On the eve of GOH 2025

BREAKTHROUGH

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

My wife Neni Sta. Romana Cruz has been kept busy as a member of the Organizing Team for the Philippines as Guest of Honour in 2025 at the Frankfurter Buchmesse and she writes from Frankfurt:

The five-day Frankfurter Buchmesse was a rehearsal of sorts for the Philippine delegation of 70+ authors, publishers, editors, translators as the country gears up for its turn as Guest of Honour (GOH) in 2025. It was an eye-opening experience with many important conversations and translation contracts made. The Asia Stage organized and sponsored by Dominador Buhain of Rex Publishing and the Frankfurter Buchmesse was a successful venue as a forum on current issues among writers from different countries. The Philippine delegation was given the opportunity to be part of meaningful interactions with flying colors.

A tradition at the Buchmesse happens as the fair closes in what is known as the Handover Ceremony when the current GOH country Italy formally passes on the title to the next. It is a collaboration between the two countries and so it began with the insightful exchange on stage between two prominent illustrators, Alessandro Sanna and Isabel Roxas.

There was an impressive brief cultural show (the ceremony took all of an hour) which featured chants from tribal singer, chanter Waway Saway from Bukidnon.

What brought the house down was the award-winning, world renowned Madrigal Singers singing an age-old, universally known and loved "Volare" that got the pleasantly surprised Italians singing along.