Israel, home to some of the world’s oldest written texts, shined as the Guest of Honor at the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) 2018, where more than half a million visitors, including Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, who visited the Israel pavilion during the book fair, learned about Israel’s vibrant literary culture, history, and more. 

TIBE, which is the fourth largest book fair in the world, took place in Taipei, Taiwan from February 6-11. The fair, whose theme was the “Power of Reading”, featured 530,000 participants, and 684 publishers from 60 countries, who celebrated the large impact that reading and books continue to have on society. 

Israel’s pavilion, a colorful homage to Israeli literature, culture and history, was created and supervised by the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei. The concept of the pavilion, Israel - a never ending story, discussed the central role that text and literature have played in both Israeli and Jewish history. 

The Hebrew Bible, which is one of the world’s earliest and most important texts, is written in Hebrew and has been the foundation of the Jewish faith for thousands of years. For this reason, the Jewish people are known as the “People of the Book” and both ancient religious texts and modern Hebrew literature continue to have a profound impact on Israeli society as well as millions of others around the world. 

Israel’s pavilion took the visitor on a journey from the land’s ancient past, marked by the Hebrew Bible, through major milestones in Jewish history, until the modern era, and looking toward the future. 

The pavilion was designed to resemble a huge book - 9 meters by 9 meters by 4 meters - crafted with the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet - “א” (Aleph) and “ב” (Bet). The letters’ design represents layers of Hebrew writing and literature from its ancient past to the present day. The printed text on the installation was taken from a book written by Israel’s first Nobel Prize Laureate, S.Y. Agnon, winner of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature. 

Four writers and artists were highlighted in the pavilion - Gil Hovav, Yannets Levi, Hanoch Piven and Noa Yedlin. Each represents a genre with a unique style in his or her own creative field.

The Israel pavilion allowed the visitor to not only experience the rich and diverse world of Israeli literature, but also to enjoy the true spirit of Israel - a vibrant and creative society, as well as an innovation hub. Visitors participated in a variety of 35 different activities, including lectures, live Israeli music, cooking demonstrations, Hebrew calligraphy workshops, Hebrew reading sessions, an innovation exhibit, a virtual tour of Israel using virtual reality glasses and much more.

Visitors interested in learning more about Israel and Israeli literature, were able to browse and purchase books by Israeli authors at the pavilion’s “All About Israel” store which was operated by Taiwan’s largest bookstore chain. The pop-up store included Israeli books on a variety of topics ranging from Jewish history, to pop culture, to science and innovation.

The Israel pavilion also served as a meeting point for Taiwanese and international publishers who met with Israeli authors and literary agents from Israel, to discuss the prospect of translating their works into traditional Chinese and publishing them in Taiwan and in other countries. 

The Israel Economic and Cultural Office also organized a number of events outside the book fair in major cities including Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taichung and Chiayi. The four Israeli artists, who came to TIBE, held a series of events at schools, libraries and local bookstores and met with educators as well as leaders of the LGBTQ community. 

Israel is proud to have been chosen as the Guest of Honor at this year’s Taipai International Book Exhibition and is grateful to the people of Taiwan for the opportunity to share Israeli’s vibrant culture and history with the international literary community. 

While the book fair has come to end, Israel looks forward to furthering cultural ties between the Israeli and Taiwanese people, one book at a time.