Taipei Book Fair Forced to Go Virtual
By Teri Tan
|
Feb 01, 2021
A new outbreak of Covid-19 cases at a local hospital effectively derailed the planned in-person segment of the 2021 Taipei International Book Fair, which ran from January 26 to 31 under the theme “Reading in the Time of a Pandemic.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture called off the physical fair shortly before it was set to open. The ministry had hoped to use the fair to give the country's domestic publishing and bookselling industries a boost by distributing 200,000 coupons—each valued at NT$100 (or $3.47)—to all fair visitors. But because of the Covid outbreak, all large-scale public events ahead of the upcoming week-long Chinese New Year holiday have now been canceled. (Thus far, the island has 911 Covid cases and only eight deaths due to Covid-19. But it reported its first Covid-19 death in eight months on Saturday and more than 4,000 people are now under quarantine.)