Book fair set to open a new chapter

The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE, 台北國際書展) is about to open yet another chapter in its 11-year history next Tuesday, when the six-day show kicks off at Taipei's World Trade Center. Jointly organized by the Chinese Publishers' Development Foundation (CPDF, 中華圖書出版事業發展基金會) and the Government Information Office (GIO, 新聞局), the annual show attracts publishing houses from around the world. According to organizers, this year's show is set to be the most extensive to date with publishing houses from 49 countries set to descend on the World Trade Center to participate in Asia's largest and the world's fourth-largest international book exhibition.

Attracting fewer than 70 publishing houses from 11 countries, 1987's inaugural TIBE featured only 85 booths and generated little interest amongst the general public. All this changed in 1999, when the event became a truly international publishing affair. "We've certainly come a long way since the first TIBE in 1987," explained Gerald Tseng (曾繁潛), executive director of the CPDF. "The number of booths we see at TIBE now surpasses those at Asia's other annual book shows in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing."

Establishing a "Country of Honor" theme in 1999, that year's fair -- which saw Germany invited to be the event's inaugural country of honor -- saw 787 publishers from 42 countries displaying their wares in a total of 1,447 booths. A year later, when the UK was country of honor, the show grew yet again with 885 publishing houses from 45 countries packing the floor of the Taipei World Trade Center with 1,825 booths. When France acted as country of honor in 2001, a total of 1,838 booths representing 46 countries filled the trade center's main exhibition hall. And the choice of Japan as country of honor last year saw a staggering 1,015 publishing houses from 47 countries erecting 1,856 booths.

"Obviously the historic connections between Taiwan and Japan ensured that last year's show was one of the most successful to-date," Tseng said. "The number of visitors attending the show after it opened to the general public was staggering."

In keeping with what has become the norm, this year's show has once again grown and managed to attract even more participants. A total of 925 publishing houses representing 49 countries including the UK, China, France, Turkey, Brazil, Australia and Iran are slated to fill the World Trade Center's three exhibition halls from next Tuesday, displaying their thrillers, biographies, romances, children's books and mighty scholarly and scientific tomes in a record-breaking 2,092 booths.

Local readers might have been clued in apropos of what to expect from last year's show when Japanese publishing houses were honored, but this year looks set to be somewhat altogether very different.

With the choice of the Czech Republic as country of honor, this is the first time an Eastern European nation has been showcased at the event. And while Tseng readily admits local knowledge about all things Czech is minimal, the CPDF executive director remains confident the show will prove equally successful with publishing houses and the general public alike.

"We were looking for something a bit different and the chance to showcase an Eastern European country seemed perfect," Tseng said. "And while the Czech Republic might not be as well known locally as Japan, the European nation's rich cultural and literary history made it our number-one choice."