Losing its physical fair within days of opening because of a new COVID-19 outbreak, Taiwan’s biggest book fair extends its online run by four months. (Sponsored)
Taipei International Book Exhibition chair Robert Lin speaks in the show’s grand opening video. Image: TIBE
Robert Lin: ‘The Fortifying Power of Books’
With its online evocation offered in English as well as Chinese, the Taipei International Book Exhibition is off to an energetic start, seemingly no loss of spirit because of the COVID-19 virus outbreak that has scuttled its physical elements.
Originally planned for both digital and physical presentation, the show is annually the kickoff to world publishing’s new year of public-facing fair events and Frankfurter Buchmesse’s professional programming for the book trade. But on January 20, when Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center swiftly revised its crowd guidance as several cases were confirmed, the administration of the moved quickly to quell a series of
Taipei book fair opens online with virtual exhibits, events
01/26/2021 07:28 PM
Image from the Taipei Book Fair website
Taipei, Jan. 26 (CNA) The 2021 Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) opened virtually on Tuesday, giving readers the opportunity to browse through exhibits and attend livestreamed events from the comfort of their own homes.
This year s book fair was originally set to be held both in person and online from Jan. 26-31. Organizers, however, decided to cancel the in-person portion last week, due to concerns sparked by a domestic cluster infection of COVID-19 that surfaced earlier this month.
Speaking at the book fair s opening on Tuesday, Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) said that canceling the physical part of the event was an extremely difficult decision as many publishers and readers were looking forward to it.
International book exhibition holds online opening
By Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter
Organizers of the Taipei International Book Exhibition yesterday held an online opening ceremony to launch the virtual pavilion of South Korea, the guest of honor at this year’s event.
Organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, the 29th annual exhibition was scheduled to open yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center and run until Sunday. However, citing changes in the domestic COVID-19 situation, the ministry on Wednesday last week announced that the exhibition would be an online-only event.
In a video message to viewers of the virtual ceremony, Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) said that the decision to cancel the physical edition of the exhibition was an “extremely difficult” one.
Rights and licensing are part of the Taipei Book Fair’s Publishers Training Program, produced digitally with Frankfurter Buchmesse.
The collective stand ‘German Stories’ is a regular feature at the Taipei International Book Exhibition, as is Frankfurter Buchmesse’s professional program in publishing. Image: Porter Anderson
Rights, Licensing, and Maximizing Your IP
So successful had Taiwan been in handling the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic that just a week ago, Ralph Jennings was writing at Forbes of how the health minister, Chen Shih-chung, was talking about the possibility of a limited reopening of its borders. This island of just under 24 million had carefully controlled outside access, closing to flights from China and then other parts of world early on in the contagion’s spread in the spring of 2020.
The 2019 edition of the book fair s physical event. CNA file photo
Taipei, Jan. 20 (CNA) The 2021 Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), which is scheduled for Jan. 26-31, will be held entirely in a virtual format due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, the organizers said Wednesday.
The decision to cancel the in-person part of the book fair at Taipei World Trade Center was made in response to the Central Epidemic Command Center s (CECC) request on Tuesday that organizers reassess the risks of mass gatherings, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) said in a statement.
In light of the cancellation of in-person participation in the Taipei book fair, the ministry said, it will refund those who had paid for booths at the fair and bought tickets to visit.