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There's one man I've wanted to give a copy of Banned Book Club to since 2020. Moon Jae-In. But I couldn't because he was busy being president. It was the last panel of our book! Today, we got the chance. But that wasn't the best part.

In the 80s, he was a lawyer fighting for the freedom of banned book club members. He later became president after the dictator's daughter was impeached. Now he's retired and runs an indie bookstore/library in the mountains with his cats. Anyone can drop by to talk books and pet the cats.

It's usually busy, so you don't get much time, but there was this nice old man working as a greeter who it turned out had heard about Banned Book Club! He introduced us, hyped us up, and made Moon promise to let him borrow the copy we brought. We chatted, exchanged numbers, and became friends.

As we left, the old man said "I was in a banned book club, too." As Hyun Sook saved his number, the name sounded familiar. Turns out he was the lead defendant in the Burim Book Case. The one we mention in the book. The one the movie The Attorney is about. The one that changed Korea.

This thread is reaching people who have no idea what Banned Book Club is. Hi! My wife and I wrote a book about her experience being hunted for reading illegal books in 1980s Korea and it has been banned across the US. We gave a copy to President Moon. store.ironcircus.com/products/ban...

What a day brightener! Feels like a full circle has been made.