Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Taipei (dpa) - The 2007 Taipei International Book Exhibition, Asia's largest book fair, opened on Tuesday featuring Russian literature.
Premier Su Tseng-chang opened the book fair at the Taipei World Trade Centre, hoping the event would boost Taiwan's publishing industry and promote cultural exchange between Taiwan and other countries.
The focus of the 15th exhibition, held from January 30 to February 4, is on Russian literature. Eighteen Russian publishing houses and five Russian writers are attending the book fair, organizers said.
The Russian-themed activities include a cocktail reception for the opening of the Russian Hall as well as lectures on Russian literature, discussions and concerts. The Russian Hall has 52 booths.
The book fair has attracted 711 publishers from 40 countries who set up 2,099 booths, up from 885 publishers and 1,910 booths at the 2006 show.
Some 400,000 Taiwanese are expected to visit the exhibition.
Since it was launched in 1992, the event has grown into the largest book fair in Asia because of Taiwan's flourishing publishing industry, inexpensive rent and government funding for the event. However, organizers fear that the Beijing International Book Fair might eventually overtake it as Asia's largest book expo.
Copyright 2007 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
