The Philippines Is the Guest of Honor at Frankfurt Book Fair 2025

(SPOT.ph) Over the weekend, the Philippines formally took the reins as the incoming Guest of Honor at one of the world's most prestigious book events—the Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM), a.k.a. the Frankfurt Book Fair.

What is the Frankfurt Book Fair?

In case it doesn't ring a bell, the Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM) is an annual book trade fair that brings in authors, publishers, literary agents, editors, journalists, and book lovers worldwide to showcase new titles, negotiate deals, network, and discuss the industry's future.

What started in 1949 as a fair attended by roughly 200 publishers has since grown to be one of the world's largest conventions on books and publishing. Case in point, this year's FBM welcomed 230,000 visitors and over 4,300 exhibitors during its five-day run.

Think of the Frankfurter Buchmesse as the Olympics of publishing, except that you're not competing for medals but instead are raising awareness for your respective countries' book scene or increasing your country's "bibliodiversity."

Unlike most book fairs, which focus on selling books directly to readers, the Frankfurt Book Fair is primarily a trade fair. It dedicates three full days to panels and discussions between industry members on topics like licensing, translation, and adaptation of written material. 

Before you write it off as just another boring business event, when you think about it, it's where the magic happens. The FBM is one of the largest venues that stages talks about translating your favorite book from its original language. It's where negotiations for the next book-turned-movie get its start. It's where written text finds a new life in another language or a different medium.

But of course, as any book fair does, the Frankfurt Book Fair eventually opens to everyone on its last two days. During this time, the FBM operates more closely like the fairs we know here in Manila—the type that caters more to the readers.

There are thousands of exhibitors during the Frankfurt Book Fair, and while each one has its own slew of displays, discussions, panels, and pocket events, all of that pales in comparison to what the Guest of Honor has cooked up.

What does it mean to be the "Guest of Honor" at the Frankfurt Book Fair:

So, the Philippines is the Guest of Honor at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair. What exactly does that mean?

Every year, a Guest of Honor (GOH) country is selected for the Frankfurter Buchmesse. It has the privilege of having the biggest exhibition space, most event slots, and usually the most grand production. Alongside the pomp of being the Guest of Honor, it is also an opportunity to reach more audiences and expand awareness for lesser-known authors, titles, and publishers from that region to an international audience.

The GOH is a prestigious recognition, but more importantly, it's a measure of the viability of a country's publishing scene. In the words of the National Book Development Board's (NBDB) Executive Director Charisse Tugade, "being the Guest of Honor [is a] recognition of our stories and how powerful our Filipino stories are."

For Tugade and the NBDB, this opportunity to be the 2025 Guest of Honor is an opportunity to saturate the Philippine market, for Filipino titles to no longer be confined to the "Filipiniana section," and to promote our books internationally through different media adaptations like musicals, movies, and adaptations that can have a significant impact on the country's book industry.

"By allowing Filipino stories to reach a global audience, authors and illustrators can not only increase their royalties but also promote interest in the Philippines, potentially leading to more investment and tourism," says Tugade.

The road to becoming Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair

It has long since been a goal for the National Book Development Board for the Philippines to earn the honor. In an interview with SPOT.ph Tugade says that the road to becoming GOH has always been a goal and in the works since the Philippines' return to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2015. 

"In order for them to choose you, you have to create a bid book, and you have to do a pitch and show them that you are ready to participate. It takes a lot of investment and a lot of work between the government, the different organizations, the authors, the publishers, and the creatives. In 2022, we made that bid book and pitched it," says Tugade. 

Tugade described pitching for the Guest of Honor role as the perfect storm. It involved collaboration from the government, private publishing companies, and creatives. But more importantly, it was pushed by the general public's positive reception of book-related projects nationwide. In short, there was a conscious effort from different stakeholders in Philippine publishing to pull this off. 

What's in store for the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair with the Philippines as the Guest of Honor

While our turn in the spotlight is a year away—next year's FBM will be from October 15 to 19, 2025—the Philippine delegation is already gearing up for the challenge.  

"Preparations for 2025 is a lot of mobilizing: mobilizing [the] community [and] mobilizing stakeholders," says Tugade

Preparations for the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair have been underway since the NBDB formally signed the contract with the Frankfurt Book Fair team in July 2023. For 2025, the Philippines will fill an entire 2,000-square-meter hall with all things on Philippine books and publishing to showcase the diversity of local literature. This means lots of coordination and planning to ensure that titles, publishing houses, and authors are equally and properly represented. It also involves intense curation on the part of NBDB in identifying which genres and titles get the spotlight. 

But more importantly, the preparations involve a lot of effort to increase awareness about our stories and culture. In line with this, the NBDB is hosting a series of events in Wilhelmsfeld and Heidelberg, Germany from October 24 to 27 called In the Air. These programs aim to inform the public about Jose Rizal and our culture. This will be done through a series of walking tours, museum walkthroughs, and many other programs with notable historians and authors like Ambeth Ocampo and Butch Dalisay.

"A key point we took away [from the Frankfurt Book Fair 2024] is that we really have to be organized, and we really need the support of everyone else in terms of different government agencies, in terms of private organizations. We have the chance to put ourselves on the world stage, and it's high time we put ourselves front and center," says Tugade. 

For more information, visit the National Book Development Board's Facebook page.

Also read:
10 Must-Read Books By Filipino Authors
10 Books We Can’t Wait to Hit the Shelves

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