The National Book Development Board (NBDB) said the Philippine Book Festival (PBF) 2025, the country’s largest all-Filipino book festival, concluded on a high note amid a highly festive atmosphere after four exciting days.
The free four-day event attracted more than 40,000 visitors, further reaffirming its status as the country’s premier celebration focused solely on Filipino books, authors, and publishers.
The NBDB, which founded the PBF in 2023, decided to hold the event at the Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City. There, the authors, publishers, educators, and readers gathered in an unprecedented show of support for Philippine literature.
Festival goers enjoyed browsing the thousands of books for sale, participated in the various exhibits, storytelling sessions, and even workshops for aspiring authors and illustrators.
Visitors were in awe of the Pakyawan Plaza, which featured an intricately designed Pahiyas-inspired bahay kubo.
Other realms highlighted popular festivals like the Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo City, the famous Tuna Festival in General Santos City, and Panagbenga Festival of Baguio City. These four realms were all designed by renowned children’s book artists Pepot Atienza, Juno Abreu, Paul Eric Roca, and Danielle Florendo, respectively.
Nida Ramirez of 19th Avenida Publishing House, the publisher behind the best-selling Trese series, also shared about her experience: “We’re very happy, because this is a very successful Philippine Book Festival iteration. In terms of sales, what I can say is our sales last year from the entire 2024 PBF was our sale just for just Day 1 this year.”
Another exhibitor, PaperKat Books’ Head of Publishing Kath Eustaquio-Derla, shared that they were able to exceed their target sales three times, adding that the new venue likely helped draw more visitors.
One of the festival’s most impactful outcomes was the landmark P3 billion worth of books procured for distribution to public schools and libraries nationwide, an investment that will empower millions of Filipino students giving them access to homegrown literature and learning materials.
“With the help of NBDB’s book counselors, the scoping process of our partners from the Department of Education was more seamless and insightful than ever before,” said NBDB executive director Charisse Aquino-Tugade.
