People pick books during the 54th International Book Fair held in Warsaw, Poland, May 21, 2009. More than 500 booksellers from 31 countries and regions attended in the fair that began on Thursday. [Zhang Zhang/Xinhua]

Nearly 500 publishers from 31 countries are presenting their publications at the 54th International Book Fair held at Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science between May 21 and 24.

"The (current world economic) crisis has not negatively affected the fair. On the contrary it seems that the 54th International Book Fair will be a huge, grand-scale event with rich offer, multitude of visitors and an impressing number of book premieres," fair spokesman Roman Czejarek said, quoted by the Polish news agency PAP.

People pick books during the 54th International Book Fair held in Warsaw, Poland, May 21, 2009. [Zhang Zhang/Xinhua]

In spite of Czejarek's declaration, this year's fair will be slightly smaller compared with a year ago, when 600 publishers arrived.

Traditionally the fair will provide the opportunity to meet with writers like Italy's Claudio Magris, Czech poet Jiri Grusza, and Poland's Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz and Hanna Krall.

The fair will run concurrently with an exhibition of Polish film posters.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2009)