PH will ‘people the air’ of Frankfurt next year
This year’s Philippine participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse in German) was a beautiful prelude to next year’s guest of honor participation, and a taste of things to come.
Over 70 Filipino publishers, authors, and illustrators were at the fair, including 50 grantees. A number of them were part of panels at The Frankfurt Book Fair’s International Stage, Art+ Stage, New Adult Stage and Asia Stage (more on this in a future article).
Ani Almario, head of Creatives and Publishers Engagement of the Philippines Guest of Honor Committee (PhlGoh), said, “This is the first year that there are a lot of creatives who came. There’s a delegation of 50 creatives (authors, illustrators, book designers, etc.) and publishers who are here on a special travel grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA, through PhlGoH funds made possible by Sen. Loren Legarda). It’s nice because when we sell our rights, we can actually introduce our authors, and our authors can be featured.”
Next year, there will be 100 grantees.
The Philippine national stand—100 square meters this time (150 next year)—was always busy, as were the Philippine stands in the halls dedicated to Graphic Novels, New Adult, Kids’ Section, and Academic and Textbook Publishing, displaying a catalog of 700 titles across different genres.
To this first-timer, the event was overwhelming and surprisingly emotional. So many moments gave me goosebumps and moved me to tears:
When PhlGoH’s curator of books and literary program head Karina Bolasco asked the Philippine delegates to stand up at the press conference so they could be recognized. When trauma journalist and “Some People Need Killing” author Patricia Evangelista talked about the extrajudicial killings of the Duterte drug war on the international stage. When historian and author Ambeth Ocampo said, “I’d like to think that Filipinos see in Rizal their own capacity for greatness.” When Patrick Flores, curator of the Philippine pavilion, introduced the theme for the Philippines’ guest of honor participation—“The imagination peoples the air”—and when they played the animation by Mervin Malonzo (creator and director), Rody Vera (writer), Chino Toledo (music score), Jose Estrella, Flores, and PhlGoh NCCA (artistic direction) that was inspired by it.
From ‘Noli Me Tangere’
Flores had chosen the line from Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere,” which Rizal finished writing and published in Germany in 1887. It was taken from a scene in which a desperate Sisa is longing for her missing children—a line translated by Charles Derbyshire from the original Spanish “La imaginación puebla el aire.”
In Filipino, “Pinupuno ang hangin ng hiwatig,” and in German, “Fantasie beseelt die luft.”
Later, Flores would tell Lifestyle, “The shift from noun to verb, I like that. And the idea of air … hindi siya literature as a discipline, as a profession, but really as something that is in the air. I like that you’ll have a second look, a second read… That’s what reading is. It takes time. That’s where the thinking begins.”
The Philippines will people the air of Frankfurt next year, Flores said.
Bolasco did an excellent job laying out the literary landscape of the country to international journalists.
Featured at the press conference were Budjette Tan, creator of the popular comics series “Trese,” and Jaya Jacobo, a transfeminist poet from Naga who now lives in the United Kingdom—choices that reflect the wide spectrum of voices in Philippine publishing, and a testament to the Filipino capacity to conquer the world.
On the last day of the book fair, at the handover ceremony, 2024 guest of honor Italy said goodbye, passing on the guest scroll to the Philippines. Italy’s Mauro Mazza said, “Twelve months ago we received the guest scroll from our neighbor country Slovenia, and now we will be leaving it in the hands of a land that is over 10,000 km away. This is the beauty of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, it’s capable of shortening distances.”
“It was very moving, very symbolic,” said former NBDB chair Neni Sta. Romana Cruz. “On the scroll, we put quotations from Rizal, all our traditional forms of poetry, even ‘Florante at Laura’ … It’s so beautiful. I was so touched.”
At the festive event, Italian and Filipino Illustrators Alessandro Sanna and Isabel Roxas sat down for a conversation about their art. There were also performances by indigenous musician Datu Waway Saway and the multiawarded Philippine Madrigal Singers.
‘Volare’
My tears threatened to fall again as the choir sang. Their repertoire included songs in Filipino and Kinaray-a, but when they began singing the Italian song “Volare (Nel blu, dipinto di blu),” murmurs of recognition rolled through the crowd, and people grinned and sang along as they enjoyed the playful rendition.
“This is what a handover should look like and sound like,” said Shila Behjat, who hosted the event.
Riya Brigino, PhlGoh codirector, told Lifestyle, “Someone said our country is so generous for singing the song of the previous guest of honor … But generosity is normal for us. Hindi siya effort for us. I think we cannot go wrong in offering a gesture of acknowledgment and gratitude. Kita mo naman ‘yung reaction.”
Torsten Casimir, Frankurter Buchmesse’s vice president for communications and content, said, “There were lots of moving moments during the ceremony but I have to say, my own personal and most touching moment was the performance of the Philippine Madrigal Singers. They performed probably the most famous song Italy ever produced and let me tell you, there was no stopping the audience. Everyone, the Italians, the Filipinos, even the Germans in the hall, were completely over the moon when they heard this song … At that very special moment last Sunday, I realized that this is going to be an unforgettable guest of honor year with the Philippines—so much energy, so much fun, so much artistry, and such a delicate style. Let me predict that this will be unforgettable and untoppable for many, many years.”
It truly was a magical moment.
Buzz
There’s already a buzz about the country’s guest of honor participation. It has already gotten a great number of press pick-ups, in the Philippines, of course, but also in Germany and elsewhere—”extraordinary,” according to someone who works for the book fair.
Marie Yvette Banzon Abalos, Philippine Consul General in Frankfurt, said, “I feel very excited about it. I think it’s something that’s been long due. I look at it as a rare door opening for the world to finally know what the Philippine perspective is, because I think Filipinos have something to share … Filipinos living in Germany will have a beautiful experience having a front-row seat to the Philippines as guest of honor.”
Irene Susan Natividad, Philippine Ambassador-designate to Germany and former editor of textbooks and children’s books, said, “It’s nice to go back to where I started. It brings me great pride and honor that we’re being featured here at the Buchmesse … we bring in that different perspective, the Philippine perspective. That’s something the Germans and the people who come to the book fair are looking forward to.”
PhlGoh has a lot planned for 2025. Flores said, “For Filipinos, at the heart of books is the promise of sharing … The pavilion will be the space, the climate for sharing: democratic, deliberative, daring, convivial, peopled by imagination, prompted to action by speculation.”
Flores told Lifestyle that the 2,000-sq m pavilion will present the rich culture of the Philippines. “It will speak to the spirit of the theme. There will be a feeling of openness, maaliwalas, there will be light, there will be air.”
People will be able to go there to interact with the space, read Filipino books, watch performances, attend panels, have dialogues, find inspiration.
More than 500 books will be featured at the Philippine pavilion, an important component of the exhibition and a way to share our literary achievements with the world and allow attendees to experience Philippine literature. Then, at the national stand and the country’s other genre-based stands, there will be a curated selection of recently published titles available for rights selling. Bolasco has formed a selection committee of experts “who have monitored books all their lives.” “We need to know the impact of that book. How does it represent an aspect of our culture?”
The Philippines’ presence as guest of honor won’t be limited to the fairgrounds. PhlGoh is working with major museums and institutions in creating a comprehensive cultural program that will take place throughout the year in Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Berlin.
In fact, after the fair closed, the Philippine delegation headed to Heidelberg and Wilhelmsfeld—two places Rizal lived in—for “In the Air: the Launching Program of the Philippines as Guest of Honor,” a four-day event that celebrated his life and legacy.
This year’s book fair may be over, but the Philippines is just getting started.
The Philippines as GoH at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025 is an achievement made possible through the join efforts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the National Book Development Board, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of Sen. Loren Legarda.
