Organizers of the upcoming Taipei International Book Exhibition said on Thursday that France has been selected as the fair’s theme for the fourth time, and is to prominently feature renowned authors and titles from the country.
The announcement came from exhibition organizers, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) and the Taipei Book Fair Foundation at a news conference.
The event, set to open on Thursday, will carry the slogan: “I read, therefore I am,” a play on French philosopher Rene Descartes’ famous quote: “I think, therefore I am.”
Photo: CNA
The media event was also attended by Bureau Francais de Taiwan’s Head of Culture, University Cooperation and Education David Kibler, along with European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Filip Grzegorzewski.
Kibler said he hopes reading can give people the comfort they need in a post-pandemic world.
The exhibition’s keynote speeches are to focus on audiobooks, while French creative studio Small Bang is to introduce a new style of comic book that includes interactive experiences, the organizers said.
Handwritten manuscripts from literary greats such as George Sand, Marcel Proust and Victor Hugo are to be on display, on loan from private collectors and the Francois-Mitterrand Library.
The works of contemporary French writers are also to be highlighted, including Chantal Thomas, Pierre Lemaitre and Eric Faye.
Ukraine will also share some of the spotlight in a special section called “We Stand with Ukraine,” which will display the works of 15 Ukrainian illustrators, reflecting their experiences and feelings during the Russian invasion.
Valentina Butenko, an international market development executive at Yakaboo, an online Ukrainian bookstore, is scheduled to lead talks on how the country’s culture and national identity are reflected in Ukraine’s literarature.
Butenko thanked the MOC for helping to make arrangements for a Ukrainian delegation to attend the fair, even though the war prevented such an effort from happening.
However, the war prevented such plans, but she will do her best to represent different views through discussions and the books she brought with her, she said.
Deputy Minister of Culture Lee Ching-hwi (李靜慧) said that the ministry invited Butenko after Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) read about how she left her studies in the UK to return home before the war and joined Yakaboo to promote Ukraine to the world.
The story was published by the Central News Agency, which was contacted to help bring her to Taiwan, Lee Ching-hwi said.
The 30th Taipei International Book Exhibition is the first to be held physically after two years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
The event is scheduled from Thursday to Tuesday next week at Exhibition Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS