The Taipei International Book Exhibition, which drew to a close yesterday, attracted a record-breaking 600,000-plus visitors, organizers of the six-day show said.
A total of 749 publishing companies from more than 60 countries participated in the annual fair, the most it has ever seen, said Huang Pao-ping (黃寶萍), executive director of the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, at the closing ceremony.
More than 800 book-related events were held at the fair, whose theme this year was “green reading.”
COOPERATION
Juergen Boos, chairman of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest in the world, has expressed interest in cooperating with the foundation next year to provide training for local publishing experts to prepare them for the digital era, said Wang Jung-wen (王榮文), the foundation’s chairman.
Wang said he hoped that the various international exchanges would attract publishers from China to Taiwan and facilitate closer publishing ties between the two sides.
ADAPTATIONS
He said the book fair organized more than 130 matchmaking events and forums for close to 100 film and television companies from Hong Kong and Taiwan that are interested in finding books to adapt into films or television series.
Taiwanese publishers would also visit Hong Kong next month to attend activities held by the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, which aims to connect filmmakers with film financiers, to further cooperation, Wang said.
BELGIUM
Meanwhile, Belgium was announced as the theme country for next year’s exhibition.
Caroline Vermeulen, director of the Belgian Office, Taipei, said her country would aim to bring “cultural diversity” and a wide array of books on science, literature, architecture, history, design and culinary art to Taiwanese.
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