The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TiBE) today officially opened, launching the 34th edition of Taiwan's largest international book event of the year.
The exhibition opened at 10am at the Taipei World Trade Center and runs through Sunday, featuring 509 stands from 29 countries and more than 60 international authors, co-organizer the Taipei Book Fair Foundation said in a statement yesterday.
This is the second consecutive year since the COVID-19 pandemic that TiBE has featured more than 500 stands. In 2019, the last edition before the pandemic, the exhibition brought together 735 publishers from 52 countries with 1,859 stands.
Photo: Ling Mei-hsueh, Taipei Times
This year’s TiBE is themed "CreaTHAIvity," with Thailand serving as the guest of honor for the third time and the first since 2014.
At least 18 Thai writers are expected to attend, including Veeraporn Nitiprapha, the first Thai writer to receive the Southeast Asian Writers Award twice, and former Thai lawmaker Pita Limjaroenrat, the foundation said.
Nitiprapha's second novel, Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat (佛曆西沉與黑玫瑰貓的記憶的記憶), which won her the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 2018, and Limjaroenrat's The Almost Prime Minister (未竟之路：被體制封殺的泰國準總理皮塔，點燃一個世代的民主之戰), recounting his high-stakes journey during the 2023 general election and his ultimately unsuccessful bid to become prime minister, were published in Chinese in Taiwan late last month. An English version of Nitiprapha's novel is also available.
Other international authors include Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto, South Korean novelist Cheon Myeong-kwan and US novelist Anthony Marra.
During its six-day run, the exhibition is to open at 10am daily and close at 6pm from Tuesday to Thursday, 10pm on Friday and Saturday, and 6pm on Sunday.
Admission is free for students in Taiwan under the age of 18, as well as for people with physical disabilities and one accompanying person.
Residents south of Taoyuan, including Taoyuan itself, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, can also enter free with same-day high-speed rail or train tickets.
Single-day tickets are priced at NT$180.
Students in Taiwan aged 18 or older can purchase discounted tickets for NT$100 with a valid student identification card. The same price applies to people aged 65 or older and to the general public after 6pm during the final three days of the exhibition.
Ticket booths close one hour before the exhibition ends each day.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS