Turkey to be guest of honor at Beijing fair

ISTANBUL

Turkey will be the guest of honor at the 21st Beijing International Book Fair scheduled from between Aug. 27-31.

“There will be around 3,000 books from classical and contemporary Turkish literature on three stands covering an area of 932,000 squaremeters,” said Onur Arıcı, deputy minister of Culture and Tourism, at a press conference in Istanbul on Aug. 6.

“There will also be live performances of the traditional arts of calligraphy, illumination and marbling,” Arıcı said, adding that a team of 120 authors, academics, publishers and artists would be attending panels and giving presentations.

“Twenty publishers and nine royalty agencies supported by the ministry will also be at the fair to promote and arrange meetings,” Arıcı said.

The fair will also provide an opportunity to promote Turkey’s T.E.D.A. Project, known as the Translation Support Program, initiated by the ministry in 2005.

“So far 1,648 books have been translated and published within the scope of T.E.D.A. of which only 17 are Chinese. Hopefully, this number will increase,” Arıcı said.

The objective of the project is to encourage publishers to translate qualified literary books and publish them abroad by providing subsidies to cover the expenses of translation, printing and promotion campaigns.