The Big Bad Wolf (Physical) Sale is finally back in Manila! After three years of not having held any physical sales – Big Bad Wolf still sold books online – the annual book fair that originated in Malaysia is finally back in Manila with a vengeance. To the uninitiated, the Big Bad Wolf book fair features a plethora of books from BookXcess stocks; for this year, around two million titles were put on sale. BookXcess is a bookstore selling excess books from international distributors. BookXcess and the Big Bad Wolf Book Fair were both founded by Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng.

I have taken part in the book fair ever since Manila played host to it. The first edition was back in 2018. I was really excited back then. I was able to snag a lot of books; some of them are still unread, haha. With every edition, this excitement has never abated. I always scavenge bok from piles with verve. I must say that despite the passage of time, this enthusiasm has not dulled. When it was announced that the sale would be back in Manila this year, I was up in anticipation.

In retrospect, while reading my 2020 narrative – the sale happened in February – I was surprised to find a commentary on COVID-19; around that time, the contagion has not spread yet although news abounded about how it is progressively spreading around the world. It was actually the pandemic that was the primary reason why the book fair was not held in the past three years. It is then understandable why the enthusiasm for the book fair’s return is fever pitch.

The book fair officially opened last June 23. Unfortunately, I missed the opening day because I was on holiday; I spent five days in Bohol. However, once I was back from my vacation, I resolved to drop by the book fair. I did so the day following my return. So long for my 2023 New Year’s Resolution of buying less and reading more. Unlike the previous editions, the book fair was held at the Forum Tent at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) ground. The nearby World Trade Center served as the home for the book fair during its first three editions.

I arrived at the venue late in the afternoon. I was expecting a huge crowd and I wasn’t wrong. The aisles were all occupied. I guess it looked crowded because the space was a little cramped. The Forum Tent was smaller compared to the previous location. Nevertheless, there was still enough wiggling room to navigate the aisles of books. Aisles and aisles overflowing with books greeted me as I entered the Tent. As it was also a holiday, the Tent was already teeming with activities. I scoped the area to search for my favorite section of the book fair: the fiction section.

From the leftmost entrance – this was where I entered – the first section that greeted me was the nonfiction section. It was filled with books dealing with different interest groups, such as traveling, photography, and cooking. There were also books on religion and history. There was also a section for children’s books and educational toys. Without any preamble, I proceeded to the Fiction section. It was also, by far, the busiest section of the book fair. Like in previous years, the Fiction section was divided into various sections – Crime/Thriller, Romance, Science Fiction, Literature, General Fiction, and Young Adult Fiction.

It was not surprising to see that the Young Adult Fiction occupied the most space and has the most books. I wish the General Fiction and the Literature sections had more books but I was, nevertheless, impressed by the variety of titles across all the sections. I didn’t check the other sections as I immediately headed to the Literature and General Fiction tables. As I scavenged the book piles, I noted a score of familiar writers such as Nobel Laureate in Literature William Faulkner and the father of Jazz Age literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is a little compared to the 2020 book fair when I saw works by Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, Daniel Defoe Gustave Flaubert, and Thomas Hardy. Or maybe I am already late to the party and their works were already bought by other devout readers.

I did not let this dampen my spirit. I guess an important tip when going to the book fair is to keep an open mind. I didn’t have a list of books in mind. I simply picked books that caught my fancy. I don’t even check out their synopsis, oops. Rather, I relied on Goodreads ratings and reviews to see if the book was worth my time. There were several unfamiliar writers – they outnumbered the writers that I knew – I encountered during the book fair, hence, Goodreads was a helpful tool in my purchasing decision. And just like that, time flew by. Before I knew it, my cart was already brimming with books. I will be sharing my book haul in a separate post. By the way, prizes are no longer indicated on the books. Rather, the price tag will show a letter representing the price. The table of prices is on display.

While scavenging for books, a live band was playing. It was, I guess, a welcome addition. Music broke the constant buzz of human activity. The music was soothing so it was fine, except that the din was also disrupted by the sound of the lato-lato (clackers or knockers), a toy that has recently been in vogue with children. The constant takatak sound of the lato-lato has been hounding me anywhere I go, except perhaps the office. HAHA. You will hear it even in the most unexpected of places.

Rather than be stressed by the lato-lato, I walked out of the book fair with a full heart. Sure, I failed my original mission of limiting my purchase but I walked away from the book fair with amazing titles and a big smile. Consequently, I walked out with a thinner wallet. In a way, there was something therapeutic about looking for books and looking forward to reading them; at least, after the gathered thick dust on my bookshelf. Looking at my purchases, I am truly satisfied as I bought books covering a wide array of subjects, and were written by a diverse set of authors.

By the way, to those who have not attended the previous editions, please note that the book fair does not charge any entrance fee; it is free of admission. The book fair will run until Monday, July 3. And yes, before I forget, the fair opens at 10 AM and closes at 1 AM the following day. The previous editions run round-the-clock. With over two million books from over 33,000 titles, you’ll never run out of choices.

The Big Bad Wolf is also tied up to philanthropic works, more specifically Gawad Kalinga. A portion of the proceeds of the book fare will be given to the foundation. To further hype up the book fair, book buyers have the chance of winning a trolley full of books. The mechanics are simple. Participants must share a video or pictures capturing their experience on various social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. Don’t forget the hashtags #BBWManila2023 and #TrolleyfulOfBooks2023. Daily winners with the most creative submissions will win PHP 25,000 worth of vouchers. The grand prize winner will win a trolley full of books.

Here are some of my tips for prospective buyers:

1. Have an idea of the genre of books you want to buy to easily locate them. For instance, Anne Frank’s Diary is in the Biography section and NOT in the Fiction Section and John Green’s books are in the Young Adult Section.

2. There are facilitators but they are not familiar with all books. Don’t be surprised because there are a lot of books and we can’t expect them to know every single one.

3. Be courteous and patient. Numerous times I wanted to push the carts of other buyers because they blocked the passageways. I don’t know why there are so many insensitive individuals. Please, let us be courteous to others.

4. Return the books where you got them. There are signs all over the place reminding everyone to return the “unwanted” books where they originally got them but heck, these signs are often ignored. I mean, it was a very simple request but buyers are too adamant, or simply insouciant.

5. Bring a friend. The more, the merrier. It will also cut the time looking for specific books. Moreover, it can help to have one friend queue in advance at the cashier section.

6. Bring your own eco-bag. Sustainability is one of this year’s fair’s aims. The organizers are no longer providing plastic bags for book purchases. Either you bring your own eco-bag or buy one at the cashier for PHP 50.00.

7. Refrain from bringing your own books.

8. Register in advance prior to paying. There are QR codes to allow buyers to register in advance. This will facilitate payment as payments will only proceed if buyers are registered; at least this is true for card-payers. The registration is simple and will take a couple of minutes. I had a little trouble because the signal on my phone was rather slow.

9. Head to the Lucky Finds section. If you have no time to go through the piles of books, head to the Lucky Ficnds section; there is one section each for nonfiction and fiction books. Most of the books I bought were from these sections.