MIBF 2026: Planting A Forest of Hope on Suicide Prevention Month

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2016 MIBF Moment: Awesome Book Jam!

2026 MIBF Moment: Ang Batang Marunong Magbasa

Kahapon, sa aming book signing sa Lampara Books (booths 424-444) sa MIBF, SMX Convention Center, may mag-aama na napadaan sa sulok kung saan kami nakaupo. Sa mga naka-display na aklat namin sila nakatingin. Hindi sa manunulat o sa illustrador. Napansin ko ang kilos ng mata at ulo ng batang babae: kaliwa-kanan; kaliwa-kanan.

“Go ahead! You can read my book.” sabi ko sa kanya.

“I can?!” Tanong niya.

“Yes! Go read!”

At sa loob ng lima-pitong minuto, nagbasa siya ng kuwento ni Talia at Cara. Nagsabay pa silang mag-kuya sa bandang gitna ng kuwento, habang nakingiti naman ang ang kanilang tatay. Ang sarap pakingan ng batang nagbabasa!

“Let’s buy the book now.” sabi ni Tatay.

Binili din nila ang aklat ni Leo Kempis Ang dahil mahilig silang kumain ng balut!

Nagpapirma sa amin ang mga bata sabay pa-picture. Nalaman ko na grade 2 na ang magkapatid at kambal pala sila! Isang MIBF moment ito na hindi ko malilimutan.

MIBF 2026: Day 1 Authors and Illustrator Talk at the Booth in Lampara Books

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Day 1 at the MIBF: Signing New Books: I Dream of Peace and Talia Says I'm Sorry

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Backstory: Talia Says I'm Sorry

Backstory: I Dream of Peace

 

Book Review: Stray Cats

In Stray Cats (Ateneo De Manila University Press, 2023) Irene Sarmiento’s writing is brave and unyielding. By bringing the issue of the seen and the unseen into a YA novel set in the Philippines, populated by Filipino characters who must navigate the thin, unsettling line between fantasy and reality, she has woven threads of stories into a brilliant twine.

Stray Cats opens many possibilities for discussion. Where can friendship, care, and curiosity lead us when they become prompts to understand a world bigger than our own? What do we do with an awakening from a sheltered life? How do we negotiate a reality that is radically different from our own? What happens when we discover that the real monsters are not the ones we have heard about in our folk stories, but the ones created by human beings? And why is growing up so painful?

For me, this is what makes the novel’s fantasy so powerful. Sarmiento does not use fantasy to escape reality. She uses fantasy to make reality harder to ignore.

The tikbalang, kapre, and other creatures of Philippine folklore invite us into a world that feels strange and magical, but as Elisa moves deeper into that world, the difference between the fantastic and the real begins to blur. The creatures become a way of seeing what might otherwise remain unseen: the inequalities, vulnerabilities, violence, and suffering that exist alongside the ordinary lives we inhabit.

Stray Cats becomes a story not only about finding someone who is missing, but about learning to see. It is there where the strands of the twine come together: friendship leads to care; care leads to curiosity; curiosity leads to encounter; encounter leads to awakening; and awakening demands a response.

Growing up, then, is painful because it means discovering that the world is not the world we thought it was. Realizing that once we have seen it, we cannot simply become unseen again. 

P.S I missed my cats while reading the novel. I rest in the knowledge that Ohren and Golden are being cared for by someone who knows better than I can.

Growing Through Stories: Mga Pasahero sa Dyip