Beijing International Book Fair: a resounding success!

Held from August 26-30, 2015, Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) was a meeting ground for publishers from China and 82 different countries and regions around the world. The show was abuzz with activities on all five days and Print on Demand was one of the hot topics at the show. Here, Varsha Verma, associate editor, Print & Publishing brings a report. The 22nd Beijing International Book Fair was successfully held from August 26-30, 2015 at the China International Exhibition Centre (New Venue).

The statistics…

Spread over an exhibition area of 66,000 sq m, with 2,400 stands, featuring 2,302 publishing houses from not only the mainland China, but also from 82 different countries and regions. Approximately 3,00,000 titles were on display. Over 1,000 cultural events and seminars were held, which attracted more than 2,60,000 visitors to the fair. The rights deals signed at the fair numbered to 4,721, an 8.6 percent increase from last year.

Guest of honour country…

The United Arab Emirates was the country of honour this year, with an exhibition area of 1,000 sq m. The UAE invited its cultural institutions, publishers, and writers to attend the Fair, and held activities to enhance communication amongst publishing industry and writers. These included UAE culture, art and heritage photo gallery, film screening, henna hand art, Arabic calligraphy, crafts, etc.

Major highlights…

This year BIBF, for the first time, facilitated the Hall of International Children’s Publications (over 14,000 sq m) for children’s publishers from home and abroad. Besides, the Rights Trade Zone, the 1,500 sq m BIBF Picture Book Exhibition and the Illustration Exhibition were set in this hall. The new hall attracted over 40,000 children and parents during public days.

This year, BIBF continued to organise brand activities such as 2015 Beijing International Publishing Forum, BIBF Advanced Seminar on International Rights Trade, CLT-ELT Seminar, BIBF 10+10 Roundtable Meetings, and IDPF@BIBF International Digital Publishing Forum. Moreover, BIBF launched the first International Children’s Publishing Forum, Rights Managers’ Salon and the International Translation Grant Presentation. These activities contributed to enhancing communications between publishers from home and abroad.

9th Special Book Award of China

The 9th Special Book Awards of China was held at the Great Hall of People, Beijing. Established in 2005, it is a national-level award for foreign books that make great contributions introducing China and promoting Chinese culture and publications – it is awarded to foreign nationals, and Chinese nationals of foreign descent, working as authors, translators and publishers.

BIBF literature activities…

The show brought together a galaxy of writers, translators and artists from various countries and offered a reading retreat for literature fans. Over 50 renowned authors from China, Britain, Spain, Russia, Mexico, Sweden, etc participated in a series of activities like 2015 BIBF Literature Night, Introduction to New Books and Close to Reading. The activities were held in Writers Zone and offsite venues like One Way Space, Kubrick and Courtyard Institute and TrainspottingCulture Salon.

Print on Demand

At the show, there were a few companies showcasing their POD facilities. One such exhibitor was Xerox. According to Arie Levi, general manager, Xerox Impika Inkjet Solutions, Asia Pacific, Xerox started their operations in China in late 2014. “Many big publishers, with encouragement of Chinese government, have now begun to save cost (waste) and the market is now on a stage of looking at saving cost on printed material. We are in the process of getting an order for Xerox Impika soon,” he said.

CAPEXIL takes Indian contingent @ BIBF 2015

Book Division of CAPEXIL took a contingent of Indian printers and publishers at BIBF 2015. The CAPEXIL and NBT India stand was inaugurated by Vinod K Jacob, Counselor (Political), Embassy of India, Beijing. Siddharth Malik, second secretary, Embassy of India, Chaoyang District was also present on the occasion.

Since Ramesh K. Mittal, chairman, Book Publications & Printing Panel, CAPEXIL could not attend the fair due to immense work pressure, PG Bandhu, a veteran from the book trade, was entrusted the responsibility to lead the delegation of Indian printers and publishers.

Sunil Kumar, Executive Officer, CAPEXIL remarked, “CAPEXIL has taken this initiative for the first time at BIBF. We have brought 13 publishers who are looking for business opportunities. Mostly the response is good for the printers and publishers as BIBF is a good fair to be. A round table discussion has also been organized between Indian publishers, writers and Chinese writers and publishers at the Embassy of India.” Besides, CAPEXIL also facilitated and encouraged Indian trade visitors to the show.

The publishers to the show included CBS Publishers & Distributors, DS Publishers India, Future Books, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers Pvt Ltd, Macaw Books, National Book Trust, India, Om Book International, Quixot Multimedia, Shivsagar Publishing, Sterling Pixels and Tara Books. Other exhibitors included RP Printers and National Handicraft Exports.

Preps on for ‘guest of honour country’ China @ NDWBF ‘16

China will be the guest of honour country at NDWBF 2016. Here, Wang Yuyan and Xiao Guanglu from Events and Media Department of China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation (CNPIEC) unfolds their plans for their participation, in conversation with Varsha Verma.

For the first time, China would be the guest of honour country at New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF). “We would not only focus on publishing but will have a plethora of other activities as well. “We will bring renowned Chinese authors to the show and will also arrange a picture exhibition,“ told Wang Yuyan and Xiao Guanglu at the beginning of the conversation.

On asking about the size of Chinese delegation to the fair, Wang Yuyan, director, Events and Media Department of CNPIEC, replied that we expect it to be a delegation of more than150 authors and publishers.

They are also collecting a book list, which may be over 5,000 titles for the show. “This will include titles on literature, history, tourism, picture books, Chinese culture, education, STM and digital,” Wang shared. “We hope Indian publishers would be interested in buying rights of such books,”added Xiao Guanglu, deputy director, Events and Media Department of CNPIEC.

Talking about the cultural events to be organised during the fair, Xiao informed that they will organise a great exhibition on China-India cultural contacts to unfold the friendship through the ages between the two countries. “There will be a tea show as well,” added Xiao.

Further talking about the two countries, Xiao remarked, “India and China are two important countries for global economy. We know about each other in different industries but publishing can bring together the cultures of these two countries.”

“We have a general impression that India publishing market share is increasing in educational and children publishing. While, in China, digital publishing is increasing at a rapid pace of 20 percent per annum, though we cannot compare it to the US. These e-books are more attractive to younger generation,” Xiao added.

Replying to a query on the kind of books Chinese publishers would be interested from India, Xiao replied, “We are looking for titles on current economy in India and the educational system. Also, India is strong in STM and literature, so these would obviously be on the top list.”