I know that there’s still a day left before this year’s Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) ends, but I’m putting this out now because 1. I’m old and I might forget, and 2. Work has been so busy that I’m taking advantage of the free time I have to push this out. So here it is!
Like I said in last year’s MIBF entry, I used to be present for every day of this event and have enough articles for literal months because of all the launches, workshops, and meetings I attended every single day. Nowadays, with my old and decrepit body plagued by different aches and pains, that’s no longer a possibility.
While I attended two days last year, this time around I went for three days, and boy, do my feet feel it now. I also no longer have the stomach for the crowds I used to dive into back in the day, so if a booth has got too many people in it, I just pass them by.
There were two events I went to this year: the launch of Howie Severino’s new book under UST Publishing, and the signing session for the Romance Class authors who had books under Komiket’s Blush imprint. I also got to interview Howie Severino at the launch, but you’ll have to read about that in my day job.
Take a look at the pictures I took!
Of course, National Book Store made an appearance at this year’s MIBF. The booth was pretty nice!Another publishing house that goes all out every year is Rex Publishing House, and this year they went with an Egyptian theme.The Phoenix Publishing stuck with their neon design from last year. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!Another thing returning from last year is the booth within a booth concept, with the Korean Cultural Center booth right inside the National Book Store one.This structure was a standout for me. I had the overall impression that this year’s booth’s were toned down, but this one from Phoenix really brought it.Milflores Publishing stuck with the flowers it had last year.Wattpad’s always had a presence at MIBF, but I think this is probably the first time that they’ve been so visible booth-wise.Another thing that was more visible this year was the Asian Rights Fair, which has apparently been going on for three years now. I didn’t know!Authors could pitch the rights of their works to different publishing houses from literally all over Asia.The BL Cafe looked great and is probably a big indicator of just how big that market is.There’s ‘international’ in the name, after all, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that even Thailand had a booth at the MIBF.The National Book Development Board also brought back booths for creators who otherwise couldn’t afford them. This one had a dog mascot!I also met Beatrice Pobre, the author of two books. I asked her what the learning curve was like between books 1 and 2!Howie Severino also launched his book ‘People I Knew’, and of course, GMA luminaries were also present.This was just hours ago! I also went to the Komiket signing of Romance Class authors Mina Esguerra, Six de los Reyes, and Celestine Trinidad.
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