NCCA on the Philippines’ Participation as the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) celebrates the selection of the Philippines as the Guest of Honour (GOH) at the Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM) or Frankfurt Book Fair 2025. The Commission extends its warmest congratulations to Senate President Pro Tempore and NCCA Board of Commissioners member Loren Legarda, who has passionately worked to make this prestigious milestone possible.

Sen. Legarda and Boos with FBM and NBDB officials

The signing of the Guest of Honour agreement on August 18, 2023 in Davao City

Held in the historic city of Frankfurt, Germany, FBM is the world’s largest book fair with more than five centuries of tradition. Since 1976, it features each year a Guest of Honour, a country which will be a focus of interest with its own special literary program and special exhibition hall.

According to National Book Development Board (NBDB), an important aim of the Guest of Honour programme “is to increase the number of translations from the host country into German. The great public interest shown in the Guest of Honour at the book fair each year is also an incentive for publishers worldwide to publish titles from the respective host country. In this way, Frankfurter Buchmesse’s Guest of Honour programme promotes the international trade in licenses and the transfer of literature.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda and FBM president and chief executive officer Juergen Boos

Legarda believes that the opportunity will promote the country’s publishing industry in the global arena and will prove to be a great venue to highlight the Philippines’ culture and arts.

“As Guest of Honour, we will be in a unique, prominent position in the global arena to show our publishing industry’s creativity and intellectual prowess,” she said.

The Philippines will only be second country from Southeast Asia to be given the privilege after Indonesia in 2015.

The Guest of Honour agreement was officially signed on August 18, 2023, at the start of the Philippine Book Festival in Davao City, between the book fair’s president and chief executive officer, Juergen Boos, and NBDB officials led by chairman Dante Francis Ang II and executive director Charisse Tugade. Legarda served as the keynote speaker of the Philippine Book Festival, stressing the importance of such events for the enrichment and education of many.

Karina Bolasco, then director of the Ateneo de Manila University Press, presented to Legarda the idea of supporting the country’s participation at FBM in 2015. Since 2016, the senator has pushed for this distinction as Guest of Honour.

“I have worked tirelessly for this, together with then NBDB chair Neni Sta. Romana Cruz and moard members Karina Bolasco and Ani Almario. After eight years, since I learned about this fair and its importance in 2015, we have worked tirelessly, and now we have finally clinched that honor and distinction,” Legarda said.

She added: “This should translate to tangible, economic impact such as an increase in the number of actual book exports, in sales of translation rights and other derivative rights, and will expand opportunities internationally for our writers, book designers, artists, and comics illustrators, all these while we establish, strengthen, and expand our ties to our networks of publishers and cultural institutions across the world.”

Interagency meeting in preparation for FBM at the National Museum (Photo by National Museum of the Philippines)

Legarda believes that the country’s participation at the book fair will be a big boost to the country’s reputation as well as to its arts and creative industry.

FBM remains to be the most important marketplace for publishers, authors, literary agents, media professionals, illustrators, and book and trade associations to negotiate their publishing and licensing rights. The 77th Frankfurter Buchmesse will be held from October 15 to 19, 2025.

The NCCA, led by its chairman Victorino “Ino” Manalo will be working with the NBDB and other agencies in discussing and strategizing the Philippines’ participation in 2025. An interagency meeting was immediately convened on August 22 at the National Museum of Anthropology.

“I believe that a collaborative effort among various governmental agencies is essential to ensure the success of the Philippines’ participation in this momentous event,” Legarda said.

“As your senator who is deeply dedicated and committed to promoting education and literacy, I fully support this significant undertaking that instills a lifelong love for learning,” the legislator enthused. “It is an honor to be here in the gathering of literary enthusiasts, authors, publishers, and readers, who have all come together to celebrate and promote a culture of reading and writing in our country.”