The National Book Development Board (NBDB) aims to strengthen the country’s industry development efforts during the London Book Fair (LBF) at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in the United Kingdom set from March 12 to 14.
In a statement on Tuesday, NBDB Chairman of Board Dante Francis Ang II cited the importance in participating in the event as it is one of the major trade events in publishing worldwide.
He said during the event, the NBDB will streamline the Philippines’ trade development plan in English speaking and diasporic territories, as well as its access to digital and physical retail spaces.
“Our participation at the LBF this year is also especially crucial, given that it coincides with our preparations for our incoming turn as the Guest of Honour at the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse, where we will establish our country as a major content capital in Southeast Asia,” Ang said.
During previous editions, the NBDB was able to sell the rights of Filipino titles such as award-winning novelist Gina Apostol’s The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata by Anvil Publishing, and children’s book Pitong Tsinelas by Tahanan Books.
This year, the NBDB returns to the LBF to once again push for the sale of rights of Filipino-authored titles for global distribution and adaptation.
Meanwhile, the NBDB prepares to attend the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse as Guest of Honour to further boost the country’s international presence as an emerging content capital in Southeast Asia.
Among the Philippines’ special curation for the LBF this year are National Artist Ricky Lee’s For B (Or How Love Devastates Four out of Every Five of Us) (The Writers Studio), children’s book Masjids in the Philippines (Adarna House), and the 41st National Book Award finalist for Best Anthology in Filipino, Rurok: A Comics & Art Anthology (Komiket Inc.).
The curation also features a crop of recently published contemporary fiction from the regions, queer coming-of-age novels, and fresh takes on folklore and mythology, which the country hopes to introduce to more publishers and readers in the English-speaking market and diasporic populations. (PNA)
