This coming April 25 to 28, 2024, the National Book Development Board Philippines (NBDB) is bringing together publishers, authors, artists, educators and readers at the country’s biggest and most awaited traveling book festival.
The World Trade Center in Pasay City will be the venue for this year’s four-day celebration, as PBF will showcase the richness of Philippine literature, culture and the arts. This unique book fair integrates education, entertainment, tourism and shopping into a single family-friendly event.
To make the event more informative and interesting, this year’s festival offers a diverse range of talks and workshops from the country’s most celebrated authors.
Gwy Saludes, this young and famous author that took every reader into a roller coaster ride of emotions, from gushing to heartbreak, headlines the personalities gracing the PBF. “A Day with Gwy Saludes,” will feature an exclusive book signing and meet-and-greet session. Historian and bestselling author Ambeth Ocampo will lead “Ambeth Without the Overcoat” a meet and greet with book signing session. National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts, Ricky Lee, will present “Trip to Quiapo” while “Dahling Nick: A Tribute to National Artist Nick Joaquin” will honor the renowned writer.
Other sessions include “Aklat Para sa Accla: New Trends in Boys Love and Girls Love,” “Comics Can Change the World” with Patti Ramos, and “Zine-making 101,” a workshop on crafting independently-produced “fanzines” led by Komiket’s Bunny Luz.
Attendees can also expect the comeback of the Rare Book Collection by the National Library of the Philippines, which will feature a new selection of rare manuscripts and facsimiles; the Book Bar – a library of sorts filled with award-winning books; Cosplay Filipiniana, a cosplay competition allowing fans to portray their beloved Philippine literary characters, and Guhit Pambata, an exhibit highlighting the crreations of some of our best children’s book illustrators. This year, the PBF will launch Tabuan Food Hall where guests can visit while enjoying their book experience and shopping.
The PBF will also give children a very interesting experience as it brings back its four popular realms: Kid Lit, a land just for the children, Komiks, which puts the spotlight on Pinoy Komiks, Booktopia, home to an abundance of fiction and non-fiction titles, and Aral Aklat, which is devoted to textbooks and educational materials. There will be a Creators Lab, Main Stage, and Kids-at-Play that highlight exciting talks, activities, and workshops more specific to the interest of children readers.
This year’s Philippine Book Festival will be longer to give ample time for teachers, librarians, and organizations to research the books they need for their schools. Like last 2023, NBDB has partnered and will be working closely with the Department of Education (DepEd) to train more than 750 book evaluators and procurement officers to scope and evaluate books to purchase for public school libraries and reading hubs. Evaluators from all over the country will visit the festival to observe and source educational books for the students of their respective provinces and regions.
Adding color to the festivities are the designs of talented graphic designer and children’s book illustrators Marc Vincent Soriano, Liza Flores, and Beth Parrocha.
The Philippine Book Festival is part of the National Book Development Board’s effort to promote a culture of reading and develop the publishing industry in the Philippines.
The Philippine Book Festival will be open to the public from 8:00am to 8:00pm on April 25-287, with no entrance fees. For more information and to register for FREE visit www.philippinebookfest.com or follow their official FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/NBDBPhilippines
