ROC artists depart for Bologna Children’s Book Fair

2015-03-26

A delegation of six ROC illustrators and 50-plus publishing firm representatives will take part in Bologna Children’s Book Fair March 30 to April 2 as part of the Taiwan Pavilion organized by the Ministry of Culture.

The group includes Sun Hsin-yu, the country’s first author honored with special mentions at the fair’s 2015 Bologna Ragazzi Award, and Lin Hsiao-bei, a regular book award recipient. Sun’s “One Day in Beijing” was among 32 books selected from 1,000-plus works across 42 countries and territories.

Alice Wang, director of the MOC Department of Humanities and Publications, said during a send-off March 24 in Taipei City that the ministry is eager to showcase the creativity of homegrown artists.“We are also excited to spotlight the robust development of our country’s cultural and creative sector.”

Themed Ciao Taiwan, the pavilion features 452 books from 38 publishers spanning seven sections such as digital publications, illustrators and latest offerings. It will also host two matchmaking sessions for local publishers and artists with key industry players from Croatia and the Netherlands, respectively, as well as a luncheon meeting between illustrators from Taiwan and Japan.

Another highlight is a promotion of illustrated books by Chen Yu-lin, Hsu Ming-hong, Lin Lian-en, Liu Hsu-kung and Wang Shu-man. The local artists are part of a 76-strong lineup chosen from a global field of 3,000 for the fair’s illustrator exhibition.

“We are confident more members of the international children’s book industry will experience our high-quality offerings through the pavilion this year,” Wang said. “We expect to see a large number of rights and partnership deals finalized.”

Launched in 1963, the fair is one of the most important of its kind dedicated to children’s publishing and the multimedia industry. This year’s event features 1,200 publishers from 75 countries and territories, and is estimated to attract more than 25,000 trade representatives.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=228718&CtNode=413)