Beijing Book Fair 2009

Entrance to the Beijing Book Fair

The Ireland Literature Exchange stand

Rita McCann, Programmes Officer, at the ILE stand

Su Fuzhong, senior editor, People's Literature Publishing House & Sinéad Mac Aodha, director of ILE

ILE attended the Beijing Book Fair for the first time in early September. It was an extremely interesting and stimulating week of meetings with publishers, translators and people simply interested in Irish literature.

The director of ILE, Sinéad Mac Aodha, gave a brief presentation on the work of ILE. She outlined the trends in contemporary Irish literature, including a discussion on the nature and number of Irish success stories in the international literature arena, e.g., several Booker prizes, Prix Fémina and Pulitzers not to mention four Nobel Laureates. ILE then presented its first Chinese catalogue, Literary Treasures from Ireland. The presentation was followed by a questions and answer session.