Reading Is Amazing was the theme at the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), which wrapped up its six-day run on February 8. Among the show’s highlights were curated works from 37 publishing houses from Thailand, this year’s guest of honor, and the Reading is AmaZINE exhibition that showcased zine publications from Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea. Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan were among the countries that had their own pavilions.
TIBE is co-organized by the Taipei Book Fair Foundation (TBFF), an initiative established by 18 major publishers in 2004 with a rotating chairmanship that operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture. Rex How, the owner of Locus Publishing House, served as its first chairman from 2005 to 2007, and has now returned to the position. “TIBE offers a meeting place in Asia for publishers,” How said. “This event is about the power of books and of reading, of bringing book people and book lovers together under one roof.”
How noted that when TIBE was created, its three major goals were promoting domestic reading, promoting international cultural exchanges, and promoting publishing expertise. “We have achieved these goals and today, TIBE has evolved to become a unique book event for both the public and professional attendees,” he said.
How also pointed out that TIBE has evolved over the years. Prior to the pandemic, the exhibition attracted people of all ages. When the show returned to be a live event in 2022 after two years of being a mostly digital affair, most public visitors were in the age range of 20–50. According to How, fair organizers were "encouraged by this because these are the very people that we wanted to see reading more and buying more books.”
With bookstores holding less events, books have less chances to be seen by readers, making TIBE even more important than before, How said: “Now that more exhibitors are planning their own onsite events—on top of those organized by TIBE—we are hoping to draw a much bigger crowd to come here to explore and find new books to bring home to read.”
According to the most recent statistics, Taiwan was home to 4,769 publishing houses in 2024, which released 54,767 new titles, of which 32,175 (or 58.7%) were print books, 21,391 were e-books, and the rest were in audio format. Translations accounted for nearly 34% of print books.
The new titles published were mostly in these five genres: test preparation titles (12.9%); humanities and history (12.6%); children’s books (11.4%); comics/graphic novels (10.8%); and fiction (9%). Taiwan’s bestselling genre was self-help, followed by comics, business and finance, social sciences, and language and reference books.
In 2024, translated titles came mostly from Japan (around 54%), the U.S. (19.3%), the U.K. (8.35%), and South Korea (8.31%). Japanese manga, American children’s books, and British fiction were the most popular genres among translated titles.
As for rights sales to overseas markets, Taiwan is well known for its original picture books from author-illustrators such as Jimmy Liao (Sound of Colors, Where Will I Be Tomorrow?) and Chen Chih-yuan (Guji Guji, The Featherless Chickens Met the Hungry Wolf). Other genres are also making waves, including fiction (such as Kevin Chen’s Ghost Town) and manga (from creators such as Ding Pao-Yen of CONSOLE 2073).
In general, the Taiwanese book market faces many of the big challenges and problems that are seen in many parts of the world: declining rates of reading, competition from social media, low birthrate, and issues caused by the rise of AI.
As Jerome Su, owner of Bookman Books publishing house and B.K. Norton, an agency for many American academic presses, put it: “People are using their cellphones to access information and their reading materials are mostly online. Fewer people are visiting bookstores,” Su said.
One constant in the Taiwanese book market, according to Su, is that parents want their children to master the English language and encourage their kids to read for leisure and read in English.
"This is one reason why titles by authors such as Roald Dahl and those from Scholastic are very popular here," he said. "Such awareness and encouragement is important in ensuring the next generation of readers and book lovers, and in ensuring the longevity—and prosperity—of the Taiwanese book industry.”
