It's all J-books, K-books and chick lit
A man promotes Pramuan Pengchan’s bestseller ‘Dern Soo Issarapab’ (Walk Towards Freedom). The book is expected to be a hit at the book fair.
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Youngsters will likely brush aside economic worries and snap up Japanese and Korean chick lit as their summer vacation reads, the organisers of the Bangkok International Book Fair 2007 said yesterday.
The BIBF, which kicks off today, is expected to attract huge numbers of teenagers as school is out, and publishers are keen to cash in on the craze for all things Korean and Japanese, said Thanachai Santichaikul, president of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT). There will be fierce competition among small and medium publishers that have just rolled out a veritable library of "J- and K-books" translated into Thai."Despite the state of the economy, youngsters still have the power to buy entertainment products like the books in this genre. Translated foreign novels from East Asia will really whet their appetite," said Thanachai, who is also chairman of the Asean Book Publishers Association. With 820 booths from 400 local publishing houses, the exhibition is expected to welcome 1,500,000 visitors over its 12-day run. The BIBF's "Foreign Forum" has invited two guests of honour from Taiwan - famous children's book illustrator Chin-Yuan Chen and Wan Wan, the author of the best-selling work "ZZZ, Go Chill Somewhere Else". Each of the 10 Asean countries will unveil one best-seller while French and German publishers will join in the discussion forum. This year will see the emergence of relatively new publishing houses vying for a slice of a market estimated at Bt18.5 billion this year. Thanachai expects 10 per cent growth for the industry, down from 15 per cent last year. "With the increase in new publishers, it's hard to attain the same rate as the year before." He lamented poor reading habits among Thais, who read two books and spend Bt260 on reading matter a year, PUBAT had found. But a positive trend has developed. Last year found 492 publishers, up from 475 the year before, and 1,309 bookshops around the country, up from 848. Manote Tripathi The Nation
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