MoE firm strives to promote Malaysian literary works

BEIJING: Perbadanan Kota Buku, a company owned by the Ministry of Education is working hard at ensuring Malaysian and Southeast Asian literary works are traded more frequently at the global platform.
Its chief executive officer Adibah Omar said they are committed to making a difference especially when it comes to impacting industry players and the end users who are readers.

“Just 18 days ago, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim gifted us USD85.287 million of book vouchers through Kota Buku Digital and this was well received by everyone.

“Such support from our government including the funding to trade rights at international rights fairs like the Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) shows the commitment of ensuring our words through books continue to be heard,” she said.

She made these remarks during the launching of the Malaysia Pavilion at the BIBF on Wednesday (June 19).

The launching ceremony which was officiated by Deputy Minister of Education Wong Kah Woh also saw the launching of 50 best Malaysian titles for international rights 2023/2024.

Visitors stopping by at the Malaysia Pavilion

Various books on display at the Malaysia Pavilion.

Wong also witnessed the signing of memorandum of understanding (MOUs) between Malaysian publishing houses with its respective counterparts.

Meanwhile, director of the BIBF office Lei Jianhua said they are pleased to organise China’s largest book fair and welcomed more international exhibitors particularly in the academic and professional publishing areas.

“Over the next five days we will see publishing colleagues from all across the world come together to refresh relationships and of course buy and sell the rights to each other’s books,” she said.

This year, a total of 1,600 exhibitors are taking part in the book fair and it is expected to attract more than 200,000 visitors.

There are also international conferences including the 2024 PubTech Conference, BIBF World Children’s Book Forum, and the Beijing International Publishing Forum being held at the book fair.