The first three days of the fair were dedicated to industry professionals, while the weekend was open to the general public. This year’s Guest of Honour was the Philippines. The design of their pavilion was strikingly minimalist: several round or oval, airy wooden structures with white canopies were scattered throughout the space, serving as stages, small exhibition areas, or reading books. Their arrangement evoked small islands — a reflection of the Philippines’ very essence as an archipelago of 7641 islands where 135 languages are spoken.
The structures also resembled traditional Filipino dwellings, and their light, sail-like canopies brought to mind airships — a poetic nod to the Guest of Honour’s motto: “The imagination peoples the air.”
The pavilion’s architectural simplicity was balanced by a rich and wide-ranging program that spanned history and art forms. A central figure was national hero José Rizal – poet, novelist, and leader of the Filipino independence movement. Yet the cultural presentation avoided any nationalistic pathos. On the contrary, many discussions and readings bravely confronted painful issues in Filipino society: the legacy of dual colonialism (Spanish and American), the role of women, recent military conflicts, and the country’s complex political situation marked by authoritarian tendencies.
In the context of a book fair, it was particularly interesting to see reflection on the weak position of the written word in the Philippines — the result of a strong oral tradition and relatively few published books or readers.
Accordingly, great attention was given to art forms centered on spoken word — from Filipino documentary filmmaking and traditional storytelling to a presentation of FlipTop, the world’s largest battle rap league. As part of the Poetry for Freedom, Justice and Peace series, two poets, Marjorie Evasco and Maria Rilkë Arguelles, created a symbolic bridge between two oppressed nations by reading If I Must Die — a poem by the recently killed Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer — translated into eight Filipino languages.
Across the large atrium, the Czech Republic’s stand was abuzz with activity as preparations continued for next year’s Guest of Honour appearance. Czech authors Martin Vopěnka, Bianca Bellová, Petr Hruška, Viktorie Hanišová, and Michal Ajvaz were among those who presented their work to an international audience.
A major event for the Czech Republic was also the awarding of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Children’s Literature Award), for which Ondřej Buddeus and Jindřich Janíček were nominated with their book Kolo (Fahr Rad in German). This brought well-deserved attention to the rich tradition of Czechoslovak illustration and children’s picture books, which have always had a strong presence at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.
A bridge between this year’s and next year’s Guests of Honour was built through a discussion on Czech-Filipino literary relations, followed by the ceremonial presentation of the GastRolle, featuring an excerpt from Bohumil Hrabal’s Too Loud a Solitude.
The Frankfurter Buchmesse is not only a celebration of literature but also the world’s most important event in the publishing industry. Amid the endless meetings, negotiations, and bustling crowds, the Filipino pavilion offered a welcome space for reflection, reading, and imagination — its open, airy design allowing ideas to quite literally take flight.
We believe that next year, the Czech Republic will rise to the occasion and build on this dignified and inspiring presentation of national culture. While details of the Czech program are still under wraps, it’s already known that one of the main stars will be the internationally acclaimed author and DILIA member Radka Denemarková. The motto “Czechia: A Country on the Shore” promises courage and creative imagination.
We wish the main organizer, the Moravian Library (Moravská zemská knihovna), the best of luck — and DILIA will be there next year as well!