Svět Knihy Praha

THE CZECH PAVILION AT THE TAIPEI INTERNATIONAL BOOK EXHIBITION 2003

11. – 16.2. 2003
TCHAJ-PEJ, TCHAJ-WAN

Czech National Exposition - Photo
Czech National Exposition - Photo
Czech National Exposition - Photo
Czech National Exposition - Photo

The Czech Republic's invitation to become the main country at TIBE 2003 stems from a long term co-operation between the organiser of the Prague BookWorld book fair with the organising body of the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), as well as from previous successful participations of the Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers (ACBP) in one of the most important book fairs in Asia. The Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Capital City of Prague have supported the Czech participation financially, while Svět knihy, Ltd., company of the Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers, was entrusted with its production. The organiser of the book fair, Chinese Publishers' Development Foundation (CPDF), together with the Government Information Office (GIO), supporting international cultural co-operation and exchange projects, have also contributed their significant share to financing and organising both the preliminary stages and the actual Czech participation programme.

The Czech Republic is the focus of much interest and respect in Taiwan and efforts leading up to the Czech central participation in the book fair, which is considered 4th largest in the world, represent a prestigious task for our country. The Czech pavilion, covering 225 square metres and designed as a big-screen black and white Kafkaesque exhibition, represents a multicultural space providing for the presentation of Czech literature and book culture to the book fair visitors in all its aspects – fiction literature and literature on the history of art, book design and fine arts, technical literature and non-fiction, film, theatre, photography. Great emphasis was placed on the exhibition of books for children and young people and the screening of animated films for children, since it is this very type of literature and media that is most in demand in Taiwan. The exhibition programme entitled The Czech Book World and the People Behind It All will be supported by the participation of a large delegation of Czech publishers and booksellers and will introduce around 1300 book titles. The commercial offer of the Czech book market will be supplemented by book exhibitions, which will also contribute to the overall picture of the Czech book culture. The hundreds of thousands of people who visit the book fair every year will be presented with an opportunity to look at „the memory of the nation“ in the Czech pavilion, drawing attention to important milestones of Czech history linked with the development of Czech literature and writing. Accompanying presentations have also been prepared, in co-operation with cultural and scientific institutions – the Central State Archive, the National Library of the Czech Republic, the Museum of Industrial Design, the National Museum of Literature, the Prague National Museum, the Charles University Centre for Sinological Studies, the Franz Kafka Society - focusing on the history and present of the Czech culture, art and literature.

The organisers of the Czech pavilion have prepared examples of some unique facsimiles of important documents from the state's history and an artistic copy of one of the best known Czech illuminated manuscripts - the Codex of Vyšehrad - will be displayed to testify to the high level of the Czech nation's book culture in the past. An exhibition of bibliophile editions and the most beautiful Czech books is an important contribution to the overall picture of the art of Czech printers, graphic artists and publishers, since the Czech Republic is internationally renowned for the high quality of its bookbinding, printing and design.

Writers Iva Pekárková and Michal Viewegh, whose novel Román pro ženy (A Novel for Women) is now being published in Chinese by the Taiwanese publishing company LOCUS, have also received invitations to the book fair as part of the Czech programme. GIO has issued an invitation to the prominent Czech painter and illustrator Adolf Born to introduce his works, which will be displayed, along with the works of 10 other Czech illustrators, at an exhibition accompanying the Czech participation. The GRIMM PRESS publishing house has prepared the book Puss in Boots with Born's illustrations. LOCUS will also publish a translation of Bohumil Hrabal's novel Příliš hlučná samota (Too Noisy Solitude) soon to be followed by his two other titles and the book by Czech - holder of the Nobel Prize for literature.Jaroslav Seifert´s Vsechny krasy sveta (All Beauties of the World). The exhibition of contemporary Czech illustrators is accompanied by an exhibition of Czech graphic artists entitled Theatre Mundi. The organisers of the Czech participation are also greatly honoured by the invitation to TIBE 2003 of Ms. Květa Pacovská, one of the foremost Czech fine artists. The fact, that her work will be introduced on a wider scale in the very year of the Czech Republic's central participation in the book fair is a very friendly and professional gesture on behalf of our Taiwanese colleagues.

The Czech exhibition will also introduce a brand new translations of books by Václav Havel - former president of the Czech Republic – Disturbing the Peace (Tendency Publishing, Ltd), Antikody (Tendency Publishing Ltd. and Tangshan Publication Inc.), Havel´s essays The Power of the Powerless (La Gauche Publishing Ltd. and Tendency Publishing Ltd.) and his speeches A Farewell to Politics (La Gauche Publishing Ltd. and Tendency Publishing Ltd.). All of four of the books were edited by Bei Ling, a Chinese poet in exile. Book of poetry featuring photographs of the renowned Czech photographer Jan Reich will be published by Bookery Publishing Company.