THE Philippines will be the ‘Guest of Honor’ at the largest international book fair to be held in Frankfurt, Germany in 2025.
Hundreds of creatives and publishers from the country gathered for the formal launch of ‘Gear Up’ in Quezon City on Wednesday, November 15.
This coincided with the arrival of officials and publishers from the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany to meet with various creatives and publishers in the country, exploring business opportunities after the Philippines was designated as the “Guest of Honor” for the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair.
“As Guest of Honor for 2025 which is in 2 years. So, what is this mean for us? The Guest of Honor is a very prestigious designation to any country because it gives you a platform to share your stories with the world. So, it is Frankfurter Buchmesse or the Frankfurt Book Fair. This is the largest book fair in the world and the oldest also,” according to Charisse Aquino-Tugade, Executive Director, National Book and Development Board.
This program is a collaboration between the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and Frankfurter Buchmesse.
According to NBDB Executive Director Charisse Aquino-Tugade, the goal is not only to enter and promote Filipino works in the German market but also in the global market.
“So, we will have our pavilion to showcase our titles, to promote our country brand, to promote our culture, to promote our heritage even to promote our tourism. And it would be a great avenue for partnerships in terms of the distribution of our books. Buying rights, the content of the book, and selling it in other countries. And also, for cross-media adaptation. You’ll never know there might be cross-overs. There might be directors or producers that are interested in making movies or music with the titles that we have.” Tugade added.
“But the book fair is not just a book fair but also works the whole year long together with the foreign office of Germany. We organize different events to foster exchange between publishers, authors, and everyone in the creative industry,” said Claudia Kaiser, Vice President, Frankfurt Book Fair.
Gear Up is a preparatory program that will help publishers and creatives find opportunities for their publications and content.
Just like Children’s Books Author and Publisher Mary Ann Ordinario from Kidapawan City shared how the Frankfurt Book Fair greatly assisted her in translating her books into various languages.
“So, I think if a publisher whether small or big publisher will go to Frankfurt Book Fair, I’m sure that you have the chance that your books will be translated into different languages,” according to Mary Ann Ordinario, Book Author/Publisher.
For Chef and Author/Artist Claude Tayag and Author, Artist, and Cultural Bearer Tor Sagud from Baguio City, the book fair presents a significant opportunity to showcase Filipino culture to the world.
“The Frankfurt Book Fair is a huge help to us artists and authors. It provides an avenue to help us both in publishing, printing, and of course introducing our culture or content internationally,” Tor Sagud, Book Author/Artist/Cultural Bearer said.
“The exposure that I’ve got because of that talk, International yung audience. Pangalawa, they attended my talk because they are interested,” Chef Claude Tayag, Book Author/Artist stated.
“If I did not go there, they would not have discovered that this Filipino could talk about Adobo’s book,” he added.
The National Book Development Board encourages all publishers and creatives in the country to connect with them to help them further develop their businesses, expand their knowledge, and become globally competitive.
