If you’re in search of your next favorite read from a Filipino author, look no further than the new releases at this year’s Philippine Book Festival (PBF).
Since the National Book Development Board launched the fair in 2023, PBF has grown to become an all-inclusive space for readers and writers to discover the latest offerings from Philippine literature. This year, the festival once again takes place at the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall from March 12 to 15.
With 107 exhibitors, along with several workshops and talkback sessions led by acclaimed authors and publishers, it can get a little overwhelming trying to decide which new releases to look forward to at the fair. Hence, we’ve put together a list of books debuting at PBF to help you prioritize the selections on your TBR list. In no particular order, here are the new releases at PBF that we’re most excited to see and grab copies of this weekend.
‘the end comes on without a gasp’ by Trish Shishikura
A debut poetry collection that has been described as “daring” and “hyperreal,” the end comes on without a gasp explores the connections between grief, migration, and tenderness. Poet Trish Shishikura presents herself to her readers with a distinct, clear voice that navigates her life between Manila and Tokyo.
“In Shishikura’s assured debut, the imprudent heart knows its place in the world,” wrote poet Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta on the collection. “The reward for so exacting a life can only be beauty.”
‘Ella Arcangel: Lupa at Dugo’
Fans of writer and artist Julius Villanueva’s Ella Arcangel series can now rejoice, because it’s getting a brand-new addition. The series follows its titular character, a young mambabarang who protects the people of Barangay Masikap from the demons that lurk in the shadows. The launch of Ella Arcangel: Lupa at Dugo at PBF will also include important updates on the upcoming GMA cinematic adaptation based on Ella Arcangel: Mga Awit ng Pangil at Kuko.
‘Arkipelago’ by Januar Yap, Translated to English by John Bengan
Arkipelago, originally written in Cebuano by Palanca Award-winning author Januar Yap, has now been translated into English by John Bengan. The novel jumps around from story to story, weaving together the lives of a group of islanders living through “political unrest, natural calamities, and postcolonial hangovers.” Bengan’s English translation of the text is both “sublime in its love” and clear with its “disdain for the unfolding of events in the inhabitable shores of the novel’s narratives.”
‘Kinutsaritang Liwanag’ by National Artist Virgilio S. Almario
National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario (also known by his pen name, Rio Alma) brings readers a new collection of poems that turns its sharp, lyrical eye towards the sociopolitical events that have unfolded across the country over the past several years.
‘The Last Days of Magic: Stories’ by Ian Rosales Casocot
Set in a Dumaguete that isn’t quite what it seems, The Last Days of Magic: Stories is a collection of short stories that center around “magic, menace, and mischief.” Ian Rosales Casocot presents us with the stories of a boy who jumps through time in search of his name, a serial killer indulging in a tell-all interview, and a king cursed by his own ambition.
‘Búang sa Pag-Ibig: Mga Tula’ by John Iremil Teodoro
Poet and academic John Iremil Teodoro, through the course of 74 poems, addresses love in all of its forms. Romantic, erotic, familial, and platonic, love is at the center of this poetry collection, almost to the point of madness (or, in Hiligaynon, “búang”).
‘Ang Trangko: Mga Dula at mga Eksena sa Drama ng Panulat’ by Adrian Crisostomo Ho
This hybrid collection of 20 short essays and 31 plays serves as Adrian Crisostomo Ho’s reflection on the nature of his fears and terror. Through short acts that explore the messiness of a violent, political world, and through poems that present a tumultuous life, Ho strikes a startling balance between stillness and chaos and between the real and the fictional.
‘Makata sa Pinas’ by Aristotle Pollisco
Under his birth name, rapper and singer Gloc-9 presents us with a collection of seven poetry chapbooks, in which he revisits the themes of identity and emory that have defined his nearly three decades as a songwriter.
‘Manila Zoo’ by Khavn and Vic Aure
Don’t let the cutesy, anthropomorphic characters fool you, because Khavn and Vic Aure’s Manila Zoo is anything but an easy read. The graphic novel explores a “worldless, psychedelic fever dream” of animal-headed souls condemned to haunt a nightmarish Manila. Guilt, desire, and violence all play major roles in this komik, turning Manila into a city “eternally devouring, endlessly reinventing.”
‘Irô: A Story in Blood’ by Angelo Lacuesta
The latest novel from Angelo “Sarge” Lacuesta centers on a small town in the southern Philippines, run for generations by a dynastic political family. Bloody killings begin to shake the town’s residents, all of whom begin to whisper of a large, murderous creature that knows exactly how to terrorize them.
