BARCELONA (AFP) -- Faced with falling sales and the rise of ebooks, bookstores in Barcelona, the Spanish-language world’s publishing capital, are remaking themselves as cultural centers that offer concerts, classes and hard to find books to draw customers.　“We had to change. Either we reinvented ourselves or it was really impossible to stay open,” said Montserrat Serrano, the lively owner of the Bernat bookstore located just off the Diagonal, one of the main avenues in Spain’s second-largest cit

Paul Shin, former AP reporter, discusses changing landscape of English-language media in Korea

TOULOUSE, France (AFP) - When the Irish novelist Joseph O’Connor reads his books aloud he almost sings them. Like his sister, the singer Sinead O’Connor, he is forever searching for “musicality.”　In the famously tumultuous O’Connor household, art was a family affair. 　Joseph, the eldest, began writing at 14 and published his first book at 27.　His youngest sister Sinead was a pop sensation at 21, while his other sister Eimear is a well-known painter and art historian.　But there was price to pay.

“The Dinner Party” 　By Brenda Janowitz　St. Martin’s Griffin (288 pages, $15.99 paper)　Sylvia Gold, an upwardly mobile doctor’s wife in Greenwich, Conn., is in a tizzy. Her overachiever med student daughter Becca finally has a boyfriend -- and he’s a Rothschild. Of the Rothschilds, the richest and most powerful Jewish family on earth. And he and his parents are coming for dinner. Not just any dinner, but Passover seder.　Quick, she has to redecorate the entire house, hire a chef, buy new table lin

“Lilac Girls” 　By Martha Hall Kelly 　Ballantine Books (496 pages, $26)　Martha Hall Kelly stumbled on the idea that would lead to her debut novel, “Lilac Girls,” when she decided to take a tour of the Bellamy-Ferriday house and garden in Bethlehem, Connecticut　The historic home got the Bellamy part of its name from a reverend who gained fame through his role in the Great Awakening, America’s religious revival of the mid-18th century.　About 150 years later, the 40.5-hectare farmstead was purchased

“Life without a Recipe” 　By Diana Abu-Jaber　Norton (272 pages, $26.95)　Diana Abu-Jaber has spent years carving out a life as a successful writer, struggling to reconcile the competing voices in her head, one from a tough-minded German grandmother and the other from her exuberant Arab father.　Through it all, she baked. Cookies and cakes, tarts and scones, a blizzard of confectioners’ sugar blanketing all difficulties, smoothing out rough edges, sweetening the bitter. In the kitchen and in life, s

The annual Yeondeunghoe, the lotus lantern festival, is set to light up Seoul streets to celebrate Buddha’s birthday falling on May 14 this year.　The festival, designated Korea’s Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 122, will take place at Jogyesa and Bongeunsa temples and along Jongno Street on May 6-8. 　The origin of the three-day festival dates back to the Unified Silla era over 1,300 years ago, when the festival was held on Daeboreum, a day celebrating the first full moon of the lunar

The creative culture festival “C-Festival 2016” will be taking place at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Samseong-dong from May 4-8.　The annual festival, jointly launched by Coex and the World Trade Center Seoul in 2015, will present events and programs featuring K-pop, art, culture, and technology. It will also feature programs that cater to specific needs such as family time, romance, exhibitions and conventions and healing. More details can be viewed on its website www.c-festival.com.

A ginseng variety of samgak kimbap was launched at 7-eleven convenience stores in Korea on Tuesday, in collaboration with Korea Ginseng Corporation. Samgak, or triangle, kimbap have long been a convenience store staple. Rice is formed into a triangle about the size of a baby‘s fist and wrapped in seaweed with any number of varying ingredients inside. Popular fillings are spicy bulgogi and tuna with mayonnaise.  (7-11 Korea)The newly launched product has rice cooked in Cheong Kwan Jang red ginsen

Affordable wine merchant Daily Wine opened its first shop in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday. The warehouse wholesaler trades more than 700 kinds of wine for discounted prices of between 5,000 won ($4) and 20,000 won. It is open to individual buyers. (Daily Wine)Daily Wine said it was able to offer low prices by cutting down on supply costs through direct transactions and bulk orders, as well as using a low-cost suburban location. The closest subway station to the Uiwang shop is the Indeog

Eli Miller Mowry was born Jan. 23, 1880, as the third of nine children to Samuel Mowry and Mary Miller in a suburb of Bellville, Ohio. 　He participated in the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions in his college years and resolved to become a missionary. After being ordained in May 1905 by the American Presbyterian Church of Worcester, he and his wife came to Korea on Oct. 2 and mainly worked in the Pyongyang Mission chapter.  　After learning Korean, he taught general biology, genetics

At the 2016 Royal Culture Festival, visitors to major royal palaces in Seoul will be able to immerse themselves in the royal lifestyle of the Joseon era (1392-1910). 　From April 28 to May 8, Joseon-era palaces -- Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung and Deoksugung -- and Jongmyo Shrine will host a 10-day celebration of Joseon royal life. 　In its second year, the festival will hold some 30 programs consisting of concerts, performances, culinary events and exhibitions at the four major pa