Beyond the pavilion at the Frankfurt Book Fair

The Philippines will be present at the Frankfurt Book Fair next week through the Philippine Stand, the Asia Stage, and the Comics Stand. The Philippine Stand serves as the hub for business and rights negotiations among 52 major, independent, and academic publishers, presenting titles in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s and young adult literature, graphic novels, and new adult works.

At the Asia Stage, co-sponsored by Rex Education and Frankfurter Buchmesse, hourly B2B talks explore the Southeast Asian publishing market and discuss censorship, comics, and generative artificial intelligence in universities. Across these venues, 65 sessions of talks, workshops, and discussions bring Philippine literature into dialogue with the world.

Cultural dialogues across Europe

With the Guest of Honor role, the Philippines is taking the opportunity to bring Philippine literature and culture mode widely and deeply throughout Germany and Europe with an enriching program. Collaborating with leading German museums and institutions, it will feature exhibitions on ethnographic collections, photography, architecture, folklore, comics, and Rizal’s connections to Heidelberg, alongside film screenings, concerts, performances, and publication showcases.

Offsite events include Jose on the Go: A Rizal Stroll with Ambeth Ocampo in Frankfurt, Booked at Zentralbibliothek: Filipino Plot Twists with Jose Dalisay and Beverly W. Siy, Komiks Live! at Romanfabrik, and Liwaliw at Kulturforum in Hanau, offering Filipino games, food, and music.

An aim to be a creative hub in Asia

The Philippines enters Frankfurt as one of Asia’s fastest-growing creative economies, valued at P1.94 trillion in 2024, or 7.3 percent of GDP, spanning industries such as media, digital services, advertising, publishing, music, visual arts, traditional culture, and cultural events.

While publishing remains a smaller component in numbers, its influence extends beyond books — opening doors for film, music, design, and tourism. In 2023, NBDB-registered enterprises recorded P13.76 billion in sales, recovering from 2020’s P4.97 billion low. Central to this achievement is the NBDB’s Translation Subsidy Program, which has supported 173 translated titles across languages and genres since 2024.

The country’s participation is more than symbolic — it is strategic: “We want to amplify the global viability of Philippine literature and the creative industries. We want to present a multilayered narrative of Filipino identity through storytelling, even in the design of our cultural dialogue. We want to grow international publishing and creative investments through rights sales, licensing, and partnerships. To saturate new and emerging markets with Philippine content,” Senator Loren Legarda pointed out. “We want to foster long-term international relationships across the literary, academic, and cultural sectors while upscaling the global competitiveness of Philippine publishing. To sustain government support, targeted capacity-building, and cross-sector collaboration.”

The spirit of Rizal and the global Filipino

The milestone participation will not only felt in Europe but is also celebrated in the Philippines through an exhibit, From Calamba to Frankfurt Jose Rizal and the Frankfurt Book Fair, at the National Library of the Philippines, curated by National Historical Commission of the Philippines commissioner Lisa Nakpil.

The exhibit honors the inspiration brought by and the intellectual courage of Dr. Jose Rizal, who once walked the same streets of Germany that will soon welcome Filipino writers, and features letters, books and other memorabilia.

Traveling from Heidelberg, Rizal was inspired to write his poem “A las flores de Heidelberg.” In Wilhelmsfeld, he completed the last five chapters of Noli Me Tangere, and in Berlin, he finished the novel that would become a landmark in Philippine history.

“His journey,” Legarda reflected, “influences the spirit with which the Philippines now steps into the oldest and most prestigious global book trade: the belief that our stories and aspirations extend meaning that exceeds our borders, and that the Filipino imagination has the potential to take root and grow anywhere in the world.

“The Philippines goes to Frankfurt to share with the world our stories — rooted in our soil, nourished by our heritage and carried by imagination. These are not just beautiful stories, but essential ones that the world needs to hear, engage with, understand, and appreciate,” Legarda shared.