My Experience at the 2024 Frankfurt Buchmesse
A view of the Philippine National Stand Outside Messe Frankfurt My little corner of the Philippine creative arts community has always felt like home, despite the rest of the country increasingly feeling unsafe. Filipino creatives sit on the little boat that could, sailing against the tide of the state-sanctioned torture and murder of its own citizens ( 1 | 2 ) to loudly say no, to witness and dramatize what others ignore, to leave a record of Filipino (inner) life that exists beyond the human rights abuses that have landed us on international news. That was not a very cheerful way to start this post, was it? But that's just what happens – the bitter sitting with the sweet – when I think about home. I was reunited with old friends at the 2024 Frankfurt Buchmesse (FBM or the Frankfurt Book Fair), which ran from October 16 to 20. I had the good fortune to be a part of the Philippine delegation to the oldest and largest trade fair for books. The Frankfurt Book Fair has
