Poster for the 2026 Seoul International Writers' Festival (SIWF) Who are we to invent artificial intelligence, only to immediately start biting our nails over its technological proficiency? Who are we to come together and protect one another, while surrounded by conflict and violence?Those questions underpin this year's Seoul International Writers' Festival and its theme, "Who Are We?" bringing together writers from around the world to explore identity, humanity and literature.The Literature Translation Institute of Korea said Monday that this year's festival will be held Sept. 11-16 at Ara Art Center in Jongno, Seoul.Organizers say the theme comes from literature's enduring search for identity. Literature has long grappled with the question "Who am I?" Sometimes, in our search for self, we reach for larger identities. Race, religion, nation — these purport to offer an easier path to the thing literature is so reluctant to hand over. Has this brought us any closer to answering the age-old question? Not likely. On the contrary, we're faced today with ever more means of hatred and war. So we imagine another question. Unable to answer who "I" is, we turn and ask, "Who are you?"A total of 24 writers — 14 from Korea and 10 from overseas — will participate in more than 20 programs, including one-on-one conversations between Korean and international authors, discussions between writers and translators, and interactive workshops with audiences.The opening conversation will feature Korean novelist Kim Ae-ran and Chilean author Benjamin Labatut. Under the session theme "We Are Someone," the two writers will discuss "an exchange of warm yet incisive perspectives on understanding the self and accepting the other."Other international guests include South African novelist Damon Galgut, Japanese author Keiichiro Hirano, Canadian novelist Silvia Moreno-Garcia and German poet Uljana Wolf, who will participate in a range of discussions and events.Korean novelist Lee Hee-joo and American horror writer John Langan, who both attended the Quais du Polar crime fiction festival in Lyon in April, will reunite in Seoul.The festival will also spotlight picture books and graphic novels through cross-genre conversations. Picture book authors Kim Hyo-eun and Beatrice Alemagna will appear together, while cartoonists Park Kun-woong and Zhou Jian-xin will discuss their work.A special session pairing writers with translators will feature novelist Moon Ji-hyuk and translator Paige Morris, focusing on the role of translation in fostering literary exchange across cultures."I hope the festival will become a place where writers and readers from different languages and cultures can better understand one another through literature while reflecting together on the value of our shared humanity," LTI Korea President Chon Soo-young said.The festival will be held both online and in person, with all programs offered free of charge and simultaneous interpretation available in Korean and English.Reservations can be made through the festival's website and Naver Reservation. Benjamin Labatut (Max Delporte) Kim Ae-ran (ⓒlcc)