The organizers of the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) on Tuesday introduced some of the main pavilions and activities of the event, and goodies available for visitors.
Earlier this month the book fair’s organizers introduced this year’s guest of honor, the Netherlands, and international writers who are to attend the event. On Tuesday they held another press event to showcase pavilions with a predominantly Taiwanese focus.
These include a children’s pavilion, a digital pavilion, a Taiwanese comic book pavilion, a literature pavilion, and a pavilion dedicated to independent bookstores and publishers.
Photo: CNA
The children’s pavilion is to spotlight a large model of a ship and feature ocean-themed decorations to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Dutch sailors setting foot in Taiwan, said Jeffery Lin (林峻丞), founder of the New Taipei City-based social enterprise Culture, Art and Nature, which curates the pavilion.
The pavilion is to feature story books about the sea and maritime adventures, and children are to be able to read the storybooks on display and have audio recordings of their recitations made, which could be downloaded via a link, he said.
Three Taiwanese podcasters as well as an unnamed “VIP” are to visit the section to read select books to children, he said.
At the digital pavilion, visitors are to be asked to take part in story writing via an app on a console or their mobile phones, which has customizable book covers featuring users’ portraits, said Tahan Lin (林大涵), CEO of crowdfunding consultancy company Backer-Founder, which is responsible for designing the pavilion.
The goal is to familiarize people with e-books and e-book platforms, while promoting the idea of “you as a book” that can be shared and potentially help others, Lin said.
The goal is to upload at least 5,000 e-books made by visitors, who, after sharing their stories online, are to receive a prize supplied by the event sponsors, said Tahan Lin.
The Taiwan comic book pavilion is to feature 32 works selected by comic book editors, publishers and copywriters, and written by Taiwanese comic book artists, who are considered to possess the potential to be popular overseas, as well as works that dominate the bestseller lists of online booksellers Kingstone and Books.com, said Yeh Tzu-hao (葉子豪), a section chief at the Taiwan Creative Content Agency, which overlooks the section.
The literature pavilion is to feature literary works chosen by a selection of publishers, said Nikki Lin (林巾力), director of National Taiwan Museum of Literature, which organizes the pavilion.
Meanwhile, the section dedicated to independent bookstores and publishers is to feature recordings of sounds associated with 31 independent bookstores in Taiwan, Taiwan Association for Independent Bookshop Culture secretary-general Lin Hung-ju (林虹汝) said.
The section is also to feature “independent listening rooms” where visitors can listen to music inspired by the sounds, Lin Hung-ju said, adding that visitors are also to be able to take home a program introducing the pavilion and the philosophy behind its design.
In an effort to support local publishers and promote reading, visitors are to receive discounts equivalent to the ticket price, which is NT$150 for the general public and NT$100 for students older than 18 and visitors who are 65 or older, Ministry of Culture Department of Humanities and Publications head Yang Ting-chen (楊婷媜) said.
In addition, residents who are 16 to 22 years old are to be able to use “Culture Point” e-vouchers when they shop, she said.
Visitors arriving from south of New Taipei City, including Yilan County, are to be granted free admission upon presenting an on-the-day transportation ticket stub, the ministry said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to