Taipei International Book Exhibition to kick off on Feb. 4

Taipei, Jan. 7 (CNA) The 2025 Taipei International Book Exhibition will take place from Feb. 4 to Feb. 9 at the Taipei World Trade Center under the theme "Follow Your Fancy In Reading."

According to the Taipei Book Fair Foundation, which organizes the event, this year's Guest of Honor is Italy, whose pavilion is scheduled to be unveiled on Jan. 17.

Eight major "zones" planned for the exhibition will be dedicated to a Theme Pavilion, children's books, imported books, anime and comic books, digital publications, literature/NGOs, general publishers, and activities, the foundation announced at a news conference on Tuesday.

The children's books area will feature a "personality test" in the form of an interactive game, which generates a personalized book list from the 70 children's books on display.

Children who complete all the "tasks" designed for them will receive a personalized story complete with photos taken at the exhibition in the form of an e-book downloadable by scanning a QR code, according to Cowper Wang (王宗欣) from Dosomething Studio, one of the exhibition's curators.

In the area featuring digital publications, visitors will be able to experience writing a short novel using artificial intelligence that draws on a database containing compositions of eight authors, according to UNITAS (聯合文學雜誌) Editor-in-Chief Wang Tsung-wei (王聰威), who oversees work to curate the section.

The novel will then be printed out on a strip of thermal paper to give a "retro" vibe, Wang said.

Meanwhile, the anime and comics section will feature 30 manga series created by Taiwanese manga artists and the literature section will spotlight works adapted for screen, according to the foundation.

On the exhibition's opening day, a forum featuring novelist Yang Shuang-zi (楊双子), author of "Taiwan Travelogue" (臺灣漫遊錄), and Lin King (金翎), whose English-language translation of the book won the pair a U.S. National Book Award in November last year, will be held at the "Theme Square," with the time set tentatively for 4:45 p.m.-5:45 p.m.

The forum will explore how originals could be aided by translation, the foundation said.