Amid Boycott Calls, Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 Plans Move Forward
Despite calls for an industry-wide boycott, preparations for the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBM) or Frankfurt Book Fair slated for October 15 to 19, 2025 stays on track.
Karina Bolasco, curator of books and head of the literary program for the Philippines' Guest of Honour (PHL-GOH) at the FBM, addressed the controversy surrounding calls for an industry-wide boycott during a recent press conference in Frankfurt.
“As we occupy center stage at the global literary marketplace, in this time when the world is malignantly divided, our spaces: the Pavilion, the Asia Stage, and our National Stand—are for dialogue, for listening and reflection with clarity of purpose, and respect for one another. These are forums to engage in ideas, guided by memory, and driven by resistance to any injustice, emerging or entrenched,” she said.
It was in January 30, 2025 when the Publishers of Palestine, a global collective of nearly 600 publishers in 50 countries, released a statement calling for a boycott of the FBM due to the fair’s failure to address its ties with the German state, and its support of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The group also criticized the fair for ignoring Israel’s occupation and apartheid regime and for honoring American journalist Anne Applebaum, who has “publicly praised” Israel's bombing of Palestinian media outlets.
The group made four key demands from the FBM. First, they called for the fair to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza and affirm the human rights of the Palestinian people. Second, they urged the fair to refuse collaboration with Israeli book publishers complicit in these actions and bar their participation in the event. Third, they demanded that the fair denounce the attacks on Palestinian writers, journalists, and academics, recognizing these as part of a broader genocidal effort to erase Palestinian life and culture. Lastly, they called for the fair to create programming that prominently features Palestinian writers, publishers, and narratives, ensuring their voices are heard on the global stage.
ALSO READ
Karina Bolasco: Championing Philippine Literature on the World Stage
Filipino Writers and Publishers React to the Call to Boycott the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025
A Glimpse into FBM 2025
At the recent press conference, the PHL-GOH unveiled its program for the FBM 2025, which includes over 77 literary events with 100 authors and creatives, and 50 artists across exhibitions, performances, and films. The theme is inspired by a line from Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere: “The imagination peoples the air.”
In his presentation, Patrick Flores, curator of the PHL-GOH, presented the architectural design and scenography of the Philippine Pavilion. There will be four zones, each dedicated to the oeuvre by and on the National Hero Jose Rizal; the work of National Artists and National Living Treasures; the history of books in the Philippines; and books on the Philippines published outside the country in the last five years.
Designed by notable industrial designer Stanley Ruiz, the Pavilion integrates local materials with modular architecture. Dominant materials include capiz (shells), bamboo, and pineapple fabric, alongside steel and fabrics.
“The overall feeling in the Pavilion is one of airiness, lightness, generosity,” said Flores. “It is an open situation for honoring the gifts of writing and reading in an unnerving but hopefully irrepressible world, conceived by a guest who peoples the imagination.”
The program will feature talks, performances, book launches, and rights negotiations, highlighting the country’s growing global presence in publishing. Events will unfold across the Philippine Pavilion, the Asia Stage, and a 300-sqm National Stand.
“As the world gathers in Frankfurt, the Philippines shall bring with its books, its voice—firm, open, critical, and fiercely hopeful that storytelling remains one of humanity’s most powerful tools for truth and transformation,” said Bolasco.
