The Taipei International Book Exhibition next week is to feature acclaimed children’s book authors from various countries, as well as renowned Taiwanese illustrator Jimmy (幾米) and comic artist Ruan Guang-min (阮光民), the organizer announced yesterday.
The organizer, the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, arranged a number of “stargaze” themes featuring domestic and foreign star creators for this year’s event, which is to take place from Tuesday to Sunday next week.
The delegation from the Netherlands — the guest of honor — is to include the first Dutch author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novelette Thomas Olde Heuvelt, author of the bestselling novel Grand Hotel Europa Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, contemporary thinker Maxim Februari, “Dutch literary talent of 2019” Radna Fabias and more, the foundation said.
Photo: CNA
Other international authors participating include Alexander Pantsov from Russia, a history professor specializing in modern Chinese history; Cheon Seon-ran from South Korea, a rising star in science fiction; Gou Tanabe from Japan, a manga artist known for his adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s works; Bijan Moini from Germany, a human rights expert, lawyer and writer; and hairdresser and writer Danny Beuerbach, also from Germany, it said.
With a star-studded list of children’s book authors and graphic book creators, the event is not only for literary lovers, but also children, and is family-friendly, it said.
Japanese masters Gomi Taro, Miyanishi Tatsuya and Noritake Suzuki; South Korean illustrator Suzy Lee; and Canadian illustrator Sydney Smith are to share their works at the event, while Polish picture book authors Iwona Chmielewska is to hold a painting workshop for children on Sunday, it said.
Famous Taiwanese creators participating include Jimmy, Sean Chuang (小莊), Ruan, Chang Sheng (常勝) and Hambuck (漢寶包), it said, adding that Jimmy is to hold a recital and book signing activity on Saturday.
The event also features many big names in Taiwan’s literary world — Wu Ming-yi (吳明益), Pai Hsien-yung (白先勇), Lung Ying-tai (龍應台), Huang Chun-ming (黃春明), Chu Tien-hsin (朱天心), Chen Bo-ching (陳?青), Ma Hsin (馬欣), Gan Yao-ming (甘耀明) and Sabrina Huang (黃麗群), it said.
Influencers have enjoyed enormous popularity at the book exhibition in recent years, it said.
YouTuber “Retina” (視網膜) is to join in a dialogue with Tokyo-born travel writer Kengo Kobayashi on the latter’s new work and the cultures of Taiwan and Japan on Saturday, and graphic creator and YouTuber “weiteng” (微疼) is to hold a fan meeting on Sunday, it said.
The organizer also invited celebrities who crossed over into the literary world to share their unique experiences.
Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min (彭政閔), former star player of the professional baseball team the Brother Elephants, is to talk about a comic based on his life story on Friday and Pegatron Corp chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) is to share his memories of Taiwanese poet Yang Mu (楊牧) on Wednesday, it said.
Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) is to talk about his newly published autobiography on Sunday and master lyricist Lin Xi (林夕) is to share his philosophy on life on Saturday, it added.
Several mystery, detective and fantasy authors are to take part in the event, including Hu Hsuan (護玄) and Ji Qing (既晴) from Taiwan as well as Chen Hao-ji (陳浩基) and Albert Tam (譚劍) from Hong Kong, it said.
The schedule of all the activities and the guests is on the event’s Web site at www.tibe.org.tw.
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