Taiwan is the world's main source of translations of foreign books into Chinese, and the annual Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) is the premier event at which foreign and Chinese publishers meet and deals are struck.
But the public also gets an opportunity to view and buy an unrivaled range of foreign titles awaiting translation as well as already translated works and take part in a wide range of associated events. The fair every year attracts tens of thousands, packing the exhibition halls of the Taipei World Trade Center.
"Ours may be smaller than the book fairs of Frankfurt and Bologna," says Yunnia Yang, TIBE's international specialist. "But it's nevertheless huge, being Asia's most important, and getting bigger every year."
This year the occasion happens to coincide with the visit by Nobel prize-winner Gao Xingjian (高行建), who will be in Taiwan as a guest of the Taipei city government. France -- Gao's current country of residence and citizenship -- will be the "country of honor" at TIBE.
An astonishing 886 publishers from 46 countries will attend this year's fair. With each hoping to make their mark, TIBE represents a major opportunity for people in the book business as well as book lovers to make contacts and purchases of all kinds.
France will be the center of attention, with a special French Hall, and an almost unbelievable total of 180 French publishers present for the occasion. A number of notable French authors have been specially invited, including the well-known cartoonist Golo, noted China expert and translator Andre Levy, Russian-born novelist now residing in France Andrei Makine and historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet.
In addition, there will be a program of recent French films, mostly popular successes from the last few years. Many of the most important of these are being screened at 9.30am and 10am. The best-known of the films are the futuristic The Fifth Element and the action fantasy Taxi, both cult successes with the younger generation in France. There will also be The Dinner Game, a comedy centering on the desire not to pay tax, and On Connait La Chanson, from the veteran director Alain Resnais, in which the characters speak through clips of old popular songs.
FNAC is also organizing a French literary cafe at the store with daily talks and events. The French translators of Gao will speak on Feb. 2 at 2.30pm, there will be a presentation on the subject of e-books the following afternoon, and a lecture on the long history of the Jesuits in China on Feb. 6.
Gao will predictably attract the lion's share of attention when he visits the exhibition on its last two days (Feb.5 and Feb. 6). On Feb. 6, at 4pm, he is slated to take part in a discussion with Royal Swedish Academy and Nobel Prize Committee member Goran Malmqvist. Malmqvist, a distinguished translator of Chinese, will deliver a speech in English on issues confronting translators of Chinese and Taiwanese writers on Feb. 2 at 4pm.
Malmqvist also happens to be on the editorial board of Columbia University Press's Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan' series which in 1999 published Cheng Ching-wen's (鄭情文) story collection Three-Legged Horse to great acclaim. Cheng, a master of social realism and psychological insight, has been hailed as the "royal palm" of Taiwanese letters, towering over his contemporaries. He will take part in a discussion on literature in translation on Feb. 5 at 3pm, in the company of, among others, the eminent scholar Chi Pang-yuan (齍邦媛).
TIBE's opening ceremony is on Feb. 1 at 11am in the Taipei World Trade Center.
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