Literary Passport

Philippine literature is reaching new audiences through translation, foreign publishers and international rights deals. But Genevieve L. Asenjo, Kristian Sendon Cordero and Anthony John Balisi point to a more fundamental challenge: cultivating the readers, institutions and habits that allow a literary culture to survive.

MIBF 2026 proved that Filipino readers will gather for books. The bigger challenge is sustaining that enthusiasm beyond five days through better access, distribution and continued support for Philippine literature. The article ultimately argues that the fair’s real success should be measured by whether books continue reaching homes, classrooms, libraries and communities afterward.

Only a fraction of Filipino books ever reaches readers beyond the Philippines. From marketability and language to literary institutions and cultural policy, Chelsea Castillo examines who decides which stories get translated—and what disappears when they do not.