Italy Guest of Honor at the Taipei International Book Exhibition _ Second Release

“…in the High Imagination”,
Italy Guest of Honor at the Taipei International Book Exhibition

Eleven authors, two exhibitions and a rich cultural program to promote Italian publishing
and Italian creativity in the East

Italian Pavilion Program

Jan. 27, 2025.

The thirty-third Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) opens at 11 a.m. on Tuesday 4 February, where Italy will be the Guest of Honor for the first time. The Fair – held at the Taipei World Trade Center – will continue until Sunday 9 February. Following the suggestions evoked by the theme of the Italian cultural program “…in the High Imagination” of Dantean and Calvinian memory, 11 authors from the contemporary cultural scene will open a window on Italian creativity and imagination, while narrating a selection of classics of our literature and thus giving life, meeting after meeting, to a place where a multiplicity of literary genres, perspectives and topics come together.

Made possible thanks to the support of Italian institutions – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with the Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office in Taipei, the Ministry of Culture, the ITA – Italian Trade Agency, the Centro per il libro e la lettura, which promotes the cultural program – and the collaboration of the AIE – Italian Publishers Association, which relies on Ex Libris agency, our country’s participation in TIBE offers an important opportunity to showcase and introduce a cross-section of our most contemporary culture. A new and further step to foster publishing exchange, translation and distribution of books by entering a market with significant development margins.

“Italy’s participation as Guest of Honor at TIBE 2025” says Marco Lombardi, head of the Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office in Taipei, “represents a great promotional opportunity for the ‘Italy System’, which continues here to gain the sympathy of the Taiwanese public. The Italy of the book will provide valuable support to all the other components of ‘Made in Italy’ which, on this occasion, will have an exceptional showcase to present themselves on this rich market. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Italian and Taiwanese organizers for their extraordinary work, which is likely to have positive spin-offs for Italy.”

Also underlining the importance of the Taiwanese appointment are the words of Innocenzo Cipolletta, President of the Italian Publishers Association: “The Italy of the book continues its path of strengthening on foreign markets by coming as Guest of Honor, after the successful participation in the Frankfurter Buchmesse, to Taipei to consolidate growth on Asian markets. Asia is the second area after Europe for the sale of translation rights abroad by Italian publishers in 2023, accounting for 15 percent of the total, up sharply from 10 percent in 2020. Chinese (traditional and simplified) is the second language we are translated into (10%) after Spanish (13%).”

Guest authors in Taipei are Beatrice Alemagna, Mario Barenghi, Gianni Biondillo, Davide Calì, Eliana Liotta, Federica Manzon, Fabiano Massimi, Susanna Mattiangeli, Lorenzo Mattotti, Laura Imai Messina and Luca Peyron. To animate their meetings, which will be held in the Italian Pavilion – set up by ITA - Italian Trade Agency and enriched by the exhibition From illustration to comics. Pencils in talented young hands, promoted by Bologna Children’s Book Fair with the collaboration of AIE – Italian Publishers Association and the bibliographical exhibition of Ibby Italia – will be a number of representatives of the cultural, institutional, publishing and academic worlds of Italy and Taiwan: Mauretta Capuano, Beni Chu, Emily Chuang, Tzu-Chun Chang, Rex How, Peini Beatrice Hsieh, Stefano Misesti and Ann-Yue Ni.

“…IN THE HIGH IMAGINATION”: THE PROGRAM

Flair, imagination, the ability to imagine and narrate worlds, people, feelings: “…in the High Imagination” the theme that identifies Italy’s Guest of Honor participation at TIBE 2025, highlights the creative process and its protagonists. Inspired by Dante’s verse “poi piovve nell’alta fantasia” quoted by Italo Calvino as an exergue to the “American lesson” on visibility, the Italian literary program wants to pay homage in Taipei to the Supreme Poet and, 40 years after his death, to the author who more than any other represents the many faces of the Italy of the book, a writer for adults and children, novelist and essayist, who worked in publishing houses and collected in a work central to our literature the fairy tales of our national tradition. A program that explores the creative paths traveled by authors and illustrators, showing through their experiences and works how creativity is a key ingredient in building a dialogue between people and cultures.

Italy will therefore present itself to the Taiwanese public through the voices of a variegated delegation of authors, in which genres and perspectives alternate and mix, opening windows onto ever-changing imagery. Representing the novel will be the new Campiello Prize winner Federica Manzon, in dialogue with Ann-Yue Ni – Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy and illustrious translator from Italian to Chinese of Leonardo Sciascia, Umberto Eco and Elena Ferrante, among others – to talk about her Trieste as A Heart for Europe (Tuesday 4 February, 4 p.m.) and Laura Imai Messina, who together with Mauretta Capuano will reveal to the Taiwanese public the secrets of an art, that of storytelling, which she has honed over the course of more than twenty years spent in Japan (The Art of Storytelling, Thursday 6 February, 6 p.m.). Fiction will also be highlighted by Gianni Biondillo in the urban detective genre (The Italian style crime novel, Thursday 6 February, 3 p.m.) and by Fabiano Massimi in its historical declination (The importance of being called a historical thriller, Friday 7 February, 6 p.m.), both moderated by Ann-Yue Ni. For the non-fiction section, Professor Mario Barenghi – together with Peini Beatrice Hsieh, Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for her contribution to the diffusion of our culture in Taiwan – will sketch a portrait of the polytheistic Calvino (Italo Calvino, one hundred years on, Tuesday 4 February, 3 p.m.). Again Peini Beatrice Hsieh will be in dialogue with the journalist and science writer Eliana Liotta, who will tell the audience about Mediterranean Wellness (Friday 7 February, 3 p.m.), and then delve into it in the solo session The harmony of two brains (Sunday 9 February, 2 p.m.). From science to spirituality seamlessly thanks to the contribution of Don Luca Peyron: once again with Peini Beatrice Hsieh in Keeping Hope (Wednesday 5 February, 3 p.m.) the author will trace the lines of the triangle that defines the union between science, technology and faith. There will there be A stroll through the arts (Friday 7 February, 4 p.m.) with Lorenzo Mattotti, who with Stefano Misesti and Beni Chu (a couple – in work and in life – very active in the world of illustration and comics) will retrace the most significant stages of his artistic career spanning over fifty years. Already in Taipei at the invitation of the French Office in Taipei and Abula Press, Beatrice Alemagna will also speak in the Italian Pavilion with the moderation of Tzu-Chun Chang – a prolific Taiwanese illustrator – to talk about The Secret Ingredient (Saturday 8 February, 11 a.m.) thanks to which she manages to give shape to the wonder for readers young and old who follow her around the world. Also on Saturday 8 February, but at 5 p.m., Tzu-Chun Chang will be in dialogue with Susanna Mattiangeli in Italian Fairy Tales, a meeting dedicated to the evolution of a genre, that of the fairy tale, which has always been capable of reinventing itself and is alive today more than ever. Then, There where stories are born together with Davide Calì (Sunday 9 February, 3 p.m.) and his Taiwanese publisher Rex How (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy and CEO of Locus Publishing) to talk about the unstoppable creative parabola of one of the most beloved cartoonists in the East.

A journey through the current Italian cultural scene that does not disregard the story of the past – but always present – sketched through a portrait of its protagonists. And so the spaces of the Italian Pavilion with the format Introducing bring to life Umberto Saba (with Federica Manzon, Wednesday 5 February, 4 p.m.), Natalia Ginzburg (with Mario Barenghi, Wednesday 5 February, 5 p.m.), Dante Alighieri (with Luca Peyron, Thursday 6 February, 4 p.m.), Gianna Manzini (with Laura Imai Messina, Friday 7 February, 5 p.m.), Umberto Eco (with Fabiano Massimi, Saturday 8 February, 12 noon), Pinocchio (with Lorenzo Mattotti and his Taiwanese publisher Rex How, Saturday 8 February, 6 p.m.) and Gianni Rodari (with Susanna Mattiangeli, Sunday 9 February, 12 noon).

Six days of meetings, dialogues, presentations and appointments “…in the High Imagination” of yesterday and today, and an extraordinary opportunity for encounters and mutual enrichment that sees Italy take a further step at TIBE to make its publishing production even more open and international.

Alongside the authors, there will also be the protagonists of the professional programme (Lorenzo Armando, Bruno Giancarli, Paola Seghi), who on Wednesday 5 February at the International Publishing Forum will animate, with moderation by Emily Chuang, a cycle of three meetings entitled Discovering the Italian book market: data, public support and internationalization, developing topics of great interest for the sector and particularly felt in Taipei and the East. In addition, they will offer the Fair audience an overview of the Italian market and open the doors for a comparison with the local market, including new possibilities and emerging trends.

In harmony with the theme of Italian participation, creativity will also be explored from plural and fascinating points of view – as in the format When we are all Italians –, which in addition to the literary one will allow to delve into some of the many sectors in which Italian flair meets Oriental interest, such as food, tech and design. Prominent personalities will take part in the format, such as the former Head of the Taipei Representative Office in Rome Andrea Lee, the President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan Giuseppe Izzo, the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy and Director of the Italian Language Department at Fu Jen University Matteo Chang and translator Ann Yue-Ni. Italian cuisine will be valorised starting with its most loved and popular product in the world, pizza, which will be told through the story of world champion Japanese pizza maker Pasquale Makishima. When passion becomes art: the Italian artisan panettone, is scheduled for Saturday 8 February at 2 p.m.: Giovanna Chen, Shih-Chieh, an expert baker and teacher at prestigious culinary schools in Asia, will tell the public of the fair the secrets of her art, proudly carried out between tradition and innovation. On Sunday 9 February from 10 a.m., instead, there will be the Design Day, during which, after the greetings of the Taiwan Design Research Institute, architects Gianni Biondillo and Lorena Alessio – designer of the Italian Pavilion – will animate the meeting Visions of Milan.

THE ITALIAN PAVILION

After Poland in 2023 and the Netherlands in 2024, Italy will occupy the more than 400 square meters of the Pavilion assigned to the Guest of Honor country, one of the Areas into which the 23,450-square-meter exhibition space of the Fair, housed inside the Taipei World Trade Center, Hall 1, is divided. Inside the Italian Pavilion, set up by ITA - Italian Trade Agency and inspired by the concepts of contemporaneity, lightness and environmental sustainability, there will be a bookstore space managed by Eslite Bookstore with books by Italian authors, a children’s area and a “professional space” reserved for meetings between publishers and professional operators. Italian publishers in the B2B space will be Acoma Book | Vassena Milano Consulting, It Publishing, Kite, Daco, Erickson, Reggio Children, Tomolo Edigiò and ZOOlibri.

Also inside the Italian Pavilion, visitors will be able to admire two exhibitions: From illustration to comics. Pencils in talented young hands, curated by Giannino Stoppani Cooperativa Culturale Accademia Drosselmeier, organized by Bologna Children’s Book Fair in collaboration with AIE – Italian Publishers Association and dedicated to young talents of contemporary Italian illustration, which will be presented by Grazia Gotti on the opening day; and the bibliographic exhibition Ibby Italia Choise 2024 by Ibby Italia, in collaboration with AIE – Italian Publishers Association and Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which enhances the Honour List of the best publishing production for children in order to promote universal and democratic access to reading.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Italian participation in the Taipei International Book Exhibition is made possible thanks to Italian institutions – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with the Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office in Taipei, the Ministry of Culture, the ITA – Italian Trade Agency, the Centro per il libro e la lettura – and the collaboration of AIE – Italian Publishers Association, which relies on Ex Libris agency.

Heartfelt thanks go to all those who, in various capacities, have collaborated on the project: Taipei Book Fair Foundation, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Ibby Italia, French Office in Taipei, Taiwanese publishers Abula Press and Locus Publishing, Lorena Alessio Architetti, Why Interior Design, Eslite Bookstore, sponsors Eurizon Capital Asia Limited, Caffè Mokarabia, Emporium Corporation, New World Design Center, Taiwan High Point and QX Lighting.