The Italian pavilion at the Taipei International Book Exhibition is hosting a series of lectures and presenting 15 Chinese-language editions of works by Italo Calvino to mark the centenary of the author’s birth.
The Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office said that it has for the first time organized the country’s presence at the annual book fair in collaboration with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which frequently features illustrators from Taiwan.
The office said in a news release that the pavilion would have sections devoted to Italian comic book authors, illustration books and works by young authors of illustrated children’s books.
Photo: CNA
The pavilion is to mark the centenary of the birth of Italo Calvino — an author of classic novels such as Invisible Cities and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler — with a collection of 15 of his books translated into Chinese, the statement said.
The office said that the series of lectures started yesterday with an event featuring Ni An-yue (倪安宇), a translator of multiple books by Calvino and other contemporary Italian authors.
On Friday, Taiwan-based comparative theology academic Umberto Bresciani would hold a lecture titled “The debate over science and metaphysics (1923-2023),” it said.
On Saturday, writer Beatrice Hsieh (謝佩霓) would hold a lecture on “the Italian literary genius,” the office said.
Meanwhile, the Belgian Office in Taipei said it had invited 11 publishers to take part in its pavilion at the book fair, which would focus mainly on comics and children’s books.
Belgian author and illustrator Marine Schneider, whose Hekla and Laki was awarded the Best Children’s Book prize at the Montreuil Children’s Book Fair in France last year, would give a speech at the exhibition, it said.
The book fair is held at the Taipei World Trade Center from Tuesday to Sunday, featuring more than 470 overseas publishers from 32 nations.
A single-day ticket costs NT$100, while admission is free for children and foreign nationals who show their passports or residence permits at the entrance.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by