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.)