Frankfurt Book Fair brings Malaysian books to global level
FRANKFURT: Malaysia’s participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) has created ample potential for Malaysian books to be widely marketed in Europe, said FBF business development vice-president Claudia Kaiser.
She said Malaysia has been doing a good job in promoting its books in a great way by participating in FBF.
“This is a good opportunity for Malaysia because the book fair is being held here. Many publishers come from all over the world especially Europe,” she said when met after the Storymaker League’s first Asian Story-Writing Challenge (ASWC) 2017 launching ceremony at Frankfurt Messe here Thursday.
According to Claudia, Malaysia’s initiative would eventually assist the expansion of local works to global level.
“You (international publisher) can see a lot of things about Malaysia. I think this is a very good move for the industry,” she added.
Taking place at the Frankfurt Messe, the annual FBF 2017 is a market for the sale of copyrights of books and other printed reading materials showcased by the participating publishers.
FBF, which started some 41 years ago, is the largest book fair in the world with 7,150 exhibitors from 104 nations.
Led by the Malaysia National Book Council, Malaysia’s participation in FBF 2017 features 31 Malaysian publishers.
Meanwhile, Shake Book Projects Sdn Bhd managing director Sheikh Faisal Sheikh Mansor said the ASWC is targeted at young inspiring authors across Asia, aged between 10 to 17, who are passionate about storytelling.
“This is the third story-writing challenge since 2014 when we founded Storymakers League together with the Malaysian Innovation Agency. The previous two challenges were targeted at residents in Malaysia.
“Now after three years, we open ASWC to the rest of Asia, giving young talented authors the opportunity to interact virtually with each other and produce interesting stories from all over Asia,” he said.
The ASWC is organised by Shake Book Projects Sdn Bhd in collaboration with the Malaysia National Book Council and supported by a growing list of partners that includes Perbadanan Kota Buku, BookCapital.my and e- Sentral. The challenge ends on Dec 31. — Bernama