“A furor erupted at this year’s event when, in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel, Litprom canceled an award ceremony for Palestinian author Adania Shibli that was to have been held at the Frankfurt Buchmesse”
The National Book Development Board (NBDB) fervently championed Philippine books at this year’s Frankfurt Buchmesse (FBM), the globe’s most prominent international book fair.
The Philippine delegation, led by NBDB Chair Dante Ang II, included publishing expert Karina Bolasco and renowned chef-writer Claude Tayag. The event was held from October 18 to 22, 2023, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
On October 19, NBDB, Publishers without Borders, and the Philippine Consulate in Frankfurt hosted a reception at which attendees tasted prime ube liqueur and six unique versions of adobo.
Tayag discussed this beloved Filipino dish with the international audience and promoted his book, “The Ultimate Filipino Adobo: Stories Through the Ages,” published earlier this year by the Foreign Service Institute.
This book explores the versatility of adobo, a dish with various interpretations in Filipino households.
On October 20, the Philippine delegation organized a “Books and Breakfast” event at which poet and filmmaker Kristian Cordero and NBDB Director Anthony John Balisi presented the Philippine market to German publishers.
They highlighted the role of the Philippines’ translation program in making Filipino stories accessible to the global community.
Cordero’s talk focused on the novels “Andrea” by Rom Factoran and “Yñiga” by Glenn Diaz.
He expressed his hope that through translation and collaboration, these stories reach the German public and the wider world.
Meanwhile, Paolo Herras, founder of Komiket, Inc., and a strong advocate for komiks and creators’ rights, discussed the significance of independent komiks in the local market in a talk titled “Comic Matinée: From Latin America to Asia.”
He underscored the importance of Filipino representation in the global comics arena.
On October 21, fictionist and journalist Criselda Yabes participated in a panel discussion on women authors in Asia. That same day, the Philippine delegation met with FBM President Juergen Boos.
NBDB is the government agency tasked with the development of the Philippine publishing industry. As part of its efforts, the Philippines was named the Guest of Honor (GoH) of the 2025 FBM, an important event that the NBDB is preparing for.
This is expected to result in a substantial increase in literary rights sales, the production and export of Philippine books and content, and international translations.
The Philippines is the second Southeast Asian country to be selected as the Guest of Honor, following Indonesia in 2015.
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The FBM is known as the world’s largest and oldest trade fair for books and is recognized as a significant venue for international deals in the publishing industry.
Held annually in October, the fair attracts over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries who come together to negotiate international publishing rights, license agreements, and cross-media adaptations.
However, a furor erupted at this year’s event when, in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel, Litprom canceled an award ceremony for Palestinian author Adania Shibli that was to have been held at the FBM.
Litprom, a non-profit organization partly funded by the German government and the FBM, promotes women’s literature from African, Asian, Arab and Latin American countries.
They said they will hold the LiBeraturpreis awarding ceremony “at a later point” as it looks for a “suitable format and setting for the event.”
FBM president Boos, in announcing the event cancellation, said the FBM “stands with complete solidarity on the side of Israel” and said Israeli and Jewish voices would be given more time on the fair’s stages.
Shibli had been awarded the 2023 LiBeraturpreis for her novel “Minor Detail.”
The ceremony’s cancellation led to the withdrawal from the book fair of Indonesia, Malaysia, and some Arab publishing industry groups.
Over 600 people including Nobel Prize for Literature winners Abdulrazak Gurnah and Olga Tokarczuk and other writers including Pankaj Mishra, William Dalrymple, and Colm Toibin, as well as publishers and literary agents, signed an open letter condemning the decision to cancel the awarding ceremony.
The cancellation, especially since it was made for non-literary reasons, has far-reaching implications for the international writing community, affecting freedom of expression, literary diversity, international relations, and the spirit of dialogue on a global scale.
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