Finding Rizal and Decoding the Philippines at the Frankfurt Book Fair

'It was a book — the Noli Me Tangere, published in Berlin in 1887 — that stirred our nation into consciousness, and, in time, into freedom,' says Senator Loren Legarda.

- LISA GUERRERO NAKPIL

Imagination peoples the air" is a phrase plucked from the twilight of Sisa's sanity in the Noli Me Tangere. It was not the obvious, nor the most popular choice for the theme — but it is the rightfully poetic one for the Philippines at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025, the world's biggest book fair.

This all-important international publishing platform takes place in Frankfurt am Main in Germany from Oct. 15 to 19.

Anchored on Germany's historic connection with Jose Rizal, it will be an unrivaled opportunity to discover the breadth and depth of Filipino culture in just one place, as well as to make pilgrimages to some of the most important sites associated with the beloved national hero. Heidelberg is where Rizal studied, the nearby village of Wilhelmsfeld is where he completed the Noli, and Berlin is where this foundational text was published.

The Philippines, after all, has finally been accorded the hard-won position of "Guest of Honor," only the second time ever for a Southeast Asian country to do so since the program began in 1988. Thus, the country plans to seed 100-plus authors, six National Artists and even Olympian gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz for the occasion. It will be a pivotal moment for Filipino authors and publishers — and the world's readers.

It was Senator Loren Legarda who began turning the wheels of progress 10 long years ago to make this singular occasion happen.

At the recent press launch at the Evangelische Academie center in the old town of Romerberg in Frankfurt, she underscored its importance by saying, "We are a nation that read itself into being, a people who have written our way through disasters, colonialism, dictatorship, and diaspora — and emerged louder, more insistent, more human."