My MIBF 2024 experience

It has been six days and the feeling of being in the whirlwind of excitement hasn’t left me.

The Manila International Book Fair has been a part of my yearly tradition ever since I joined the literary scene as an author. I just can’t imagine missing the chance to fangirl with the artists I look up to, as their works continue to inspire and fuel my passion for writing.

Last year’s fair was lit—it could have been easily my favorite MIBF year—but who would have thought that MIBF 2024 would surpass the excitement and exhilarating experience that 2023 fair brought me? Like, I was there for two days!

Obviously, not even me!

🤩Day 1 (Fair’s Day 3): Reconnecting and discovering

Overspending has always been an issue in these events (god, I even posted reminders on my social media page to don’t overspend!) but who overspends when it came to books? But I tried not to—I really did. Believe me when I say I even had a List of Books to Buy from MIBF 2024. I also took note of the booths to visit for authors to sign my purchases.

Pop fiction will always be part of me

The first person we bumped into was Segundo Matias, in the cluster of booths of Precious Pages Group of Companies. While Kim got busy browsing the children’s books, I got preoccupied with those standees of heartthrobs featured in the first four books of the C.C.’s Possessive Series.

No, I didn’t know who was that author, nor what the books were all about (well, except obviously they’re romance).

Yes, I bought the four books and can’t wait to read them.

Some chance encounter

Catch A Falling Star is one of the magnificant books I’ve read this year, and so I wanted another book from the same author. Who would have thought that right after I paid for the book, we would meet Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo? Of course, we didn’t want to waste the chance and had my book signed then snapped a photo.

The works that gave me joy this year

I wrote Come And Rescue Me because (ahem hugot) I could’t find a book with a story with a similar plot (I used to have VERY limited resources, sorry). But there came Duty Ka Ba Komiks—Doc El and Melba easily became my favorite couple in my own world of fictional mayhem. I had no idea that I was missing 2 volumes, so initially, I got just the volume 3. One Facebook post saved me from heartbreak and realized I needed to pick another volume.

In the same booth was Chuckberry Pascual, his Mars, May Zombie! took a while to appeal to me as the number of pages intimidated me at first. But I decided to pick it up anyway—I paid for it two MIBFs ago and promised myself to finish everything in the unread pile that I bought—and that was one of the best decision I ever made this year. This time, I got Ang Nawawalang Barangay, bundled with other two books I’ve never heard of but looked pretty interesting (it was cheaper this way, okay!). I asked if there was part two to the zombie book because I really want to know more about Tow-Knee, to which the answer made me silently scream.

Honoring the classics and high recommends

There was a line building up on one of the booths near Avenida—we had no idea that Ricky Lee was having a book signing in his booth as he was scheduled the next day. I brought my copy of Kalahating Bahaghari (I got this from Shopee during the preoder period) and bought Among The Disappeared.

Both books got signed that day. My heart was happy. 

After that, we visited The Indie Publishers Collab, where books from the Gantala Press were exhibited. I got Joi Barrios books, all four of them, as Kim showed me her poetry book, the one that taught me to kausapin ang pagkainip.

🙈 Day 2 (MIBF 2024 Day 5): The highlight of my experience

If idol fangirling made me delulu enough to dream of marrying a complete replica of Kim Mingyu one day, author fangirling taught me to dream about holding my own book signing someday. While I did book signings in group book launchings, I wondered if it was possible for me to be the only one on the spotlight (attention whore LOL).

Turned out, it was.

Cindy Wong, founder of 8Letters Publishing graciously made my author dream come true! They gave me the chance to showcase my books in their booth and allowed me to have my own book signing.

There weren’t many new faces (it was a Sunday morning) but a lot of my friends were there, even the ones I really didn’t expect to come. It was a total blast!

❤️ Always with a thankful heart!

After two days filled with laughter, heavy eco-bags, and endless bookish conversations, here I am still reliving the experience that was super fun!

MIBF 2024 was a blast, and the aching shoulders were a small price to pay for the joy I felt. I owe a huge thank you Kim, Lalaine, Candi, Jerby, Axel, Patrick, Claire, Evalor, Kakai, Aaliyah, JM, Cindy, Jaja, Niña, Denesse and so many others who made the journey even more special with their unending support and enthusiasm.

Here’s to many more book fairs and unforgettable experiences!

xo