PVLF 2026

Philippines Named 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair Guest of Honor

The Philippines will be the Guest of Honor at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair, spotlighting Filipino literature and culture on the global stage.
on Aug 13, 2025

Filipino literature shall soon make its most majestic debut in history on the international stage.

The Philippines is scheduled to be the Guest of Honor at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest and most powerful publishing show in the world.

In a recent episode of The Chairman's Report, which aired on Friday, Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Secretary Dante "Klink" Ang II had Executive Director Charisse Aquino-Tugade of the National Book Development Board (NBDB) as his guest to talk about the Philippines' historic hosting as Guest of Honor of the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair and the life-changing effects of books to forge national identity and unite Filipino communities globally.

"Books are not just learning tools; they are containers of memory, imagination, and identity. They record our stories, communicate our values, and form a bridge between the generations and geographies," Secretary Ang began in the broadcast.

Charisse Aquino-Tugade outlined why the Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest and most recognized trade fair for books and intellectual property rights.

"In the Frankfurt Book Fair, it's a different thing. It's a right-selling fair, so various authors and publishers from various countries bring their products to the market… and they sell the rights to various territories," Aquino-Tugade explained.

Emphasizing the seriousness of the nation's attendance, Aquino-Tugade explained, "Following Indonesia, some 10 years ago, when we were Guest of Honor, we would then only be the second Southeast Asian nation to receive this great privilege… We're never in the spotlight. And this time is really when we're offered the chance where there will be more room for us and our stories in the various languages that we communicate in."

The Philippine pavilion will occupy 2,000 square meters, and there will be a glorious exhibition of the excellence of the Filipinos in literature and culture.

Aquino-Tugade said that the team will comprise over 120 creatives, writers, illustrators, editors, as well as 50 publishing houses.

Central partners are the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), which will spearhead the cultural programming, and NBDB, which will handle literary curation.

We, the Philippine government, own that space, and we invite all to participate in sharing their voice, their own voice," Aquino-Tugade stated.

Aside from Frankfurt, Aquino-Tugade also shed light on the increased national reach of the Book Nook, a community-based reading program conceived by NBDB.

"People realized there aren't enough Filipino books anywhere… So we wanted to make spaces that were easy for people to get into… Book Nooks are areas that are covered with Filipino-authored books. And it could be any area… where we fill it up with Filipino-authored books." Aquino-Tugade explained.

The spaces also serve as cultural centers. "We teach art, we teach mommies how to read, we teach children everything, acting, so that they can just get into the space and be comfortable… and pick up a book as well," she added.

Tugade explained that the project now consists of approximately 1,200 titles that are regionally adapted to local languages and cultures.

"By next year, I believe we're adding another 20. So by 2028, we're sitting around 160, 170 Book Nooks," she added.

The effect is also internationally felt, with Book Nooks already present in Korea and Michigan. "We, of course, have a diaspora because there are so many Filipinos; one in six of our population lives and works abroad. So you want to be able to cater to them as well."

Secretary Ang, seeing the program's potential to benefit Filipino communities abroad, introduced the possibility of cooperation between the NBDB and the CFO's network of 34 Philippine Schools Overseas. He indicated his support through an offer to act as a catalyst for partnerships, citing the CFO's continuous efforts to bridge the diaspora with programs enhancing Filipino identity and culture abroad.

This strategic alliance could even fortify the NBDB's objectives, as Aquino-Tugade stressed: "So the communities, actually, once you set up a Book Nook, kids are not only reading, and families are not only reading, but they're also taking part in the creation where they start creating their own stories. And that's what we want, for people to start creating their own, in their own voice."

With the world's eyes upon Philippine literature in Frankfurt and cultural reach widening among local and global communities through the Book Nook program, the NBDB highlights its renewed commitment, together with the CFO, to elevating Filipino narratives, wherever they are read, written, or imagined.

About the Commission on Filipinos Overseas

The CFO, created by virtue of Batas Pambansa Blg. 79, is committed to the well-being and empowerment of Filipinos living abroad on a permanent basis. This is separate from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), which mainly caters to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and other temporary migrants.

CFO seeks to enhance the economic, social, and cultural connections of overseas Filipinos to their homeland. Its core constituents are Filipino permanent migrants, dual citizens, spouses and partners of foreign nationals, participants in exchange visitor programs, au pair participants, and children of foreign nationals with Filipino heritage.