The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE, 台北國際書展) opened the 13th chapter in its history earlier this week with a bevy of international and local publishing houses once again temporarily transforming The Taipei World Trade (TWTC) into Asia's biggest bookstore.
Organized by the Taipei Book Fair Foundation (TBFF, 財團法人台北書展基金會), -- a foundation that is jointly managed by 18 of Taiwan's leading publishing houses -- and under the auspices of the Government Information Office (GIO, 新聞局), the annual event has grown to become the world's fourth largest book fair since its conception in 1987.
This year 877 publishing houses representing 40 countries are displaying their tomes in 2,099 booths at all three of the TWTC's exhibition halls. Although this number is slightly down from last year, which saw 925 publishing houses representing 51 countries vying for attention from the nation's multitude of bookworms, organizers don't expect this minor drop in numbers to discourage visitors.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
According to Rex How (郝明義), Chairman of the TBFF, the foundation has spent the last eight months preparing to make this year's book exhibition better than ever before.
In order to achieve this goal the TBFF, which has been awarded the rights to host the annual event until 2007, has created what it has dubbed "a multi-functional book fair." The TBFF's plan incorporates aspects of interest to both publishing industry insiders as well as individual readers.
"TIBE will be different this year as we have created a book show that reaches out to both the publishing industry and the reader," said How. "We will be promoting global publishing exchanges, at which publishers will be able to interact on a commercial basis, while at the same time encouraging the public to learn about the cultural and social characteristics of other Asian nations through print."
Under the slogan "Gateway to the Publishing Markets of Asia," TIBE 2005 will focus on establishing cultural exchanges between Asian nations and positioning itself as a "gateway" for Western publishing houses that wish to learn about Asian publishing trends to enter the Asian publishing market.
The first country to be honored in this new arena is South Korea, which, according to How, was chosen because it shares many of the same social and religious facets as Taiwan.
A total of 15 South Korean publishing houses are participating in this event and are housed under one roof at the exhibition's aptly named Korea Pavilion. Here visitors with an interest in all things Korean can enjoy exhibitions and seminars focusing on Korean culture, history and social trends.
In addition to the lectures there will also be displays of Korean martial arts, screenings of several award-winning South Koran movies, drama performances and even Korean cookery presentations.
The second aspect of TBFF's new strategy for TIBE is to promote what it calls "Publishing Expertise." Aimed at attracting both industry insiders as well interested members of the general public, TBFF has organized a series of seminars, speeches and discussions to be hosted by publishing houses, authors and illustrators.
Those invited to hold lectures at TIBE 2005 include representatives of Reader's Digest, Director Peter Wang and well-known thriller writer Lawrence Block.
The third and most generally public-friendly aspect of the new TIBE format is labeled "Reading Life." While children's books have always featured at previous TIBEs, the category has been given its very own exhibition hall for the first time.
Hall III of the TWTC features 400 booths, and thousands of children's books from around the world will be on display and available for purchase. Special seminars aimed at readers, writers and illustrators of kids' books will run throughout the duration of the book exhibition.
As always, the comic-book area is expected to generate a lot of interest. Located in Hall II of the TWTC, the area features comic-book publications from Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and China and will showcase selections of some of the most significant works from Asia.
In addition to the colorful reading matter, large numbers of cosplay fans will be on hand, dressed up as their favorite comic book characters and, for the first time, will be presenting short performances based on the comic book stories.
The highlight of the comic book exhibition will take place tomorrow morning at 10am when the GIO hosts the hugely popular annual Comic Book Awards and dishes out prizes to Taiwan's leading comic book artists and
creators.
What: Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE,
Where: Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Halls I, II and III
When: Now through Feb. 20
Tickets: NT$100 per day
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