The 29th Beijing International Book Fair will kick off on Thursday, with approximately 900 overseas exhibitors accounting for 60 percent of participants.

Around 1,500 publishing houses and institutions from 56 countries and regions will bring more than 200,000 titles to this year's fair that runs through to June 18. Another thousand exhibitors will be attending the event through an online platform.

New foreign exhibitors mainly come from the United States, Russia, Italy, Austria, Albania, Saudi Arabia and Rwanda.

Major cultural enterprises and institutions from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will also showcase their expertise and selected works, among the 600 participants from China.

Algeria, as this year's Guest of Honor under the slogan "Algiers-Beijing: The Convergence of Culture and Civilizations", will be displaying 814 titles covering literature, art, humanities and sciences in multiple languages, such as Arabic, Berber, from North Africa, English and French.

An Algerian delegation of cultural and art officials, authors, scholars and musicians will be visiting China, holding literature and film discussions, handicraft demonstrations, and introducing the abundant cultural heritage of the country, like bronze ware, ceramics and traditional costumes.

Chinese and Algerian scholars will gather to discuss the development of Algerian literature, its representative authors and their domestic and world influences, eyeing the prospects for literature exchanges and translations between the two countries.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Algeria. In 2018, China joined the Algiers International Book Fair as a Guest of Honor.

Hassane Rabehi, Algeria's ambassador to China, says publishers from Algeria will be able to learn more about the Chinese book market, while promoting the introduction of Algerian works to China and translation of classic works from both countries, apart from enhancing copyright cooperation.

While advancing the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries, Algeria's participation in the book fair will deepen Chinese readers' knowledge about Algerian culture and help them recognize the importance of cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between the people, he says.

The ambassador adds that his country plans to donate 1,769 copies of books to Chinese cultural institutions, universities and libraries afterward.

For the first time, the BIBF will launch a section specially for online literature and games, with immersive, virtual reading, displaying and trading spaces providing interactive experiences with cutting-edge technologies like VR and MR.

It has also set up a project to encourage participation of small and middle-sized overseas publishing houses, according to Lei Jianhua, international business director of the China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Co, co-organizer of the book fair.

Apart from traditionally highlighted exhibitions on picture books, food books and illustrations, a newly launched art book exhibition, themed "Photosynthesis", will be showing more than 2,000 art books.

Some of these will provide a glimpse of the charm of art pieces by Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall and contemporary Chinese artist Xu Bing.

fangaiqing@chinadaily.com.cn

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