The main ballroom of Taipei's Formosa Regent Hotel was the place to be for the local literati yesterday afternoon, as Taiwan's largest bookstore chain, Kingstone (
Now in its 21st year, the annual awards ceremony has not only become one of the nation's leading literature-related events, but is also seen by those in the publishing industry as the most significant indicator of Taiwan's reading habits.
"Although this event is now in its 21st year we're still seeing fresh
literary ideas, be they from local authors or international ones," said Kingstone Director Chou Chuan-feng (周傳芳).
"All of which just goes to show just how rich the written word really is. Even at a time when computers are becoming more and more influential in everyday life, people still make time to buy and read books," Chou said.
Last year the Taiwanese public made the time to read more books than ever before. While SARS blighted everything from the economy to the sporting calendar, the bookstore was busy celebrating record-breaking annual sales of NT$31million, an increase of 39 percent.
Topping Kingstone's bestseller list was J.K. Rowling's latest tale of mystery and magic Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a book which sold more than 100,000 copies within the first two months of its publication at Kingstone book stores nationwide. The local translation of Rowling's international best seller may have stolen the show, but local author, Hou Wen-yung (侯文詠) came a close second for his tale of a dysfunctional 15 year-old rebel, Dangerous Mind (
The prize for the "Most Influential Figure" in the local publishing world was shared this year. Financial and investment guru Cheng Hung-yi's (
Too numerous to award individually, Kingstone's "Most Influential Books of the Year" comprised an odd assortment of novels, biographies and inspirational books. Leading the pack was Cheng Ta-chun (
Foreign authors topped the polls in the "Inspirational," or "Self Help" category also, with the Chinese-language versions of Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's Execution and Jim Collins' Good to Great taking the top slots. Local financial adviser and author, Cheng Hung-yi (
Along with books, the book store also released the results of its best selling magazines for last year. The gossip magazine, Next Magazine (
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby