Kaohsiung City's largest reading event ever, "2022 Kaohsiung Reading Festival", was launched on Sep. 15 at Bleu & Bird Bookstore on the 7th floor of the Cultural and Creative Industrial Co-Construction Hall. The Mayor of Kaohsiung City, Chen Chi-mai, Deputy Mayor, Shih Che, Director of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Wang Wen-tsui, Acting Director of Kaohsiung Public Library, Lin Yi-cheng, and Chief Curators & Owners of Bleu & Book Bookstore, Tsai Shan-shan and Chang Tieh-chi announced the launch of the event together. The image promotional video endorsed by the Reading Ambassador Fu Meng-po was also premiered at the press conference. The representatives of many independent bookstores and cultural figures who participated in the event gathered and stood on the skybridge linking the library and the bookstore with their books and waved at the camera drone to witness the innovative breakthrough of "Library on the Left and Bookstore on the Right" together.

Mayor Chen Chi-mai said humorously in his speech that former mayor Chen Chu had stated with relief that she had not known that building a library would have cost so much. But after the Kaohsiung Public Library was completed with 1.9 billion dollars, Kaohsiung started to become different from others and ushered in the trend of the new library movement in Taiwan. The "Library" and "Bookstore" symbolized the two important reading venues in Kaohsiung and they would work together to create an unprecedented reading and cultural space.

Mayor Chen pointed out that libraries and reading are the essence of a city. The Kaohsiung City Government is the first in the country to build a co-constructed cultural and creative hall which accommodates both a library and a bookstore for reading and the exchange of ideas, so that the library is not only a treasure house of knowledge, but also a playground for life.

Shih Che, who was then the director of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs and was appointed to build the new library and promote the BOT project for the co-construction of a cultural creative hall, pioneered the free e-book lending service for the public, organized the key publishing window and the Kaohsiung Book Zone, and created the largest international picture book center in Taiwan. Shih said that after eight years, the services of the Main Library had been more diversified thanks to the co-construction, and it had been transformed into the venue for the exchange of knowledge and arts and cultural performances, which had made it a cultural carrier. The dream of "Library on the Left and Bookstore on the Right" and readers being embraced by reading had finally come true. One of the venues for the event was the Bleu & Book Bookstore, which boasted more than 200 pings of bookstore space and a collection of nearly 20,000 books, and echoed the unique design concept of Kaohsiung Public Library, once again creating a beautiful reading landscape.

Since its establishment in 2016, Bleu & Book has planned and executed the "2022 Kaohsiung Reading Festival" together with the Kaohsiung Public Library, gathering nearly 100 publishers and independent bookstores across Taiwan to jointly exhibit and sell books. Nearly 100 heavyweight and new writers was scheduled to meet with readers in Kaohsiung.

The event's chief curator, Chang Tieh-chi, said that Taiwan's book fair was no longer just about publisher's stalls and business. Rather. It should set up a platform for the exchange of ideas and culture and function as a creative crossover with reading at its core. In particular, he hoped that this event could echo Kaohsiung's theme of "Taiwan Design, Design Taiwan" and recreate the future outlook of book fairs.

The "2022 Kaohsiung Reading Festival" invited famous designer Apu Jan, the creative director of the famous fashion brand APUJAN to be the art director responsible for the main visual design and directing the image video, together with the well-known film producer Rachel Chen and the Reading Ambassador of this event, Fu Meng-po. In the press conference, Apu Jan pointed out that “the main visual design uses books to accentuate the image of the building and sea waves. With the image of the city in people's mind, it reflects the clear sky, brightness and warmth of Kaohsiung.”

One of the events, the "Harbor Book Fair", in the first week of the fair took place on Sep. 24. It was the first large-scale outdoor book fair in the south, with more than 50 independent bookstores and publishers from all over Taiwan gathering in Kaohsiung for two weekends in a row. Frank Huang from Double Grass, who led Taipei Art Book Fair into its seventh year and represented Taiwan in Venice Biennale, worked as the curator. He has enjoyed the reputation of combining both wild and artistic elements in his works. This event marked the first time he took the challenge of the design of "Kaohsiung Reading Festival" by creating a harbor city imaginary space in the shape of a river and breaking the boundary between the library and the bookstore.

The "Meadow Book Market", located between the Main Library and the Hall, is designed by LA RUE, a well-known local market brand in Kaohsiung. It was a new type of book fair that linked cultural and creative industries with books. For two consecutive weekends (Sep. 24-25 and Oct.1-2), more than 70 handmade and food and beverage brands from south central Kaohsiung were invited to bring reading into daily life. From Sep. 24 to Oct. 30, the event included five highlights, six book fairs, and 100 events. Over 50 speakers, including local Kaohsiung writers such as Ping Lu, Lin Da-yang, Yang Chia-hsien and Ren Ming-xin, and other famous writers in Taiwan such as Shu Guo-zhi, Yeh Yi-lan, Jan Hung-Tze and Chen Yao-chang, would read Kaohsiung together.

In the opening two days, there were reading lectures and music and literature nights. Local bands in Kaohsiung, such as "Elephant Gym" and " Shallow Levée" and "Kind of Blue Records" all joined the event. In the Editors' Seminar, seven heavyweights in the publishing industry shared the rational and emotional aspects of this industry. The Literary Cinema screened "Yeh Shih-tao, A Taiwan Man" and "I Remember" with the post-screening discussion with the directors. The High Altitude Literary Bar invited Kaohsiung local bars to "VERSE baR" at Bleu & Book for the limited collaboration on literary drink specials while Literary Breakfast Meetings highlighted the fascinating mixture of dining and literature every Saturday.

The representatives of many independent bookstores and cultural figures who participated in the event gathered and stood on the skybridge linking the library and the bookstore with their books and waved at the camera drone to witness the innovative breakthrough of "Library on the Left and Bookstore on the Right" together.

The Mayor of Kaohsiung City, Chen Chi-mai, Deputy Mayor, Shih Che, Director of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Wang Wen-tsui, Acting Director of Kaohsiung Public Library, Lin Yi-cheng, and Chief Curators & Owners of Bleu & Book Bookstore, Tsai Shan-shan and Chang Tieh-chi announced the launch of the event together.

The Reading Ambassador of this event, Fu Meng-po.

The "2022 Kaohsiung Reading Festival" invited famous designer Apu Jan, the creative director of the famous fashion brand APUJAN to be the art director responsible for the main visual design and directing the image video.