TiBE 2016 Yearly Theme: Reading the World

TiBE 2016 Guest of Honor: Hungary

The 2016 Taipei International Book Exhibition (TiBE) tallied up 1,706 booths by 626 publishers from 66 countries, 875 activities, 536 copyright sessions, and 308 cross-platform matchmaking meetings during the six-day event. Equally remarkable was the attendance of over 10,000 students from all levels of schools benefitting from the “back-to-school” initiative starting from this year. Overall, this year’s book fair attracted more than half a million showgoers.

Featuring the theme of “Freedom Love,” quoted from the Hungarian national poet and liberal revolutionist, Sándor Petőfi, the Guest of Honor Hungary presented 41 activities—including 12 folk music performances, four cooking sessions, and six Hungarian wine introductions—averaged an attendance of over 100 people, while the 19 literary and academic seminars accumulated more than 400. Through these activities, local showgoers were introduced to a wide selection of Hungarian publications as well as folk arts and fine dining.

2016 marked the 20th anniversary of legendary Chinese author Eileen Chang’s death. In commemoration, TiBE presented the theme exhibition “Exhibition of Eileen’s Style”; Other TiBE 2016 highlights included the wildly popular book signing by Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the bestselling The Witcher series, and the virtual reality showcase on famed illustrator Jimmy Liao’s All of My World Is You, which allowed visitors to experience illustration world through HTC Vive.