Book fair back, now with online ticketing

The 15th annual Shanghai Book Fair will be held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center from August 15 to 21. This year, the popular event will also offer online ticket services for the first time.

Meanwhile, more than 30 foreign and Chinese writers have been invited to hold panel talks during International Literary Week, a series of discussions organized parallel to the fair. The final list of foreign attendees is still being confirmed.

The survival and development of physical bookstores will be discussed again this year at industry panels and seminars. Over recent years, booksellers have been revived by a combination of government subsidies, preferential policies and commercial supports.

“Our focus this year is the sustainable development of the brick-and-mortar bookstores,” said organizers.

“Government supports can only help with a small part of their budgets. It is more important for stores to explore ways to survive, sustain and further develop in an era when the sales industry has been completely altered.”