The Manila International Book Fair has long been a home for stories both grand and intimate, celebrated and undiscovered. This 2025, the Aninag Chapbook Series by Packing Sheets joins the country’s biggest book gathering, inviting readers to slow down, listen closely, and rediscover writing in its most personal form.
Fresh from its sold-out launch at Museo de la Salle – DLSU Dasmariñas last August 24, the series now makes its way to the national stage of MIBF, bringing with it six chapbooks that hold voices as diverse as they are united by truth. Readers can meet the authors during a special book signing on September 13, 2:00–3:00 PM at the BOOx and Avenida booths.
At hindi maitatangging ang mga kuwentong ito—naisulat man o hindi—ang bumubuo sa ating mundo. Lagi’t lagi, may tanong: matatagpuan ba natin ang ating hinahanap?
Sa pagsusulat man o pagbabasa?
Sa anim na akdang narito ngayon?
Hindi natin alam.Ngunit isang bagay ang tiyak:
magkakasama tayo ngayon.-Kit, Co-founder of Packing Sheets at the Aninag Chapbook Launch and Signing
Each chapbook reflects a unique lens of Filipino experience:
- Banggerahan by Janella Herrera offers delicate poems, prose, and reflections from the perspective of young adulthood. Like washed plates drying under the sun, her work captures the quiet, the mundane, and the real moments that remind us to pause and notice what’s often unsaid.
- Santelmo by Andro Blancada tells of land, inheritance, and fire; both literal and metaphorical. Rooted in Camarines Sur and Cavite, his story crackles with the tension of family disputes, community gazes, and the haunting glow of the santelmo rising from contested soil.
- Midnight Musings by Christian James Dequina is a lyrical collection tracing a journey from absence to healing. Through fifteen poems divided into Midnight, Dawn, and Sunrise, Dequina maps the ache of memory and the resilience found in vulnerability, offering light to those who’ve known long nights.
- Isahang Bagsak by Gabriela Baron presents sharp, unflinching dagli—short bursts of prose that cut through what cannot be swallowed whole. Both journalist and creative writer, Baron writes with urgency, crafting pieces that demand to be released, raw and uncompromising.
- Siksikan by Darelle Anro Martinez compresses feelings, love, and nation into verses of varying form and intensity. A teacher from Marinduque, Martinez’s writing dances between lighthearted play and patriotic fervor, always alive with passion and presence.
- With Love, In Times of Anguish by Mary Franz C. De Paz gathers poems written with rage, resilience, and undying love. A former spoken word artist, De Paz writes to confront demons both internal and external, reminding readers that the heart’s insistence on beating is, in itself, an act of defiance.
Together, these six works form the Aninag Chapbook Series, an exploration of the words unsaid by writers who always find their way back to writing. “Aninag,” after all, means to catch a glimpse, to see faintly yet clearly enough to understand.
The Manila International Book Fair offers the perfect ground for this rediscovery. As visitors wander through rows of books, the Aninag Chapbook Series stands as a reminder that stories need not be long to be lasting, nor loud to be heard. Sometimes, it is in the thin volumes and folded pages, that we find the deepest reflections of who we are.
Readers are warmly invited to visit the BOOx and Avenida booths at MIBF 2025, explore the chapbooks, and meet the writers on September 13, 2:00–3:00 PM. Whether through poetry, prose, or short fiction, the Aninag Chapbook Series opens a window to rediscover not only writing, but also the self mirrored in its many forms.
Get your free ticket here. See you!