TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two Taiwanese books were shortlisted for the German foundation Stiftung Buchkunst’s Best Book Design from All Over the World competition, per CNA.

The winners of the design competition were announced on Thursday (March 7), according to a press release by the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE). Approximately 600 books from 30 countries around the world participated, it said.

Although Taiwanese books did not win any awards, two were shortlisted, “Ruoshen Tea Cup” and “I Just Can’t Sleep in an Empty Room.”

“Ruoshen Tea Cup,” designed by Yeh Chung-yi (葉忠宜), had previously won the TIBE’s Taiwan’s Most Beautiful Books Golden Butterfly Award in 2024. The book design is dominated by blue hues and its waist is stitched, reminiscent of ancient Chinese texts.

“I Just Can’t Sleep in an Empty Room” was designed by Yueh Yueh Liu (劉悅德). The book is a collection of Hsu Pei-fen’s (徐珮芬) poetry, written in short but pithy sentences. The cover features a chalky sketch of a bat-like creature, with the book’s title scrawled over it.

The winners of Book Design from All Over the World 2024 will be awarded at the Leipzig Book Fair in Germany on March 22.