Writersblog

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

The Dutch programme at the International Book Fair in Beijing was cunn... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

In two weeks’ time, the official opening of one of the largest b... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Dear Dutch publishers. The book fair is over. Perhaps you’ll now... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

The days are full and long. We are incessantly bombarded with impressi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Arriving on the stand on the first day, I’d asked a Chinese visi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

Big excitement today since we were finally meeting with Songyu from Fl... >>> read more

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert

Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Dutch illustrators

It’s now the third day, and the first one with plenty of sun. Un... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

What a great opportunity to learn about the Dutch literature for Chine... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

A duck flies to and fro over the vast expanses of world ocean, despera... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

‘In the era of browsing, we provide reading.’ - Slogan see... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The jewel in the crown of our collection of Arbeiderspers titles publi... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The Chinese publishers I have met during the course of my career, the ... >>> read more

Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg, Dutch writer

I have so far never been to a book fair. Nor do I know what to imagine... >>> read more

Kai Kang

Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

Since 2006, I began writing about the Netherlands’ performance a... >>> read more

Henk Pröpper

Henk Pröpper, Director Dutch Foundation for Literature

Now that the fair is just round the corner, this is perhaps the moment... >>> read more

Michele Hutchison

Michele Hutchison, Editor De Arbeiderspers

The traffic in Beijing is horrendous, I’m sure the other blogger... >>> read more

Thomas Möhlmann

Thomas Möhlmann, Staff member Dutch Foundation for Literature

What an evening the poets and the approximately 200 onlookers present ... >>> read more


Kai Kang, Journalist China Reading Weekly

A fair is a fair

What a great opportunity to learn about the Dutch literature for Chinese readers! Our Guest of Honor showed their theme “open landscape, open book” very well at the opening day of the fair, even better than I expected.

A fair is a fair, not a festival. So all these things weren’t unfair at such a fair.

In the marvelous Dutch pavilion, I really enjoyed the beautiful books and the conversations with the prominent writers. I was invited to moderate a discussion between the geologist Salomon Kroonenberg and the theoretical physicist Sander Bais. It was a big challenge for me. But I survived at last.

There is no doubt that Chinese media are enthusiastic, especially for Princess Laurentien. Many reports put her name into their titles, and a paper highlighted her “orange dress.” 1 But someone worried that the New China International Exhibition Center’s distant location would discourage the ordinary readers. “The media and exhibitors kept complaining about going to visit the New CIEC in Shunyi was comparable with a trip to Tianjin.”2 Said Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post today. As if you’d hold an Amsterdam Book fair in The Hague.

Perhaps it is a problem. Last morning, while driving to the fair from my office downtown, I found the New CIEC was not existing at all in my GPS. It was too new to be located. It’s not even signposted on the roads. I had to pull over several times to ask farmers for directions. I regretted. I should take trains.

A book fair is supposed for the “professionals” - publishers, editors and literary agents, rather than the general public. At noon, the broadcasting system in the halls asked the ordinary visitors to leave. Mr. Zhang, a famous Chinese photographer and my friend, was blocked outside. Around 4 pm, once again, the broadcaster announced that all ordinary people must leave. Then security guards appeared, stall by stall, politely, persuading the audience out.

A fair is a fair, not a festival. So all these things weren’t unfair at such a fair. We sell or buy the copyrights on the table, not the copies in the store. I saw many great Dutch novels were displayed on the shelves, such as De uitvreter, Titaantjes, Dichtertje of Nescio, and Tirza of Arnon Grunberg, whose portrait was on the cover of the latest issue of World Literature, a famous Chinese magazine. I really hope they could be recognized, bought and published by Chinese publishers as soon as possible.

But in this vast pavilion, somebody seemed invisible. Where is Ayaan Hirsi Ali?

1 原文:”橘红色连衣裙”

2 原文:”媒体和参展商对此有不少抱怨,去一趟位于顺义的新国展,堪比去一次天津。”