The colorful Vilnius, A Glimpse into Eastern Europe and Russia book fair with displays in bright yellow, green, and red based on the Lithuanian flag, embellished with the national flags and insignias of other Eastern European countries. Besides spotlighting these distant countries, the bright colors changed people’s impressions of the difficulties faced by some people in the region and attracted more visitors to the book fair.
The Koo Chen-Fu Memorial Library of the College of Social Sciences held a series of events as part of the book fair Vilnius, a Glimpse into Eastern Europe and Russia at the end of 2022. During the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan in 2021, Lithuania donated vaccine to Taiwan and then set up the Lithuanian Trade Representative Office in September 2022. The Russo-Ukrainian War which broke out in the beginning of 2022 has attracted global attention. The book fair offered the opportunity for people here to discover the largely unfamiliar region of Eastern Europe from the perspective of Vilnius, the historical capital of Lithuania, a country that has belonged to different countries due to political and military circumstances over the years. Visitors at the book fair were encouraged to explore Lithuania and its neighboring countries, such as Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.
Over 170 titles were on display covering Eastern European politics, economy, culture, history, and literature, in both Mandarin and foreign languages. Among them, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and Dispatches from Dystopia: Histories of Places Not Yet Forgotten were winners of the Best Translated Work Award at the 2022 Openbook Awards.
The book fair also included a film festival A Glimpse into Eastern Europe through Films featuring four films from Eastern Europe: Tangerines, Katyn, Mr. Jones, and The Fencer from Estonia, Poland, and Ukraine gave visitors a glimpse of the history and people’s life in Eastern Europe.
The Explore Eastern European Countries Quiz Game was also arranged to attract more visitors to the book fair. The questions concerned the geography, history, and cultures of Eastern European countries to advance the participants’ interest and knowledge of the region. Visitors often stopped to peruse the books, take photos, or participate in the quiz game, in hopes of winning exotic prizes with Eastern European flair, at the book fair.
Photo albums and videos on display. A total of over 170 books about Eastern European politics, economy, culture, history, and literature were on display, in Mandarin as well as foreign languages.
Prizes of the Quiz Game included fruit bars and bread crisps from Liuthania, potato chips from Estonia, Russian doll key rings and magnets, which were very popular among students.
