DAVAO CITY (PIA) — The Big Bad Wolf, the world’s biggest book sale, returns to Davao City with over 2 million books and 43,000 book titles.
The Big Bad Wolf, slated Deccember 15 to 23 at the SMX Davao Convention Center, formally opened in the morning of December 14.
Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines Dato’ Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino bin Anthony, Office of the Vice President Davao Satellite Office Manager Generose Tecson and Davao City Library OIC Salome Enoc were among the honored guests gracing the ribbon cutting ceremony of the well-traveled book sale.
Andrew Yap, founder of Big Bad Wolf, is excited to return to Davao as he sees the country and the city as passionate readers of books particularly fiction.
“Readership is extremely high compared to around the world, and all the (Philippine) cities we go to it is very consistent fiction is number one all the time. In the Philippines you guys just love to read,” Yap said.
The Big Bad Wolf founder also noticed that Dabawenyos are passionate about books.
“I mentioned the Paulo Coelho frenzy it was in Davao You guys are really passionate about books compared to the cities in other countries,” Yap said.
The ribbon cutting ceremony graced by Malaysian Ambassador to the PhilippinesDato’ Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino bin Anthony (sixth from left)
Malaysian Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng founded Big Bad Wolf in 2009 to realize their advocacy of making books more accessible and affordable and promote readership among people around the world. The first Big Bad Wolf was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the book sale has toured 15 countries and 37 cities.
Davao City hosted successful Big Bad Wolf Book Sales in 2018 and 2019. BBW Philippine partner Carolyn Chuaying said the books that will be offered will be all brand new and not just leftovers from previous book sales.
“In every cities that we go to, Big Bad Wolf brings in new containers as in a ton. Because we don’t want the book to be just the leftovers of the cities that we go to, it’s not the leftover books, its brand new books purchased specifically to put in mind for that specific city,” Chuaying said.
She said this year’s Big Bad Wolf has gotten a lot of support from the local government unit.
“This is very special because the local government is further supporting the advocacy of reading and literacy,” Chuaying said.
Apart from the book sale, the Big Bad Wolf will also be donating a significant number of books to the Office of the Vice President, as Vice President Sara Duterte is also the current Department of Education Secretary. (JBG/RGA/PIA Davao)
