It's book time in Taipei again, as it is every February when the annual Taipei International Book Fair takes center stage at the World Trade Center. This year, in addition to conventional books, the products of e-publishers and Internet sites will also have a presence.
"An international book fair is an important way for publishers, editors, book buyers and agents to network, compare notes and create a buzz for new books headed for the bestseller lists," said Joyce Yen (顏秀娟), a book buyer for China Times Publishers in Taipei.
The Taipei book fair, while not quite on par with major book fairs in the US, Germany or Italy, is in its 8th year and gaining a solid reputation among Asian publishers and buyers, Yen said yesterday during a launch party for the trade show.
The fair opens today -- with the first two days reserved for publishers and others in the book industry. The general public may visit the fair for four days, beginning on Friday, Chou said.
While Tokyo has an annual book fair that gets its share of media attention both in Japan and overseas, the Taipei fair appears to be playing a larger role in the Asian region for editors and agents, said Chou Fu-an (
With thousands of domestic and overseas vendor booths inside the cavernous World Trade Center, almost 1,000 exhibitors from Taiwan and abroad will be hawking their wares and touting their most popular titles.
Large contingents of publishers from Japan, the US and Europe have come to the trade show in search of new outlets for their titles as Taiwan is proving to be a lucrative market for English and Japanese books in translation, Chou said.
Smaller publishers from Southeast Asia and the Pacific region are also attending the fair, including some publishers from China, Chou said.
Britain has been chosen as the featured country at this year's fair, with several British authors in attendance, including Chris Wilkinson, Jonathan Mantle and journalist/historian Timothy Garton Ash, according to the GIO.
In keeping with this year's theme, several major UK publishers have sent their top executives to Taipei to network with their Taiwan counterparts and talk with editors and agents, Ian Grant of Two-Can Publishing in London said.
While the book fair is primarily a celebration of the printed word, it is also focusing this year on the synergy between electronic media, computer software and the Internet, Chou said.
"Books and educational materials are moving in a new direction, and the computer revolution has been playing a big part in the transformation," said Yen, who regularly visits book fairs in Germany and the US in search of new titles for the Taiwan market.
"As a result, the fair this year has a large section highlighting the wares of electronic publishers and Internet sites. It's really becoming a whole new ballgame," she said.
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