Image taken from Pixabay
Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Leïla Slimani, a Franco-Moroccan writer who won France's most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, in 2016, will be among the authors attending the 2018 Taipei International Book Exhibition, which is scheduled to start on Feb. 6.
Slimani, 36, won the Prix Goncourt for her novel "Chanson Douce," about a nanny who murders the children under her care. The former journalist was appointed France's top emissary for Francophone affairs last year by French President Emmanuel Macron.
"She is not only a writer. She is very engaged in the struggle for women's place in Europe and Arabic countries," Nicolas Bauquet, head of the culture section at the French Office in Taipei, said Wednesday, adding that Slimani will attend the book fair and talk about cultural diversity.
She will attend book signings at the fair on Feb. 8, 9 and 10 and hold a talk with feminist writer Nathalie Chang (張亦絢) on Feb. 8.
Other international authors set to visit the fair include American writer Wendy Walker, who wrote the best-selling psychological thriller "All Is Not Forgotten," award-winning French illustrator Clémence Pollet and Steve Antony, the British illustrator of the popular "Mr. Panda" book series.
Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto and German writers Anja von Kampen, Martin Schäuble and Stephan Thome will also be among the more than 30 international writers expected to be at the fair, which will run until Feb. 11.
About 15 German publishers will exhibit roughly 250 books on environmental protection, design, architecture, youth literature and other topics at the German pavilion this year, Goethe-Institut Taipei Director Jens Rosler said.
As for the European Union pavilion, it will be designed to resemble an agora, which served as an open meeting ground in ancient Greece, said Madeleine Majorenko, head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan.
"We will this year be exhibiting books from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Italy and Portugal, and that means we are bringing together a very wide breadth and depth of European culture in one place," she said.
This year's fair features Israel as its theme country.
Israeli novelist Noa Yedlin, culinary journalist and TV personality Gil Hovav, illustrator Hanoch Piven and author Yannets Levi, whose "Uncle Leo's Adventures" is one of Israel's most popular children's book series, will be among the Israeli writers and artists to attend, according to the Taipei Book Fair Foundation.
The Taipei International Book Exhibition, one of Asia's largest book fairs, will take place at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Halls 1 and 3, featuring more than 500 events and forums.
(By Christie Chen)
Enditem/AW