabled authors continue their writing activities and make adequate income from it."

With help from Donghwahada, Seol has written "Hoping for the Eaglet's Flight," a story of her and her 20-year-old son. "Children of the disabled grow up in a poorer environment than those of normal people do, but the society neglects the reality, Seol said. ”Donghwahada gave me hope that I could write about such difficulties again."

Donghwahada plans to sell the authors' works through crowd-funding for stable profitability. The idea is to reduce the production cost by publishing just as many copies as actual orders.