The Taiwan pavilion at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest book fair in the world, is to feature a graphic novel section for the first time this year.
The new section will showcase graphic novels by Taiwanese artists. Two graphic novelists — Juan Kuang-min (阮光民) and AKRU — will also attend the German fair and hold book signings on Friday and Saturday next week at the Taiwan pavilion, which is to be set up by the Taipei Book Fair Foundation and the Ministry of Culture.
Department of Humanities and Publications Director Wang Shu-fang (王淑芳) said it is the first time the ministry and the foundation have funded Taiwanese comic artists to attend the fair.
The two artists were selected because their works show Taiwan’s history and unique characteristics, Wang said.
She said that graphic novels are popular in Europe and the US and expressed hope that the new section will “open up new possibilities for Taiwanese comic art.”
“I hope to show the inclusive nature of Taiwanese culture” to the people at the fair, said Juan, whose works are known for their warm observances of ordinary people in Taiwanese society.
Born in Yunlin County, Juan said he grew up listening to many stories, because his family used to run a grocery store where people would gather and chat every day.
Meanwhile, AKRU is interested in the Aboriginal cultures and the people of Taiwan.
With a theme of “Made in Taiwan,” the 240m2 Taiwan pavilion will feature 722 print and digital publications from 80 Taiwanese publishers, according to the Taipei Book Fair Foundation.
The foundation will also subsidize 11 representatives from Taiwan’s publishing sector to promote copyright trading at the fair, which opens on Wednesday.
Last year, more than 7,200 exhibitors from 102 countries participated in the fair, which drew more than 275,000 visitors.
Finland will be this year’s theme country, and 58 authors from the Nordic nation are expected to visit Frankfurt this month.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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