Abridged Transcript of Kristine Mandigma, Dean Alfar, Gwen Galvez and Blooey Singson at RX 93.1

I wish I could have put this up during the Manila International Book Fair but transcribing takes time. Anyway, you can read about Kristine's fascination with Mills & Boon, Dean's spec fic cook book, Gwen's search for the Pinoy Harry Potter, and Blooey's Alamat ng Atis over here. Seriously though, Kristine talks about Read or Die, Dean explores spec fic and his latest book, The Kite of Stars, Gwen about the local publishing industry, and Blooey plugs the book fair (sorry the transcript is up too late!). It's a long read and rightly so since the interview lasted almost an hour.

RX 93.1 Recording of the Book Fair, Read or Die, Anvil Publishing, and Dean Alfar

Some days, I'm glad I used to be tech support. This is one of them. Anyway, Internet problems at home have been resolved (hopefully permanently) and in the meantime as I get myself up to speed with the rest of the world, here's the recording of RX 93.1's interview last August 30, 2007. It's nearly an hour long and is 70++ MB. Edited transcript to follow by next week.

Read or Die, Spec Fic, Anvil, and Manila International Book Fair on Radio

Just found out that last night, RX 93.1 had an interview with Kristine Mandigma of Read or Die, author Dean Alfar, Gwen Galvez of Anvil Publishing, and Blooey Singson of the Manila International Book Fair. Due to technical difficulties (no Internet, dead mp3 player), an edited transcript and recording won't be up until next week but here's some snippets I managed to jot down halfway through the interview (parenthesis are English translations of Filipino terms):

On Read or Die's current reading recommendations.

Kristine: This month is graphic novel month. So all the titles nominated are graphic novels. We have Dean Alfar’s Siglo there, which is one of the best graphic novel compilation. We have Alan Moore in the selection. We have Gerry Alanguilan’s Elmer. Just local talents, we have Dean Alfar’s Siglo, we have Gerry Alanguilan’s Elmer, and we have Craig Thompson’s Blankets. Which is a really, really nice graphic novel so that’s what we recommend. For this month, graphic novels. Next month I think we are on to historical novels for the selection.

On Read or Die's agenda.

Kristine: [We're] all embracing. But we also do have a special advocacy for Philippine lit as you mentioned. Even though we have very different tastes, I think one of our unifying threads, commonality namin (of ours) is that even if we don’t all read Filipino lit, we like to promote Filipino literature through this book club. We also have another website like http://libro.ph, if you could visit it, that’s one of our efforts to promote Filipino literature.

Dean Alfar's take on speculative fiction.

Dean: Speculative fiction actually had its roots in science fiction because the question is what if. What if the world was like this or what if aliens had come. But it has since grown to encompass fantasy, sci-fi, horror, magic-realism, surrealism, and interstitial fiction. So actually a lot of the non-realist stories and types of books are covered by spec fic.

Dean's theory on why speculative fiction is popular lately in the country.

Dean: For the longest of times, a lot of the material that was available to the common public or general reading public was domestic realism or novels or stories about the plight of the poor and things like that which are important because that reflects social agenda and it’s important that we understand that. However we are also becoming more regional and global. We are influenced now by the Internet to look outside. Film comes in, there are no boundaries and literature comes in from other countries. And the literature of the imagination which is speculative fiction has no boundaries or citizenship so a lot of the younger generation, they look for the literature of wonder which is sci-fi, horror, fantasy and these are the things that matter to them and these are the things that they are reading and happily writing.

Redefining speculative fiction and escapism.

Dean: The older people would brand it [speculative fiction] as escapism and make it sound like a bad thing but to me escapism is just another term you use for hope. When people want to escape, like OFWs (Overseas Foreign Workers), they will read romances. It’s a happy ending, it allows them a fantasy, it gives them hope. Escapism is a term that needs to be shorn of its ugly thing. It’s not a bad thing. It permits the Filipino to hope and dream of a better tomorrow, that’s what utopian science fiction is about, what fantasy is about, and even horror that allows us to confront dark things and that’s not just about escapism, that’s about hope.

Anvil's take on the current best-sellers and what's selling.

Gwen: The same thing as what was selling ten years ago. Essentially self-help is still the best-seller. You’d have dictionaries, cookbooks, nonfiction, self-help. Books that will improve one’s self. In the arena of fiction, it’s still basically romance and suspense. So right now what is hot are the ghost stories. Yes, ghost stories. Because of what Dean said, we like something that will quicken the heartbeat, the what-if’s. We’re always interested, the Filipinos have an innate curiosity for the supernatural, it’s in our culture. We have a rich mythology so ghost stories will always sell. It’s pretty much the same. People all over the country the common reading material is romance and suspense, ghost stories.

New books that's out in the market.

Anvil: We have a new cookbook that’s out, it’s called Pulutan. It’s written by two soldiers who are the Oakwood Mutiny soldiers. They passed on their recipes... These are recipes that they compiled while they were, even before that [the Oakwood Mutiny], while they were assigned to different camps all over the country... They’ve been assigned to all over the country to different camps and they’ve been able to compile and test recipes that are usually indigenous to a particular area.

Dean: My latest work is my very first collection of short fiction, it’s called Kite of Stars and Other Stories published by Anvil. It’s available right now at the book fair and I’d like to invite everyone to the formal launch of The Kite of Stars and Other Stories. This will be on September 29, 4 o’clock in the afternoon, at Bestsellers in Robinsons Galleria.

The lead story is called Kite of Stars (ed note: was also published in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Seventeenth Annual Collection) and it’s about a woman who falls in love with a man and she goes on a 60-year quest to assemble the millions of components of a kite that she will use once assembled to attract his attention. For science fiction I have something called Hollow Girl which is about an android who looks for meaning in her life and love and finds it in the wrong places. For straight-out epic fantasy I have something called In the Dim Plane which is about a cast of villains trapped on a plane of darkness and one of them is a necromancer. So there is a lot that we can write about and this is the best time to be writing speculative fiction because now there are markets open, not just Anvil in terms of a publisher but you have magazines like Story Philippines, or even the Philippines Free Press which still is a bastion for excellent writing and they’re now open to spec fic. It’s incredible. There’s also the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories which publishes fantasy, horror, crime, western, romance, you name it.

On the book fair.

Blooey: Over at the book fair we have over 300 exhibitors in one venue. It showcases the largest and the most varied collection of printed materials like text books, educational supplements, literature, general references, religious and inspirational titles, self-help books, management books and many many more. And even multimedia and teaching aids and even interactive materials.

On the topic's question, do Filipinos still read?

Blooey: And to answer your question if Filipinos read, actually two years ago there was a survey conducted by an international surveying agency. It’s called the World Culture Score survey. It was conducted on 30,000 consumers in 30 countries and Filipinos ranked 3rd as the country’s most avid readers. We apparently we read for an average of 6.7 hours a week while India batted with 10.7 hours. India ranked no. 1.

Quick Updates

In an attempt to cut down on posts, here's bullet points of what's happening:

• Read or Die's activity area in the Manila Book Fair? Check.
• Updated list of events at the Manila Book Fair? Check.
• Pat's Fantasy Hotlist has a Q&A with George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham. (From SF Signal)
• A Different Bookstore seems to be stocking more comics.
• Fully Booked seems to be importing Singaporean-translated manga as well as the US ones (the former is cheaper than the latter).
• Over at National Bookstore Bestsellers in Robinsons Galleria, I found Gabriel Marcia Marquez novels selling for P200+.
  

More Book Fair Musings

Since the list of participants in the Manila International Book Fair is out, one question on people’s minds is why isn’t -insert favorite bookstore- participating? For me however, the question isn’t why they’re not participating but why should they in the first place. Allow me to explain.

Internationally, book fairs are usually for the industry people. They do sell books but they don’t sell them individually: they sell the rights to the book. Book fairs are usually where publishers get to meet other publishers, where they showcase the titles they have and entice you to license them for your country or order them in huge quantities. It’s also a great time to get a peek at the books that will be released in the future as well as see what publishers in other countries are doing. It’s not a consumer-friendly event but rather a convention for book publishers both big and small.

Now what we have in the Philippines is different. When you say book fair, it’s synonymous with book sale. The Manila International Book Fair, on the other hand, seems like the biggest book bazaar of them all. Now I don’t know what’s going in the minds of the organizers, at why they set it up in the first place and why it’s designed that way. But I have seen the results. A large open space is rented and various publishers and bookstores have booths to sell their goods. It’s also like a convention in which events are being held on the side and it’s also lately been where the awarding of the National Book Awards is held.

In the past three years or so however, there’s been some interesting developments when it comes to the Manila International Book Fair. The first of which is the re-branding. I don’t know why but it’s only recently that they added the “International” to their title. Before it was simply the Manila Book Fair. Likewise, the location wasn’t at the World Trade Center but rather at the more accessible Megatrade Hall of Mega Mall. For most people, the change might appear superficial: new name, new venue. How they conduct their business remains the same (selling books at a discount). Not being part of the organizers, I don’t know for sure if that’s true but for me, I’ve observed some significant changes thanks to the re-branding.

As a kid, there was really only one reason I went to the Manila Book Fair. It wasn’t to see all the various bookstores present there, it was just to visit one: Goodwill Bookstore. Now that might sound bizarre to all of you but the fact of the matter is, as a kid, the rest of the other stalls simply didn’t interest me. I didn’t care about the university presses or the local publishers. Honestly, a lot of the booths at the time seemed like losers to me. Aside from Goodwill Bookstore, the only other booths that might have interested me was Emerald Headway for their magazines and Warner (before it was Time-Warner) for their comics. And the reason why Goodwill Bookstore attracted me was because they had a big shelf of SF&F books, bigger than what most bookstores had at the time (as the years would pass however, this shelf would shrink and dwindle). So the book fair was easily the only time I’d get to see Goodwill Bookstore’s most complete stock of books at any one place.

How about the other bookstores you might ask. Well, National Bookstore wasn’t interested in participating in the book fair at the time. As for the independent bookstores that’s made their presence known today, they didn’t exist at the time. Certainly there were other independent bookstores back then but whether they could participate or want to, I’ll discuss later. So to sum it up, the Manila Book Fair was easily a book bazaar of virtually unknown bookstores and publishers with the exception of Goodwill Bookstore. And in retrospect, look where Goodwill Bookstore is today (not that it’s dead but it’s branches have dwindled).

And then the re-branding came. Coincidentally, this happened during what I call the bookstore boom, when Powerbooks was quite popular and still had their 3-floor flagship store in Makati, when Page One was about to debut, and when A Different Bookstore was surviving their first few years. Anyway, I’m sure the other bookstores were skeptical at first of new variation of the book fair but apparently, the re-branding was enough to entice them. National Bookstore was on board and when they showed up, their space easily rivaled that of Goodwill Bookstore (which previously dominated the book fair). What would now be known as Fully Booked made skirmishes, first as a small both under its other bookstore names and then finally, last year, a full-blown area (and not just one tiny booth). A Different Bookstore has been aggressively expanding in the past few years and they took the risk last year at the book fair.

Branding, I think, played a big part in the other bookstore’s participation. There’s the location for starters. I can’t imagine how someone can say that the World Trade Center is easier to get to than Mega Mall. It isn’t. But that fact can easily be a feature not a flaw. The World Trade Center is still accessible however, so it’s balancing itself between the line of accessible but not-too-accessible. That’s my polite way of saying the book fair is targeting a different market than those that frequent Mega Mall. And in many ways, the target market of the newer bookstores are the upper class. Look at where Powerbooks’s flagship store used to be located: in the urban comforts of Makati. Both A Different Bookstore and Fully Booked both have their flagship stores in the equally not-so-accessible area of Bonifacio City at The Fort. The only one who really caters to the masses is National Bookstore but everyone eventually visits National Bookstore, rich or poor, if only to buy notebooks and other school supplies. There might be less foot traffic in The World Trade Center but the various bookstores are probably thinking there’ll be more people walking out having bought something. But that’s just speculation on my part.

Of course my theory above is easily invalidated if Goodwill Bookstore managed to acquire an exclusive lock-out before the re-branding. The only way to know for sure is to have insider info from either Goodwill Bookstore or the organizers of the book fair but I have neither. Perhaps I’m a fictionist at heart so I hope you don’t mind if I stick to my more interesting and presumptuous theory.

Now let’s look at the other publishers present in the book fair. While the bigger bookstores might give a modest discount of 20%, it seems like the local publishers are more willing to lower their prices, going as high as 50% if not more. To me, participating in fairs, any fairs, seemed ludicrous. I mean not only are you paying the organizer for the booth, you’re selling your wares at lower-than-normal prices. But I do understand the concept of a sale and any business owner will know how important it is to get rid of old stock. Conventionally however, most local publishers sell their books via retailers such as National Bookstore. Unfortunately, these retailers do charge a high consignment fee. Since the publishers are selling direct and this is the book fair after all, the 50% discount doesn’t sound so big—the profits that would have gone to the coffers of the retailers instead translate to savings on the part of the consumer. But that doesn’t make it any less horrible to witness books by national artists like Nick Joaquin selling for half the price.

Now let’s move on to the bookstore’s who aren’t present in the book fair. Well, gist of it is that attending the book fair is an expense. You’re paying for the booth, you’re paying for the transportation of goods and an employee to man the booth, and you have to do it for five days. That’s not including the bureaucracy that plagues any similar event, and how everyone jocks for a good position in the location. (Again, I’m not the organizer so I’m not privy to bickering if any at all exist but I’m sure there are publishers and bookstores complaining why they’re set up in this location and will ask if they can be set up in a more optimal place. The organizers might even use this as leverage to “who pays first gets first choice”.) There’ll also be restrictions such as only having a few tables or electricity outlets. And then there’s keeping your goods secure when the day is over (either locking it up at the location or bringing it home). These factors might be minor inconveniences to bigger bookstores but if you’re an independent bookstore with a staff of less than half-a-dozen, it might become a problem. After all, do you have enough staff to optimally man your actual store and the booth in the book fair? Better yet, can they sustain this for five whole days, in addition to ingress and egress devoted to setting up the booth and dismantling it? The last time I visited Aeon Books for example, I think they have a staff of three. They may have made-do with a skeleton crew at the Read or Die Convention but the Read or Die Convention had a relatively cheap fee/ex-deal (and perhaps participated as a favor to the organizer which is a factor when dealing with smaller businesses) and was just two days long, a big difference compared to the mammoth book fair and the various hoopla that surrounds it.

At the end of the day, participating in the book fair is pretty much like any business decision. Where’s the profit in it and what’s in it for me? For the consumer, the book fair seems like a good deal but one man’s blessing might be another man’s bane. The book fair is easily a different world on the side of the bookstores and publishers, everything from loss-leader to logistical nightmare to a public relations stunt. I have no vested interest in any bookstore however which is why I’m encouraging every consumer to participate in the event.

Manila International Book Fair Participants

Libro.ph has the list of the participants in the Manila International Book Fair. Looks like no Fully Booked, unless they're operating under a different corporate name.

A-Z Direct Marketing, Inc.
A Different Bookstore
Abe Wood Toys Center
Academic Book Sales, Inc.
Adarna House, Inc.
Alexan Commercial
Anvil Publishing, Inc.
Asia/Pacific Circulation Exponents, Inc.
Asiatype, Distribution Inc.
Ateneo University Press
Audio-Voca
Belview Co., Inc.
Bookwagon (Pahina, Inc.)
Britannica / High Access Line Phils. Corp.
Brunei Durassalam National Book Publishers Committee
Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, Phils.
Buddhist Light International Association
CD Books International, Inc.
C & E Publishing, Inc.
Catholic Book Center
Cengage Learning (Thomson Learning)
Central Book Supply, Inc.
Christian Literature Crusade
Church of Scientology, Mission of the Philippines
Church Strengthening Ministry, Inc.
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
Cogent Consulting & Solutions Technologies Corp.
Cultural Center of the Philippines
Cyclophil Educational Promotion, Inc.
Diwa Learning Systems Inc.
EDCA Publishing & Distributing Corp.
Edcrisch International, Inc.
Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Emerald Headway Distributors, Inc.
Empire International Merchandising Corp.
Eternal Publication
F & J de Jesus, Inc.
Fastbooks Educational Supply, Inc.
Feed Your Mind Marketing
Felta Multi-Media, Inc.
Filway Marketing, Inc.
Forefront Book Co., Inc.
Fujian Publishing Industry Trading Corp.
Gentle Star Trading Corporation
Gilbert Emerson Marketing Corp.
Global Learning Media, Inc./Verve Multimedia, Inc.
Goethe-Institut Manila
Golden Books Services, Inc.
Goodwill Bookstore
Goyal Books Overseas Pvt Ltd
Grand Excellence Marketing Services / Newsweek
Gunnar Lie & Associates Ltd
Hal Phiilippines
Heartshaper Publishers Inc.
High Access Line Phils., Corp.
IBC Infotech, Inc.
IBON Foundation, Inc.
Ilaw ng Tahanan Publishing, Inc.
Info-Ed Marketing Corp.
Instituto Cervantes-Manila
Jesuit Communications Foundation, Inc.
John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd
Katha Publishing Inc. Co.
Kraftek Trading
Lighthouse Bookstore
Linar Educational Materials, Inc.
Little Professor Book Center
Logos Publications, Inc.
Malaysian Book Publishers Association (MABOPA)
Market Asia Distributors (S) Pte Ltd
McGraw-Hill Education
Media Zillion Services, Inc.
Megatexts Phils., Inc.
Mind Mover Publishing House, Inc.
National Book Development Board
National Book Store, Inc.
National Historical Institute
Network Magazine Subscription Services Inc.
New Century Books & Gen. Mdse.
New Day Publishers
OMF Literature, Inc.
Oxford University Press-ELT
Paulines Publishing House
Pearson Education South Asia Pte Ltd
Philand Industries, Incorporated
Philippine Bible Society
Phoenix Educational Systems, Inc.
Powerbooks Inc.
Precious Pages Corp.
Psicom Publishing, Inc.
Rarebook Enterprises
Rex Group of Companies
Roman Instructional Media Resources, Inc.
St. Augustine Publications, Inc.
St Pauls
Scholastic, Inc.
Shepherd’s Voice Publications, Inc.
Sinag-Tala Publishers, Inc.
Sterling Paper Products Enterprises, Incorporated
Stiftung Gralsbotschaft
Summit Media
The Bookmark, Inc.
The Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT)
The Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of the Philippines
Tradewinds Books
Universal Magazine Exchange Corp.
University of Santo Tomas Publishing House
University of the Philippines Press
Vibal Publishing House, Inc.
WS Pacific Publications, Inc.
Wiseman’s Books Trading
Word & Life Publications
World Health Organization

The Bibliophile's Guide to the Manila International Book Fair

This year's Manila International Book Fair will be held on August 29 until September 2, 2007. I'm reminding you of that today because for most people, tomorrow is pay day. That means if you want to stock up on bargain books during the book fair, save your money now and don't splurge. As much as the book fair is a good opportunity to socialize with publishers and authors, it's really a bazaar to acquire hard-to-find books or buy them at a discount.

Tip #1: Save your money now and don't splurge. Or at least budget it.

Of course since August is essentially book fair month, it's also the time when a lot of bookstores go on sale. So even if you're not going to the book fair, you can still find books being sold at a discount. As of today, Powerbooks and Books for Less are currently on sale. My prediction is that by the end of the week or next week at the latest, National Bookstore will similarly go on sale. Last year, Booktopia held their anniversary sale in August so it's also likely that they'll be declaring a sale later in the month. Fully Booked just launched their flagship store in Serendra so it's a wait-and-see whether they'll similarly go on sale or even participate in the book fair.

Tip #2: Even if you don't go to the book fair doesn't mean you can't enjoy its benefits: the bookstores are most likely going to declare their sales this month.

Now let's go to the book fair proper itself. Unlike five years ago, the book fair is now being held at the World Trade Center in Manila. I don't know about you but for me, its previous venue, the Megatrade Hall in Mega Mall, was more accessible. Because it's far off for most people (unless you happen to live in the vicinity), most likely you'll be planning your visits. But the question you're asking is why should you go there in the first place. Here's a couple of reasons that might interest you:

1. Books are sold at a discount. (And many mainstream bookstores are participating such as National Bookstore, Goodwill Bookstore, and A Different Bookstore, at least based on last year's book fair. Whether the likes of Aeon Books or Booktopia will join remains to be seen.)
2. Many university presses will be present. A lot of our local books are published by university presses and instead of traveling all the way to U.P. to grab a hold of Luis Katigbak's The King of Nothing to Do and then head to Ateneo to grab a copy of Dean Alfar's Salamanca, you can do all of that in one place. And probably get them at a discount too. (If you're lucky, have the author sign them as well...)
3. There'll be various events held during the week and I can't really say what they'll be as they vary from year to year. There could be a book signing by an author, a talk on a specific subject, and even an activity for kids. (Right now there's Unlocking the Literature of the Fantastic and Childrens, Teens and Reading in the Time of IT.) The one thing that's certain however is that during that week, the National Book Awards will take place in the book fair.
4. Get back issues of magazines. Emerald Headway, one of the biggest distributors of magazines, typically has a huge booth at the book fair. Not only are they offering subscriptions but several back issues you can avail for free for every magazine purchases. The also distribute Chicken Soup for the Soul.
5. There'll be a couple of freebies and raffles for some of the purchases you make. Last year, National Bookstore gave away free pocket dictionaries for every purchase and the year before that, I was able to snag a couple of Wolves in the Wall postcards. The book fair also has raffles with varying prizes. Hey, it's not a lot but at least if you're going to buy books, you're getting something else and for some people, that's a big incentive in itself.
   

Tip #3: Find out what's your incentive for going to the book fair.

Okay, now that we know we want to go to the book fair, the next question is when we'll go to the book fair. Experience has taught me that while it's tempting to go on the opening of the book fair, most of the booths don't have their best stock on display yet. Similarly, don't go on the last day either. The best stocks will be gone by then. Having said that, when's the best day to drop by? Personally, if I had a choice, I'd go on the second day. The new stocks will be on display by then and few people would have singled out the best stuff. However, that falls on a Thursday and if you're like me having a day job, that leaves me with little time to get to the book fair. Remember, the book fair closes at 8 pm so if I get off work at 6 pm, that means I'll get to Roxas by 7 pm at the earliest and leaves me with less than an hour to do my book shopping. Believe me, an hour is not enough so it's good to plan your schedule.

Tip #4: Plan your schedule when you're going to the book fair.

Next up are the things you should bring to the book fair. If you're a student or a school faculty member, be sure to bring your ID. The book fair isn't free but charges a small fee (less than P20.00) before you can enter and register. If you show your ID, you get a discount. Now the discount isn't big. If they're normally charging you P7.00 for the entrance, students can get in for P5.00. For some people, P2.00 is a big thing. It's also helps to bring a pen or a marker so that you can fill out the raffle forms and have an author sign a book in the event that you "accidentally" run into them. Personally, I also like to carry a bag because I know I'm going to do some shopping and I want to leave my hands free. The book fair has a baggage counter though so if you fear leaving your valuables like PDAs and iPods with the baggage counter, don't bring them.

Tip #5: Bring your school ID and a pen at the very least. Oh, and your wallet too.

Last but not least is navigating through the book fair. You can check out their map but the stalls haven't been labeled yet. Most likely the bigger bookstore chains will be in the platinum or gold area while the smaller shops in the bronze. Also take note of where the restrooms are in the event that you feel the call of nature. There's also some concessionaires in the book fair but they're not big lunches, more of snacks-on-the-go and good old coffee (having said that, you might not want to go to the book fair on an empty stomach). It's also important to have a system when navigating through the book fair instead of aimlessly wandering in a whimsical direction. I usually scan the various stalls in a horizontal manner then slowly move up. Once I've scouted all the booths, I go to the bookstores I want to go. Have a similar plan when navigating through the bookstore's bookshelves. The important thing is to be systematic about it and not arbitrary.

Tip #6: Study the book fair's layout and plan where you want to go.

Get Your School Free Tickets to the Manila International Book Fair

From Adarna House:

Adarna House would like to invite your students to attend the 27^th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) from August 29 – September 2 at the World Trade Center, Roxas Boulevard, Manila. We would provide you with tickets so that you wouldn’t have to be charged an entrance fee to the event.

There will be storytelling, art, and literary activities lined up for all those who will visit the Adarna booth. Everyone will also get a chance to meet and greet their favorite Adarna authors and illustrators during book signing. The flow of activities is available here for your reference. For more information about the Manila International Book Fair as a whole, please visit their website at www.manilabookfair.com

For reservations or inquiries, please call Ergoe at 372-3548 local 122.

Reading Habits of Children

From The Coffee Goddess:

Zarah Grace Gagatiga will be presenting studies and surveys about the reading habits of children as well as activities they do in their leisure time. Parents, teachers, librarians and care givers can see how much media and IT influences children's and teens' environment and way of living. The talk will be an open discussion/workshop type in order for the participants to actively discuss implications and ways of forming kids into better readers and users of information and technology.

Zarah Grace Gagatiga is the head librarian of Xavier School and is an active member of KUTING (Kuwentista Ng Mga Tsikiting, a writers' group for children's literature) and the Philippine Board On Books For Young People (PBBY). She blogs at http://lovealibrarian.blogspot.com.

August 30, 2007 (3:30 - 4:30 PM)
Function Room A
Manila International Book Fair
World Trade Center, Pasay City

This event is sponsored and organized by Read Or Die and Powerbooks.

LitCritters at the Book Fair

From Dean Alfar

The LitCritters will be at the upcoming Manila International Book Fair to deliver a talk entitled: Unlocking The Literature of the Fantastic: Philippine Speculative Fiction.

From the programme:

The Filipino is no stranger to wonder and the fantastic. Join multi-awarded fictionist Dean Francis Alfar and the LitCritters as they discuss the emergence and growth of Philippine Speculative Fiction on August 29, 2007 at the 28th Manila International Book Fair. Fantasy, science fiction, horror and the literature of the imagination are alive and here to stay.

The event will take place at Function Room A of the World Trade Center from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM and is sponsored by Powerbooks.

The LitCritters is a reading and writing group founded by Dean Alfar and based in Manila, as well as in Dumaguete. Every week, the group reads and discusses several pieces of short fiction from various genres from different writers with the goal of expanding reading horizons, improving the ability to critique, and learning how to write from the good texts. In addition to speculative fiction, the LitCritters read Philippine literature in English, as well as world literature.

Sick August

Last night, I was ready for August but when I woke up today, I had that feeling--no fever yet but it's coming, plus a migraine and diarrhea.

Anyway, what I'm usually excited about August is at the end of the month is the Manila International Book Fair. It's going to be from August 29 to September 2, 2007 so start saving up! (Unfortunately, I'm broke.)

Of course this is similarly the time that bookstores start going on sale. A Different Bookstore/Ink & Stone just ended their monthly sale so I doubt if they'll have another sale this month (but they'll be participating at the book fair!). Going through my archives, last year August was the month when Booktopia held its anniversary sale so they might be having a store promo or something in the next couple of weeks. I expect that in the middle of the month, National Bookstore and Powerbooks will similarly be declaring sale! so don't go on a shopping spree just yet.

Cosplay at the Manila International Book Fair

Tin has put up on the Read or Die website the mechanics for the cosplay competition at the Manila International Book Fair. What I want to comment is how visual cosplay is, yet literary characters aren't as quickly as recognizable unless they were adapted to another medium such as TV or movies. For example, we presently have an image of what Conan (the Barbarian) or Harry Potter or Aragorn or Sherlock Holmes or Baron Harkonnen should look like (even the cast of Noli me Tangere will be identified by their period costumes more than their physical characteristics). Not so much for Belgarath the Sorcerer (will be mistaken for generic white-bearded sorcerer or another sorcerer from the series), Rand 'Al Thor (or Richard Rahl, or King Arthur, or generic fantasy hero with a sword), or Hari Seldon (is that a Starfleet uniform?). Of course I think there will be some notable exceptions. How many wizard/fighter albinos bearing Stormbringer do you know of? Polgara might be recognizable although that's more of a hair thing rather than a whole costume make-over (owl rejects from Harry Potter help too). Then there's characters that are the products of repetitive descriptions (is that a mark of good writing or bad writing?) like Raistlin and his hourglass eyes (good luck with the rest of the cast of Dragonlance... Goldmoon can be mistaken for Galadriel with a staff, Sturm your generic knight without helmet, Riverwind a cross between a native American barbarian, and Flint for Gimli). Then there's some characters that can be pulled off if done correctly. Phedre I think is doable (yay, bondage!). The cast of A Song of Ice and Fire is possible if the costume matches the coat of arms of each House (although I imagine handless Jamie can be mistaken for Luke Skywalker--look, I have no right hand!). Ender and his jeesh, difficult to pull off but possible (and will win the "awww, they're cute children" award).

Or some group could dress up as Old Ones and drive everyone mad. Except they'll probably say "isn't that the dude from Pirates of the Carribean?" (Don't get me started with mysteries--I keep thinking of Nighthood for Arsene Lupin [not Richard Guitterez!] and Detective Hercule Poirot will be confused as Dr. Evil with a mustache.)

11th Philippine Academic Book Fair

I just saw this at Mega Mall today as I was buying some office supplies:

11th Philippine Academic Book Fair
July 25 - 29, 2007
Mega Trade Hall 1

Text books, anyone?

Indie Publishers at Book Fair

Tin reports that independent publishers have a free both at the Manila International Book Fair. That's a good thing, although I wonder how efficient that info will be disseminated. (Does Philippine Genre Stories count as an independent publisher?) The good news for some of my friends is that it covers comics as well, so if you have some work you'd like to release before the Komikon, contact Read or Die.

The Harry Potter Wars

One of my fondest memories of the annual Manila International Book Fair is when National Bookstore and Goodwill Bookstore (the only two big bookstores present at the time) entered a price war on one of the Harry Potter books. If I remember correctly, the fifth book had just come out a month or two before and as expected, both bookstores overstocked on it. Then comes in the book fair and they declare Harry Potter books on sale. Of course while it began with the usual 20% discount, by the end of the book fair, each bookstore was selling it at 40% off.

I bring this up because the seventh Harry Potter book is about to be released, and a few months way from the book fair. I think it's a safe call to say bookstores will again overstock Harry Potter. The question is what solutions they'll come up to solve this problem (whether it'll go as low as 40% off again looms in my mind but I honestly doubt it). There's also the fact that nearly every bookstore and reading organization has a Harry Potter promo of some sort so it's interesting to see how this all plays out.

Just A Reminder

It's still 84 days away but that only means more time to save up. August 29, 2007 to September 2, 2007 will be the 28th Manila International Book Fair. It's also typical for bookstores to hold their sales in the same month so now is a good time to start setting aside money.

On a side note, the Manila International Book Fair started losing its luster for me but last year was an amazing experience, mainly due to the influx of new exhibitors such as A Different Bookstore and Fully Booked. CCHQ was also present to get rid of (still) unsold stock and I honestly don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing to hope to see them again this year. Alas, we have nothing like Book Expo America here.