My Manila International Book Fair (MIBF 2016) Experience and Book Haul

So the Manila International Book Fair 2016 happened! My apologies for this very late recap. 🙂

The Manila International Book Fair is an annual book fair in the Philippines that gathers local and international publishers in one venue to satisfy the literary cravings of its attendees. It’s a five day event filled with book signings from local and international authors, book seminars, workshops, training and of course book sales. This is like the Philippine version of Book Expo America. Like the previous years, SMX Convention Center became the venue of the said event that draws thousands of book lovers every year. This year it ran from September 14-18.

First of all, I would like to congratulate myself for being able to control myself. Unlike last year where I went to the venue twice, this time around I only went on the fair’s last day. Yes, you heard that right. I only went there on the fair’s last day. Imagine how hard that was for me. I am glad to know though that my self control still exist.

Like last year, I only bought books by local authors. For me, MIBF is a great venue to search and buy hard to find books by local authors. Below are the books that I got. 🙂

– Si Amapola sa 65 na Kabanata by Ricky Lee (I’ve read Lee’s Para Kay B last year and I totally enjoyed it. I’ve been meaning to get hold of this book so when I saw it unde the 20% off section, I immediately grabbed it.)

– Wounded Little Gods by Eliza Victoria (I enjoyed Victoria’s Dwellers and she’s one of the authors that I really would like to explore.)

– Ang Subersibo by Jose Rizal / Adam David / Mervin Malonzo (I just picked this graphic novel on a whim because of its cover. I later on read the synopsis and I am glad I picked it up.)

– Detective Boys of Masangkay by Bernalyn Hapin Sastrillo (This is the book that’s on top of my list of books to buy at the event as I heard a lot of good things about it. Looking forward to reading it soon.)

– Sixty Six by Russell Molina / Ian Sta. Maria (Another graphic novel. I also really want to read more Filipino graphic novels that’s why I picked this one up.)

– Malagim ang Gabi sa Sitio Catacutan by Tony Perez (I read and enjoyed the first book of the series, Maligayang Pagdating sa Sitio Catacutan. I did not expect that I’ll be seeing this book there, so I immediately picked it up when I saw it.)

I also got these bookmarks! I bought the Unexpected Everything bookmark from a friend who’s selling it in conjunction with Morgan Matson’s book signing event. The remaining two were given to me by the Adarna booth when I bought books from them.

Here are the photos that I took inside the venue. Pardon the low quality of the photos. 🙂

Overall, I had fun. I meet with friends and met new friends. Despite going there on the last day, there are still a lot of people going inside the venue. I am very glad that the attendees grew in number every year. 🙂