FRANKFURT, Germany - The fiercest of Filipino books were written with blood and aphorisms, not just read but (in the words of either Goethe or Zarathustra) learned by heart. Those who claim that the Philippines is known mainly for its crime and calamities, with Manila being dubbed by Forbes as the fifth riskiest city for tourists, have never seen Filipino artistry and talent being celebrated on the world stage at events such as the Venice Biennale or the Frankfurt Book Fair. Our current writers (committing ink to paper like veins of lightning just as Jose Rizal and Nick Joaquin before them), artists and architects (participating in the global dialogue to redefine visual culture and spatial innovation), as well as actors and filmmakers (from mainstream to slipstream - such as Kidlat, Lav, Khavn, etc.), who are legion, would like to have a word. We belong, always have and always will, and have many wondrous, multi-woven stories in our craw.
Thus, it is crucial how the Philippines will fulfill its role as the Guest of Honour (GoH) country in next year's Frankfurter Buchmesse, on the heels of literature-rich countries such as Italy and, before that, Slovenia. Aside from maintaining its usual national stand, our country gets to showcase its cultural, literary and creative identity at the central pavilion as well as present a program that gives shape to its national narrative. And it took an entire village to get to this point, but it was one woman who envisioned us receiving the Guest Scroll from a host country and being in a position to share our literary blood and aphorisms in the publishing world's Olympics of sorts - joining Indonesia as the only Southeast Asian countries to be bestowed this honor.
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