Ron Does Stuff

I’ll admit it upfront, I have never been to a Big Bad Wolf book fair. I think the first time they opened, it was at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, and it was just such an inconvenient place to go to for lazy old me that I never made the effort.

As the years went by, I just wasn’t able to catch them whenever they were near where I was and I also was a bit more of a Manila International Book Fair person. But thanks to my job, I had to go to its VIP Day last Thursday so I could finally see what the fuss was about!

The Big Bad Wolf Fair for this…quarter? They sometimes hold multiples of these in a year, so this probably won’t be the last one. ANYWAYS, the VIP Day I went to was for the current one being held in V Mall in Greenhills. It formally opened to the public last Friday and will be running until June 2.

Considering that they weren’t in a convention center and had limited mall space to work with, the location on the second floor wasn’t bad at all and was roomy enough for people to move comfortably. Granted, it was VIP Day, so there may be a lot more people during a regular day. But if people can deal with it during other events like Komiket and the Manila International Book Fair, they can handle it here.

I was also pleasantly surprised that they had a wider selection of books than what I was expecting. I’ll come clean and say that another reason I never made an effort to go to a Big Bad Wolf book fair is because I was told early on that they only had children’s books for sale, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I am very much not a child. I am an old, eldritch creature with one foot in the grave. Surprise! It wasn’t all just children’s books at Big Bad Wolf in Greenhills. They had bestsellers, BookTok recommendations, business books, a lot of non-fiction, and even a corner for local publishers. That said, those looking for local titles might be a little disappointed by that corner, but then again, that’s what the Manila International Book Fair is for.

There wasn’t an opportunity to meet authors — see: corner for local publishers — but I did get to meet two artists from GMA’s Sparkle talent management arm. I was legitimately impressed with Gaea Mischa’s book choices because she was reading them Russian authors. Dostoyevsky? She even introduced me to Osamu Dazai, who I did not know about! Lee Victor was also a Big Bad Wolf regular and shared his interest in Homer and The Odyssey and Greek mythology. And these two are just in their teens!

Check out the Big Bad Wolf book fair in Greenhills when you can. They’re open during mall hours and admission is free! Meanwhile, check out some of the pictures that I took during VIP Day.