This week, our Editors-at-Large take us from the Philippines to the United States for updates on literature around the globe. From an eclectic and exciting annual book festival to the grand re-opening of a local queer-owned bookstore, read on to learn more.
Alton Melvar M Dapanas, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from the Philippines
The 2025 Philippine Book Festival (PBF) is set to take place from March 13-16 in SM Megamall’s Megatrade Hall in Mandaluyong City of the country’s capital region.
While I’m particularly excited to dive into Ang Propeta (Southern Voices, 2023), Layla Perez’s Filipino translation of Kahlil Gibran’s book of prose poems, The Prophet, the 2025 PBF lineup offers something for every participant: a cosplay event of characters from Philippine literature, panel discussions of contemporary queer and women writers, and a book talk on graphic novelist M.A. del Rosario’s Gods of Manila. The festival’s itinerary also includes a crime fiction panel, workshops on zine-making, book illustration, and writing in Baybayin (the script used in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century central Luzon), and sessions on pitching stories to filmmakers (led by studios Gushcloud Philippines and J Creative Entertainment). Festival-goers can enjoy a poetry slam, a Balagtasan (Filipino debate using rhymed verse), and book talks with authors of boys’ love (BL) and girls’ love (GL) fiction.
Another much-anticipated moment is the launch of Kat Gomez-Limchoc’s Nagmalitong Yawa, a retelling of the myth of the Panay Bukidnon goddess of liberation. Seoul International Drama Awards-nominated actress Bianca Umali will give a reading from Si Migoy, Ang Batang Tausug, a trilingual children’s book on Tausug cuisine by Nelson Canlas and Dr Maria Cabela Moreno-Go. Authors like Jerry Catabijan, who advocates for climate change awareness and disaster preparedness through his books, and Kadi Serafica, whose urban fantasy novel The Awakening (PaperKat Books, 2023) was a National Book Awards finalist, will be speaking. Additionally, experts on indigenous T’nalak weaving will discuss an illustrated biography of Lang Dulay (1928-2015), the T’boli princess who weaved from her dreams and a National Living Treasure. Panel topics will range from marketing strategies for self-published authors to the inscription of the Philippine Peace Accords with the Bangsamoro peoples into UNESCO’s Memory of the World Registry.
Alongside trade publishers like Precious Pages (known for its Precious Hearts Romances pocketbooks), featured publishers at the 2025 PBF consist of independent presses such as 19th Avenida Publishing and 8Letters. Joining them is the 56-year-old New Day Publishers, known for several Philippine literary classics, as well as children’s and YA publishers Lampara Books and Chikiting Books. Kawangis Publishing, which specialises in komiks, will also participate alongside writers’ groups Romance Class and Sarangani Writers’ League and the publishing arms of several Metro Manila universities.
Mary Noorlander, Editor-at-Large, reporting from the United States
Mosaics Community Bookstore & Venue hosted its grand re-opening on March 1, in American Fork, Utah. The bookstore is queer-owned and operated, providing one of few LGBTQ-friendly spaces in an extremely conservative, religious area of the United States. Originally located in the college town of Provo, Mosaics was forced to relocate after facing a slew of bomb threats, hostility from hate groups like the Proud Boys, and jeopardized funding from the new presidential administration. Despite consistent challenges and opposition, Mosaics remains committed to building community through literature in their new location.
The opening was celebrated with a carnival, featuring resource tables from a variety of Utah-based organizations championing queer rights (including Encircle, Cougar Pride, and Project Rainbow). Attendees painted individual pieces of a mosaic, leaving their own marks on the space.
I spoke with the owner of Mosaics, Tara Lipsyncki, to discuss the small-town bookstore’s relocation, its work with Utah’s marginalized communities, and ongoing challenges.
The move to American Fork has, in many ways, expanded the Mosaics’ reach. At its new location on a major interstate road, Mosaics is now connected across several smaller Utah towns. “There’s a lot more people that we have the opportunity to service here,” Tara explained. “If all of us blue dots come together, then we are a big blue dot. And yes, we are not going to overtake the sea of red right now. But we can make ourselves known and we can make ourselves more powerful.”
Donald Trump’s war on nonprofits—particularly those motivated by “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” initiatives—has severely jeopardized Mosaics’ funding. Tara said, “It all went away with the stroke of a pen, and that’s what I expect to keep happening. So we are relying a lot on the community. And it’s hard asking the community that needs the resources to give the resources.”
Tara called to the international community to search for and support local, queer bookstores wherever they may be based: “I do truly believe that different walks of the queer spectrum and different walks of the political and religious spectrums can come together, and we can stay together. We need to stay together.”
Readers can support Mosaics Bookstore through book or monetary donations, direct purchases, or by listening to their audiobooks on Libro FM.
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