BOOKWORMS in this part of the country, watch out for the first-ever Philippine Book Festival that will be held in Davao City.
Brought by the National Book Development Board (NBDB), the three-day bookfest which starts on August 18 and ends on the 20th and is set to be held at SM Lanang Premiere, will feature over a thousand books authored and/or illustrated by Filipinos.
As the event coincides with Davao City's biggest festival, the Kadayawan Festival, not only Dabawenyos but visitors and tourists alike will have a chance to meet and greet their favorite Filipino authors.
Charisse Aquino-Tugade, executive director of NBDB, said the event is the largest book festival dedicated to local Filipino books and it is aimed to make known to the Filipinos the creators behind our own books.
"It's so sad that most of us are not aware of the people behind these local books, or behind our favorite comics, so this event will not only be about books," Aquino-Tugade said.
One of the goals of the Philippine Book Festival is to get to know the "pre-production people" such as the editors, the illustrators, even the publishers, behind our favorite reading materials and to help them find institutional buyers for these books, such as the Department of Education or the academic institutions as a way to help local creatives sustain the industry at the same time help the institutions find local books that they need.
"Another reason we set this up is that we want to help Deped also and the other institutions to connect with our local creatives because there are a lot of institutional buyers who are not aware of our local books that's why they buy, nakita mo naman yung mga books sa libraries mga foreign, diba," Aquino-Tugade said.
She added that the event will have more than 100 publishers in attendance.
"The difference with this event from book fairs is we will have a lot of programs -- it is highly programmatic with many activities and events. There will be a book signing, there will be events for children, lolas and lolos (grandparents), teens, mothers and fathers, and young professionals, and of course, it's free for everyone," the NBDB head said.
The event will also feature the highlighting of Dabawenyo and Mindanawon authors and creators --- including Kajo Baldisimo, the author of the famous Trese.
To amplify the excitement for this event, the NBDB head invites everyone hinting that aside from the many activities they prepared for the public they also arranged a bigger surprise and that's what the public has to see for themselves during the event.