Bid to be named World Book Capital

PERBADANAN Kota Buku senior manager Hasri Hasan made an appearance at the Frankfurt Book Fair earlier this week.

The annual fair, which is taking place at the Frankfurt Messe here, is a market for the sale of copyrights of books and other printed reading materials showcased by the participating publishers.

“Unlike the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair, the Franjkfurt Book Fair (FBF) is more to meet trade visitors to market the copyrights for the publications. “Countries which purchase the copyrights can publish the book in their respective country and language,” he said when met after representing Malaysia in a dialogue session in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

The FBF is among the oldest and biggest book fairs in the world, and has been around for more than 500 years.

Starting as an event to buy and sell manuscripts, the book fair has expanded to become an essential event for publishers and content providers.

According to Hasri, the corporation would make a bid to be named the World Book Capital for 2020.

He said the matter had received the support of Kuala Lumpur Mayor Tan Sri Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz and Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

“One of Malaysia's missions at this book fair was to express the seriousness of the country in the bid to become the World Book Capital in 2020. It will also bring the country to international stage and boost the book industry,” he said.

On Perbadanan Kota Buku, Hasri said the corporation functioned as the middleman between local and international publishers to introduce their respective publications.

“We have matched our local publishers with those from Vietnam, Taiwan, China and Turkey,” he said.

Hasri said the corporation had also introduced translation grants to assist the expansion of local works to global level.

The Malaysian delegation to the FBF 2017 is led by the Malaysian National Book Council (MBKM). – Bernama