This book has no table of contents.

“Just one line is enough.”
423 Poetry by Park No-hae: Guides to Your Life
A book of wisdom and inspiration that moves me forward: "Walking Reading"

This is the first book like this.

This is a new type of book that has never been seen before.
Park No-hae's "Walking Reading" is enough in just one line.
“Flowers don’t fly,” “Be yourself, not be confident,” “Don’t love work, let love work for you,” “Fashion is an idea,” “The perfection of evil is to have a good face,” “Have little and be classy,” etc.
It contains 423 essays, each line of which seems to be a condensed book, along with color photographs that capture the hidden light of the world that poet Park No-hae has documented for over 20 years.
With a total of 880 pages, it feels like a scripture or dictionary, is thick enough to fit in one hand, and is made of sky blue cloth, making it as beautiful as a small handbag.
The classic image of a ‘walking person’ engraved like a symbol on the cover catches the eye.
It is taken from a photo taken by poet Park No-hae in 2008 of a boy doing a 'walking read' in the Al Jazeera plains, the birthplace of ancient civilization.


“The warm sunlight caresses the green wheat sprouts,
He is now kissing the earth with his two feet.
I'm walking into an old book.
The clothes, gait, and tones of our ancestors are the same.
“Walking reading” as a recitation tradition prior to modern silent reading.

Poet Park No-hae wanted to convey to us today the experience of 'walking reading,' a long-standing reading activity.
"Walking Reading" is a book that contains all the topics of life, and can be read at any page, anywhere, anytime, while walking.

Because “the completion of true reading is life”

Poet Park No-hae still writes all his writings with an old fountain pen.
His first poetry collection, 『Labor's Dawn』, written in a single-room basement room after returning from an all-night shift at a factory in the 1980s, and 『People Are the Only Hope』, written on a piece of paper while imprisoned as a life sentence prisoner, to avoid surveillance, were both handwritten manuscripts.
Even in that small prison cell, and even in the conflict zone across the border, poet Park No-hae's lifelong ritual and source of creativity was 'walking reading.'
The book "Walking Reading" contains the essence of life and thought, lived, loved, and resisted with one's whole body in a life full of wounds. That is why it is so concise and powerful.


“If I were to pour my red blood into a bottle of ink, which I use several bottles of each month, how would I write?” Poet Park No-hae, who has established the principle and determination to write only what he has lived through, risking his life for each and every word, because “the completion of reading is life.”
“Are we reading too much and experiencing too much these days, that we can’t stay in our inner feelings?” In an age where the more we read, the more lost we become, and the more distant we become from ourselves.
Now is the time when I need 'a single line of writing', 'a single book' that illuminates my life.
"Walking Reading" is a book that will give you the experience of encountering a new self through condensed sentences, where inspiration flows through them, and heart-wrenching lyricism.
It will help you see the world through different eyes and serve as a gentle guide through life's many challenges.

Includes first-ever color photographs and excellent English translation.

The 'Park No-hae Photo Exhibition', which has been ongoing since 2010, is considered a synonym for black-and-white analog photography, and this book contains only color works carefully selected from among the hundreds of thousands of photos taken so far.
Each and every sentence is vividly illustrated with photographs that add life and light to the text, awakening the senses in a colorful way.

There is also the pleasure of reading good sentences in elegant English at the same time.
Brother Anthony of Taize (Ahn Seon-jae), a peerless master of Korean literature translation, translated the works of poet Park No-hae based on his extensive understanding of their world, and included them alongside the English translation, preserving the deep meaning and rhythm of the Korean language.

A journey to find myself with 'Walking Reading'

Poet Park No-hae is now sending you a thick letter containing the writings he has been carefully storing away.
A line that embraces the dawn of someone who can't sleep, a line that helps them endure a precarious day, a line that gives them hope as they write it down in their notebook, a line that gives them the strength to think by asking a fundamental question they've forgotten.
The one book that will illuminate my life with sentences like a light in the darkness, 『Walking Reading』.
When you open the book, you will find yourself on a journey to another self, walking through a vast wilderness, a forest of beautiful trees, and a dazzling snowfield.
So, on a day when I feel tired and want to turn back, a sentence from "Walking Reading" suddenly comes to mind and gives me the strength to get back on my feet and move forward.

“Wherever you are, wherever you are, let’s not stop ‘walking reading’ and walking our own path.
“When you read with a longing heart, when you read with love, with the fire of love, ‘Walking Reading’ will draw out from within you the mysterious power that nurtures you, protects you, and pushes you forward.” (Park No-hae, from the preface to ‘Walking Reading’)