Philippine publishers are joining forces to bring Philippine content to a more global audience through a country booth at the 67th Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurt Buchmesse in German) on 14-18 October 2015 at the Exhibition Grounds on Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is considered the world’s largest and most important event for the publishing industry. Every October, publishers, literary agent, authors, illustrators, media professionals, trade associations, and book lovers flock to Frankfurt for the five-day event that gathers thousands of exhibitors from over 100 countries to negotiate publishing rights and licensing.
The Philippine delegation includes the following powerhouses from the local publishing industry: Abiva Publishing House, Inc., Adarna House, Anvil Publishing, Inc., Diwa Learning Systems, Inc., Lampara Publishing House, Inc. Precious Pages Corporation, Rex Group of Companies, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. The Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP), Philippine Educational Printers Association (PEPA), and the National Book Development Board (NBDB), were instrumental in bringing them together for this collaboration.
The Philippine exhibitors will showcase a broad range of content aimed at presenting the Philippines as the best source of content in Asia. These include literary fiction, poetry, culture and the arts, graphic novels, history and politics, cookbooks, travel literature, reportage, children’s literature, reference material and much more.
The Philippine booth will be located in the International Publishers Hall No: 4 Stand No. B88, where it hopes to garner the attention of the 10,000 accredited journalists who will be present at the event. A special reception hosted by NBDB will take place on October 15, 4PM. Copies of the Philippine Catalogue featuring the participating publishers and other local presses not able to join the fair will be distributed to visitors.
The Philippines’ neighbor and fellow archipelago, Indonesia, is the Guest of Honor country for the 67th Frankfurt Book Fair, the first Southeast Asian country to take center stage at the exhibition. Last year’s GOH country, New Zealand, broke attendance records with more than 90,000 visitors at their pavilion within the last two days of the fair.
It is hoped that the Philippines’ participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair will foster a greater awareness of and interest in Philippine literature and culture, as well as encouraging Philippine publishers to gain more global exposure through more active participation in international book fairs. (end)