The Kimjang Festival returns to the streets of New Malden this November: Kimjang Festival 2021 Saturday 20 November 2021 New Malden Sharing is giving. This autumn we are back with the heart of Korean tradition and cuisine, Kimjang, which is the traditional and communal process of preparing, making, and sharing kimchi. For those who aren’t … [Read More]
Place: Kingston + New Malden
Gallery: New Malden’s Chuseok Harvest Fest
The fickle Autumn weather smiled on New Malden’s Chuseok festivities last weekend. With pent-up demand resulting from lockdown and the lack of the usual independence day celebrations in mid-August, and the sunny weather beckoning people out onto the streets, the celebrations were almost too successful. LKL was there in time for the opening speeches and … [Read More]
New Malden Korean Harvest Fest 2021
The Korean Harvest Festival is back: this time the festivities are in New Malden High Street and St George’s Square. We didn’t have any independence day celebrations during August so this September event will be extra welcome. There’s plenty of opportunity to be part of the fun – for example you could participate in the … [Read More]
Building bridges between North and South in New Malden
We do not need reminding that the Korean peninsula is divided. But the implications of that division for Koreans in Britain are not so obvious. I remember at a British Korean Society event ten years ago at which the North and South Korean Ambassadors were speaking, as audience and speakers mingled over drinks afterwards, one … [Read More]
The 2020 (online) Kimjang Festival
Did you think that the second lockdown would get in the way of the second Kimjang Festival? Think again. The organisers have been working hard to create an online programme of events looking at how people are making kimchi at home in the UK. There are also spotlights on some innovative restaurants and chefs in … [Read More]
The annual Harvest Fest moves online
Congratulations to the organisers of the annual Korean Harvest Fest for putting something so enticing together in these difficult times. The Chuseok celebrations organised by Korean British Cultural Exchange have moved online this year. Plans for screenings in the heard of Koreatown (New Malden) have had to be shelved at the last minute because of … [Read More]
The World Korean Food Festival 2020
We just found out about this fortnight-long food event in New Malden in September via a post on the KCC’s Facebook page. After a frantic bout of messaging various Korean contacts to get further details, I received a copy of a kakaotalk image, which is embedded in the post below. As you can see, it’s … [Read More]
Two days total immersion in BTS at Kingston: a report from the Global Interdisciplinary Conference Project
When I told someone at the (virtually empty) office on the first Friday of the new decade that I would be spending the weekend at a two-day conference on BTS, he at first looked blank. I had to explain to him that they’re a K-pop boy band, at which he grinned and urged me to … [Read More]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2019
A review of some of the highlights and trends in the Korean cultural year, primarily in London but also with half an eye to anything we might have seen elsewhere in the UK. The review is a personal one, inevitably skewed towards the events we managed to get to. Introduction This time last year I … [Read More]
Making and Sharing Kimchi Project: the 2019 Kimjang Festival
The culmination of many months’ preparation is here. Kimjang: Making and Sharing Kimchi is a project made possible by money raised by National Lottery players. It involves recording, archiving and distributing 20 authentic kimchi recipes and personal Kimjang experiences from North, South and Chinese-Korean residents, and hosting an annual Kimjang Festival on New Malden High … [Read More]
BTS: A Global Interdisciplinary Conference Project at Kingston University
Media & Communications & Music at Kingston University present: BTS (방탄소년단): A Global Interdisciplinary Conference Project Dates: Saturday 4 January – Sunday 5 January 2020 Venue: John Galsworthy Building | Penrhyn Road campus | Penrhyn Road | Kingston upon Thames | Surrey KT1 2EE Price: to be confirmed Booking and full conference programme is now … [Read More]
Video: Kingston Korean Harvest Fest 2019 ft The Move
It was glorious weather yesterday for Kingston’s Korean Harvest Fest – almost too hot for some of the energetic Kpop dancers and the visiting professionals from Korea. The ice cream sellers were doing brisk trade, as of course were the Korean food stalls that were set up down one side of the historic market place. … [Read More]
A visit to New Malden’s 2019 Korean Independence Day celebrations
Having arrived back in town from the Edinburgh Fringe around midnight the previous evening, I was never going to make it to the 11am speeches and other formalities that kick off the traditional Korean Independence Day celebrations in New Malden. But it was clear that there had been a good turnout: by the time I … [Read More]
Kingston’s Korean Harvest Festival 2019
This year’s Kingston Korean Harvest Festival, organised by Korean British Cultural Exchange, forms part of the broader Kingston River Heritage Festival in partnership with Totally Thames. One of the strands of the Harvest Fest is a community dance project, which will be repeated the following day, Sunday 15 September, in the Scoop outside City Hall, … [Read More]
Remembering the Sewol – the campaign’s next phase
This month Remembering Sewol UK is moving from their regular location at Trafalgar Square, where they have had a monthly presence for over five years, to New Malden – London’s ‘Koreatown’. They will be providing leaflets, yellow ribbons and badges to the public and engage in conversation with those who are interested in or affected … [Read More]
2019 Independence Day Korean Festival in New Malden
The celebrations by the Korean community are often a word-of-mouth thing. Everyone knows they’re going to happen — at least, everyone in the Korean community — but no-one seems to want to publicise it to non-Koreans. So credit to Wook Kim for posting a video about the upcoming New Malden celebrations on Facebook. The festivals … [Read More]