Taipei International Book Exhibition opens; Italy the guest of honor

Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) The Taipei International Book Exhibition opened Tuesday, featuring Italy as the guest of honor and showcasing its country's authors and illustrators.

The event will spotlight 11 major Italian authors in different fields, including contemporary literature, children's literature, and detective fiction, who will appear to promote their new books and speak at forums at the show.

The authors are Beatrice Alemagna, Mario Barenghi, Gianni Biondillo, Davide Calì, Laura Imai Messina, Eliana Liotta, Federica Manzon, Fabiano Massimi, Susanna Mattiangeli, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Luca Peyron.

According to Marco Lombardi, Italy's Representative to Taiwan, the 400 square-meter Italian Pavilion features the colors of the country's national flag with red walls and an artificial lawn symbolizing a plaza where visitors can sit and engage in discussions.

The pavilion features two sections, dedicated to Italian illustrators/comic artists and children's book authors.

The first section showcases works from 30 artists and the second around 60 children's books and picture books selected by the International Board on Books for Young People, Italia, the Ministry of Culture, which oversees the event, said in a statement.

Speaking at the exhibition's launch, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) praised Italy as a "great country" given its "rich and sophisticated" culture and its industrial might.

Lai invited people to "step into the cultural world" created by the 29 countries participating in the exhibition and gain knowledge that may prove helpful when visiting one of those countries.

Beyond the Italian authors, more than 50 other international authors from around the world are scheduled to make appearances, including Hong Kong's Jozev Lau (喬靖夫) and British illustrator Marion Deuchars on Feb. 8 and Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto on Thursday, according to the Taipei Book Fair Foundation.

Another of the highlights of this year's exhibition is the digital publications zone, where visitors will be able to compose short novels using an artificial intelligence-powered app on a tablet.

The app draws on a database containing compositions that eight Taiwanese authors created specifically for the exhibition, 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, and "no two novels will be the same," Wang said.

The show, with more than 500 publishers presenting their works, ends Feb. 9.