The 2023 edition of the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) will kick off at the end of January, featuring Poland as the “guest of honor” and more than 300 activities over six days.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Chen Ying-fang (???), a senior official with the Ministry of Culture (MOC), said this year’s “the Multiverse of Reading”-themed event aimed to demonstrate the vibrancy and diversity of Taiwan’s publishing culture.
The book fair, which runs from Jan. 31 to Feb. 5, will showcase a wide range of titles of different subjects and genres while giving exposure to books written in various languages and celebrated in different cultures, Chen added.
According to the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, the event’s organizer, the book fair is divided into several sections, covering foreign books, children’s books, manga (comic books), and Chinese-language literature.
There are also sections dedicated to independent publishing houses and digital publishers, the organizer said, adding that a newly established area would display board games catering to different ages.
Poland, for the first time since the book fair was founded in 1987, will serve as the event’s “guest of honor,” with three small exhibitions organized at the Polish pavilion.
The exhibitions, according to the organizer, will introduce the people of Taiwan to the rich history, literature, and art of the Central European nation through displays of Polish books, illustrations as well as archives.
In addition, eight Polish writers, including Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the six-volume series of books, “The Witcher,” and Witold Szablowsk, author of “Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny,” have been invited to give talks at the book fair, the organizer added.
The Children’s Pavilion, meanwhile, invites children below the age of 12 to enter the world of the ocean and get to know 16 different marine lives, such as the sperm whale, nautilus, flying fish, and horseshoe crab, among others, according to Kan Ke-ping (???), head of the curating company, Seed Design.
The design of the pavilion has taken inspiration from such classic novels as “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas” by French writer Jules Verne and “The Old Man and the Sea” by American author Ernest Hemingway, Kan said.
The fair will also feature more than 300 activities, including talks, book-signing events, music performances, and DIY workshops, according to organizers.
This includes “Listening to the Different Songs,” a one-night-only reading event on Feb. 3 curated by author Lee Ming-tsung (???), who is currently a visiting professor at Shih Chien University.
Eight guests will read to the public a text of their own choice, including Taiwan-based Japanese actress Tanaka Chie, Vietnam-born Taiwanese documentarian Nguyen Kim Hong, Taiwanese writer Gustave Cheng (???), and Polish poet Marianna Bogumila-Kielar.
In the meantime, Lee said, illustrators, modern dancers, and musicians will simultaneously perform on the stage and incorporate the readings into their live performances.
In addition to allowing visitors to buy books from domestic and overseas publishers and participate in talks by authors, illustrators, and professionals in the publishing industry, the book fair also provides a platform for exchanges between Taiwanese publishers and their foreign counterparts, according to the organizer.
A single-day ticket for the book fair is NT$100 (US$3.28), but it is free of charge for students under the age of 18, and foreign nationals who show their passports and residence permits at the entrance, the organizer said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel