Book signing at the Philippine Book Festival 2026

I was wanting to write this whole retrospective about the fabulous experience that was the Philippine Book Festival 2026 but I’ve been busy in a way that isn’t even truly busy, just a whole lot of uncertainty about my future here in Dublin and faffing around and somehow still tackling my projects through it all.

I flew home for the first time in three years, so it was also the first time for me to actually see my book in book stores. Turns out, seeing it in the picture throughout the three years it was out was good enough, there really wasn’t that feeling of newness about it. No fireworks.

It was only during the festival itself that where everything about my feelings about Hoy, Pong! came into focus. I remembered how much I loved these characters, how I wrote them with precisely these people who were milling around the stalls in mind. How I would love to write more inside this specific universe, maybe a second, a third, even.

There was a lot of joy in meeting new people, people who’ve introduced themselves to me because of either their interest in or admiration of the book. There was a lot of joy watching people walking around looking at books and checking out the stalls of various publishers big and small.

There was a lot of unexpected joy in talking to other authors, even got to exchange some laughs with Vim Nadera who cutely realized the reason there wasn’t much of a line for him was because he came an hour early at the Lugar Lagdaan. How bold of me! But he had a kindness that let me know he was chill.

And finally, there was a lot of joy in scouting for new reads. Apart from Avenida, I’m a huge fan of Komiket and Everything’s Fine and Anino comics and so went and bought a lot of books from them. It’s my maybe fourth or fifth time to buy a RomanceClass book, because sometimes a happy ending is all you need to have hope in life again.

Also, nakapagpa-sign sa authors ng Regla Dust, Affidavit of Loss, Maharlika, at Strange Weather! So far, I’ve finished Barcelona, which has such a cool premise and something I could easily imagine having lots of short stories set in the same world. I’ve started Maharlika, which is a scifi komiks (tama ba? hindi ko na alam, spell) about a future Philippines where we’re the superpower–right up my alley.

I’m pretty sure hindi pa kami tapos ng Dublin, pero at the same time, mas umiigting ang matagal ko nang paniniwala: na napakadaming Pinoy na gustong magbasa, cost-prohibitive lang talaga minsan ang presyo ng libro.

Writing update: Kapag medyo regular na uli ako magsulat, I’m going to start streaming again, para tumaas-taas naman ang word count ko sa current project. It’s a screenplay set in a solarpunk-y future, where an anarchist commune embeds one of their own in a big tech company that manufactures neural regulators to take it down from the inside (shinier log line incoming).

Rejections: Nakatanggap ng dalawa this week, for short stories I’ve submitted. Yak! Next!

Games I’m playing: Memories in Orbit, a gorgeous platformer from the French! Also Hades when I’m stuck (I’m not great at games, so it’ll be often), I think I’m getting it now. Getting back to Silksong will actually take some time, the only missions I have left are the fun ones and the last one–I don’t want it to end aaaaa