Over 80 reading space advocates, storytellers and educators across the Philippines gathered for the annual Book Nook Conference 2025, organized by the National Book Development Board (NBDB).

The conference, held from 20 to 22 August, aimed to consolidate the best practices as well as challenges faced by area coordinators for the Book Nook Project, a flagship program by the NBDB which aims to address the country’s reading crisis by setting up reading and storytelling spaces across the Philippines. With the theme “Sug-álaw: A Grand Encounter of Stories, Cultures, and Communities,” the three-day event discussed the best sustainability practices and community-building tips to ensure book accessibility in different regions of the country.

Almost four years since its launch, the Book Nook Project has expanded its presence in different regions of the country. Over 100 Book Nook sites are currently established in various provinces, cities, and barangays, with more than 20 additional sites to be unveiled this year.

“The Book Nook Project has always been committed to making quality books more accessible not just in urban centers, but also in the most remote reaches of the country,” said NBDB executive director Charisse Aquino-Tugade.

The first two days of the conference included sessions and workshops centered on strengthening and digitalizing Book Nook services in the regions as well as developing effective literary engagements. For the third day of the conference, Book Nook area coordinators joined a  two-part cultural tour within Iloilo City. 

Reaching out to communities

The first half of the tour brought reading space advocates to the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) in Iloilo, where they visited the area’s local Book Nook site. Aside from the museum tour, participants also joined in on various activities, including the patadyong race, museum object hunt, and bookmark-making. 

The Book Nook Project then visited the Book Nook Nabitasan Integrated School in Barangay La Paz, where the conference participants conducted storytelling sessions and literary activities with the students. Dr. Luis Gatmaitan, award-winning children’s book author, encouraged high school students to express themselves through movement and writing. Meanwhile, storyteller and inspirational speaker Rey Bufi showed future educators and librarians the process of building storytelling communities in Iloilo City.

“The stories we read from our books–from our local prose, our myths, poetry, and legends–are all creations of the Filipino community. It is only apt that we do right by the people who bring so much color, life and richness to our nation’s culture. Our grand encounter this year, as we call it, bears fruit only when we see our reading communities more deeply involved in nurturing our nation’s reading culture,” NBDB Readership Development Division officer-in-charge Daniel Mariano said.

Addressing 

the country’s reading gaps  

Spurred by the country’s reading gap, the conference urged participants to collaborate with fellow reading space advocates. Beyond a theoretical exercise, the three-day event featured a series of workshops which ranged from building sustainable community reading spaces to leveraging digital platforms for wider reach. The conference also highlighted Iloilo City’s reading community, with a full day of reading activities that took place at the NMP-Iloilo City and the Nabitasan Integrated School in Barangay La Paz.

The Book Nook Project, one of the NBDB’s major projects under its Readership Development Division, was launched in 2021. It adheres to the belief that “aklat para sa lahat” (books for everyone) should be a basic human right. With over 100 Book Nook sites scattered across the country, the NBDB remains committed to fostering love of reading at a young age by making Filipino-published books more accessible and easily available to students and young readers.