Day 1 at #MIBF2017

I’m home from Day 1 of the Manila International Book Fair, thank you to everyone who reminded me I have to put up a new post today. Pressure, pressure — I am attempting to post this as fast as I can before Day 2 can overtake me. Haha.

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See you at #MIBF2017!

I interrupt my UK recap for this special occasion — the annual Manila International Book Fair, which runs from tomorrow, Sept. 13 to Sunday, Sept. 17, 10 am to 8 pm at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.

This year is particularly exciting as it’s bigger than it’s ever been, now with the exhibition floor extended to the second floor! With almost 12,000 square meters of exhibit space this year, that means not just more books, but more room for special events such as book signings, workshops, storytelling, fan gatherings, and many more!

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The UK Diaries Part 3: The Pratchett Pilgrimage

One of the things I wanted to tick off on this trip was a visit to the Discworld Emporium, in Wincanton, a town in Somerset, England. Co-founded by Sir Terry Pratchett himself, the Discworld Emporium sells exclusive Discworld merchandise, and the town of Wincanton is officially twinned with Ankh-Morpork, making it the first ever town to be twinned with a fiction place.

It wasn’t easy getting there, but well, when my cousin Dianne and I get it into our minds to do something (crazy)… well, we all know where that leads. Here’s how the Pratchett Pilgrimage went, and some tips if you want to visit.

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The UK Diaries Part 2: Shakespeare

 

Of course, Shakespeare was on the itinerary. We’ve been Shakespeare lovers for most of our lives, way before our milk teeth grew out. Our school had an annual play production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream put on by the sixth graders (I played Snout / The Wall and was Props director when it was our turn, if you must know), and to this day, we can still recite long passages of the play from memory.

We hit two Shakespearean destinations for this trip: Shakespeare’s Globe on the South Bank in London, and Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

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The UK Diaries Part 1: MinaLima + Cursed Child

It was one year in the making.

Remember how we were holed up at the Writer’s Bar at Raffles last year, reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child over copious cups of tea?

Well, a few days after that, a new batch of theatre tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child went on sale, and much as we bellyached over the content of the screenplay, we decided to join the online queue for a shot at the much-coveted tickets… and before I knew it I was on a trip that snowballed into me fangirling all over the UK.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I got back, and I’ve been tackling the pileup in  my workload (and my hallway library is in disarray), but I have so many stories and photos to share from this trip, so let me start with this one.

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