The biennial “International Picture Book Salon” will kick off this weekend at Kaohsiung Public Library (KPL)! The two-day event featured 3 salon lectures and 1 parent-child workshop. KPL invited the founder of the renowned Japanese illustration brand 100%ORANGE and Kenji Miyazawa to Taiwan for the first time. He will join hands with Taiwanese picture book authors Miya and Jimmy's promoter Li Yu-Shan, as well as Lai Jia-Ling, the person in charge of the PlayGrounD to promote picture books and cross-domain collaborations of contemporary picture books under the theme of "Picture Books for Tomorrow.”

Wang Wen-Tsui, chairperson of Kaohsiung Public Library and director-general of the Bureau of Culture Affairs of Kaohsiung City Government, said the Picture Book Salon enables exchanges of experiences among international creators and in-depth sharing of cross-domain expertise from industry professionals. This allows the International Picture Book Center to become not only Taiwan’s largest picture book library with a collection of 160,000 volumes, but also an important exchange platform for picture book enthusiasts. The creators, reproducers and participants work together to explore cross-domain cooperation, IP extension and diverse promotion for more people to engage with the world of picture books. For the future visual generation, KPL will continue to pioneer new reading trends by organizing diverse picture book activities.

Lin Yi-Cheng, acting director of Kaohsiung Public Library, said that the abundant collections, picture book salons, and series of activities have attracted more people who are interested in reading, which made KPL a platform for knowledge exchange by using visual language to explore the diversity of creation and industry. There will be more wonderful activities by until October 1^st, including the Picture Book Salon International Lecturer Theme Book Exhibition “Picture Books for Tomorrow x Kenji Miyazawa (100% ORANGE)”, 3 other picture book exhibitions and 1 bilingual picture book art special exhibition. Also, don’t miss the September 24th Chinese-Japanese bilingual storytelling activity by Ms. Yura. Readers are invited to step into the world of picture books with cross-disciplinary features, to feel the charm of images, and to read the picture books for tomorrow!

KPL planned and organized only one salon event. It has attracted many creators and publishers to travel south specifically. Illustrator Zito Hsu also brought her treasured copy of Kenji Miyazawa's book This Is a Bus for the signing event and expressed great delight in being able to meet her idol. In the lectures, she listened to the lecturer’s sharing of how to blend diverse illustration techniques and compose stories. In the dialogue about their own cross-disciplinary experiences between Taiwanese and Japanese creators, many ideas about creation and works were also discussed. They saw the future of picture books and gained a lot of creative energy.

Japan's renowned illustration brand 100% ORANGE brought its splendor to Taiwan. Founder Kenji Miyazawa brought the latest Chinese picture book "Fruits of the Ginkgo" published by Linking Publishing and created stories with children at the International Parent-Child Workshop. The workshop also invited Miya, a Taiwanese author who created the Billy picture book series and translated over 200 Japanese picture books to guide children to draw their own ginkgo babies. In the process of hand-drawing, the picture book became more vivid and impressive for children.

In addition to parent-child activities, Miyazawa also gave a lecture about picture books. He and his high school classmate Mayuko Chigusa co-founded 100%ORANGE and started to create illustrations, graphic design, comics and other works. He has won the Japan Picture Book Award and was invited by Hermès to create the picture book A Stitch on the Walk last year. After the lecture, readers were eager to ask the teacher to sign their books. They said that nearly ten years ago, they read Miyazawa’s Bailey’s Bath Time to their children. Now their children have grown up and love design and drawing as well. The salon was extraordinarily meaningful to them after listening the lecturer’s experience of creating picture books, advertising and animation.

In the salon, Jimmy's promoter Li Yu-Shan shared how Jimmy S.P.A. Co., Ltd. enabled Jimmy to expand his creation beyond picture books into fields like film & TV entertainment, public art, outdoor art festivals, and VR over the past two decades and provided deeper emotional and interactive experiences. Li also talked about the licensing experiences with Shiseido, Hilife etc. Those unique industrial expertise also attracted students and faculty from the Graduate Institute of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at National Sun Yat-sen University and the Department of Arts Management of Shu-Te University. 

The Picture Book Salon has been held biennially since 2018. Coming to its third this year, the abundant content of salon has attracted record high participation every time. It has also drawn the Bureau of Education to co-host preschool teacher training programs. The teachers were especially touched by the sharing from Lai Jia-Ling, the person in charge of the PlayGrounD. The participant Ms. Yang said Lai Jia-Ling entered the world of picture books after becoming a mother, from a collector to promoter, critic and creator, which allowed them to discover the endless possibilities of picture book promotion. The teachers also saw their own potential and future through the speakers' experiences. They looked forward to getting more children to fall in love with picture books, and to construct imagination about the future through reading.