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Considerations on SubVerso Bookfair 2016
by Angelo Oyardo

ONE CLD SAY that the most striking aspect of SubVerso Bookfair 2016---the first
SubVerso bookfair held last January 16 @ The Collective---is the word from which its
name is derived: subverso, a verb directly borrowed from Latin, meaning to
overturn, overthrow, subvert. So as one sauntered side the stalls of selfpublishers & preloved-books dealers @ the event, eavesdropping on the
surrounding bargaining & banter, one cldnt help but ask oneself---What subversion?
What exactly is being subverted thru this?
On the Facebook page of the event, the bookfair was simply (perhaps too simply?)
introduced as a literary event organized by artists, writers and a community of
independent booksellers and individuals committed to reading and consuming any
printed matter. & any printed matter, indeed, it turned out: lining the peripheries
of the plaza @ The Collective were myriad books, zines, & magazines---local &
otherwise---as well as notebooks, artworks, stickers, even customized matchboxes,
each put on proud display by a humble hodgepodge of characters that ranged from
so-called hipsters (the rich kids, to recall a joke at the event) to anarchists. For a
day, the venue, a usual watering hole for mostly the artsy &/or the hungry, was
transformed into a tiangge of, by, & for the literary. But more than a bookfair, it
was also intended to be a cultural event---designed to promote not only the
writing & reading of literature, but also its other performative interpretations (live
spoken-word poetry, for example); the other arts (such as music & the visual arts);
& discussions on literatures materialization thru publication & distribution (there
was in fact supposed to be a talk about independent publishing, but it was
unfortunately cancelled on the day of the event). @ first glance, then, SubVerso
Bookfair 2016 cld seem like a modest festival of the literary word & world, a
celebration w/ no clear-cut sign, if not no clear-cut sense, of subversion.
Not to say that the event was devoid of any dissident gesture or intention---not @
all---but one is saying that it was devoid of any specific articulation of such a
gesture or intention. E.g., there was no for the gradual withering of the profit
motive, or no ESTABLISHING ALTERNATIVE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS OUTSIDE THE
NATIONAL BOOKSTORE MONOPOLY, to quote from 2 past posters concerning BLTX
(a small press expo which, I was told by one of the organizers, Philip Almazan
Paraan, SubVerso Bookfair seeks to compliment & complement). Such an
articulation matters b/c it is of strategic importance---w/out which, what enemy
against whom to differentiate ones cause, against whom to hazard revolt? &, in
effect, what possible allies named? Maybe, not for want of trying, the closest to
such a statement was: More than a book fair, it is a cultural event designed to
promote local authors & literary work & the culture of reading in general, which,

while commendable for the scope of inclusion allowed & for its preference for the
local, still cld have been dangerous in that it leaves much definition & direction to
be desired, or, worse yet, much to be potentially ignored. Consider: what if, @ the
bookfair, the amount of local literature available---that is,
local independent literature---turned out to pale against that of non-indie preloved
books (whether local or foreign) & non-indie first-hand books produced by
comparatively more successful local publishing houses (that is, w/ substantially
more financial &/or social capital), resulting in an unwise imbalance between those
focusing on a target audience & those focusing on a target market? One would
guess that the main intention to promote local (independent) literary work & local
(independent) authors, as well as the conjectured intent to decelerate further the
profit motive & to re(de)fine alternative distribution systems (remembering how the
bookfair was designed to somehow pay homage to BLTX), & thus define the very
name by which the occasion is identified---all these can be put into question.
Ultimately, what is problematic is that while one wouldnt presumably claim that
SubVerso Bookfair 2016 was in cahoots w/ what it is trying to make kaput, the
opposite implication cld stand almost quite as validly b/c of the (un)intended
vagueness & lack of leaning towards something that would state what exactly
should be achieved & subverted thru the event. (& it doesnt help that Paraan said
that he wld probably consider welcoming some sort of collaboration w/ National
Bookstore regarding the event, should the opportunity present itself.)
That said, before going any further one needs to consider that maybe one has
perhaps gone too far. What if there was never any intention on anyones part to
overturn, overthrow, or subvert? What if one has read a bit too much into
things? Of course there is a need to revolt---to reclaim reading & writing from being
luxuries, from being things merely to be afforded---& of course the name
SubVerso might have somehow wanted to conjure up that urgency. But then
again, maybe---maybe---the name was chosen simply because it sounds & looks
enticing, as an element of advertisement (take its v, for example: so delicious in
its lower-lip-numbing sultriness to pronounce, & in its being capitalized---erected--almost puts one under the shadow that is the Voltes V-like verve & vividity of verse).
A misnomer, then, the name of this bookfair---but a nonetheless impressivesounding misnomer.
However, in conversating w/ three of the organizers, namely Kris N. Ordoez (a
publisher/bookseller), Mich Lado (a bookseller), & Paraan (a cultural worker), one
might begin to catch a glimpse of the motivations behind the bookfair & that there
was, in fact, some design for subversion. For one, the event was supposed to cater
to the local independent writers, booksellers, & publishers specifically (or
preferably) working on the fringes---to bring them together & to give them illafforded space in which to reap widened (re)cognition & to attract patrons,
possibly entic[ing] the public to read and create literature as well. It must be
mentioned here that the idea of a more closely-knit local literary community was of

frequent note, evidenced by, of all, Paraans impassioned repeated return to using
the phrase bringing them together. &, to much relief, the turnout of independent
writers & publishers at the event was to a large degree the largest for an indie or
alternative bookfair, w/ 7 out of the 9 participants being self-publishing &/or selfdistributing. Moreover, there was one notable attempt at the gradual withering of
the profit motive & perhaps at establishing alternative distributive systems
outside the National Bookstore monopoly: a certain independent writer/distributor
called Yaman---who, besides selling writings on journeys & encounters &
encountered journeys in the Philippines for 50 each, all of which were typewritten
and stapled on bond paper---set up a mini-free market where anyone can buy
anything in exchange for anything. & by "anything" he fully meant anything (or
any thing), for it included nothing @ all.
Thru further questioning about their mainsprings, the writer was told by Ordoez
that literature in our country, as [she] often call[s] it, is manipis. To be clear, the
thinness spoken of, the lack, pertains not so much to the quality of locally produced
literature per se, but to an impression of the Philippines general reception of
literature, to ones preference for the written (read: printed) word (whether it be
produced locally or---to a lesser extent----shipped from overseas) that continues to
wane for lack of interest &/or of resources for it, causing, in effect, the retardation of
any attempt at its sustained production. Yet while the quoted observation is @ best
f*cking ballsy & @ worst too sweeping for the taste of most, it isnt too difficult to
imagine why it cld elicit acquiescence. To further quote Ordoez, for example:
People rarely go to literature for reference and enjoyment, and even so, it only
happens for academic purposes most of the time. Another: With the advent of the
internet, people now prefer [the work of bloggers] to [that of physical] publishing.
One more: Hate to say this, but, before, we just considered having our sellers bring
only Filipino [l]iterature. Thing is, were 100% sure that attendance wouldnt spike
as much and the market might just be between ourselves. The foreign market
indeed has trampled our own. [] Our government is of no help, too, favoring
multinational investors instead of promoting local entrepreneurship.
Needless to say that the above observations about our literary scene are not @ all
new. But as for such recycled regrets regarding the present condition, its the fact
that there has yet to be any substantial resolution---despite admirable efforts---that
prompts so urgently the need for continuous consideration, clamor, & subversion.
One might like to believe that it was this sense of responsibility in mind---& it is a
responsibility---that inspired Ordoez, Lado, Paraan, & their colleagues to hold
SubVerso Bookfair 2016, which, despite some shortcomings, was nonetheless a
fairly creditable gesture in furthering contention against what causes the gauntness
of the Philippines local literary scene & in bringing together, @ least for a day, a
humble amount of local independent writers, booksellers, & publishers working on
the fringes & more, allowing them to commune on levels less exploitative. (& mind
you, this is only the 1st SubVerso Bookfair.)

Still, more critical elements may choose to momentarily suspend the organizers
claim to their above-listed premises & consider the concept(ualization) of the
bookfair---its lack of specifically-communicated principles & strategies as tools for
toppling, as well as the consequences that such a lack may suggest. And, yes, one
mustnt also take lightly its prospect of a future collaboration w/ those w/ less
savoury motivations---e.g., National Bookstore, to reference Paraan. Regardless of
ones persuasion, the need to ask the following---& this time one would ask not only
(for) oneself but (for) others as well---will & should persist: What subversion? What
exactly is being subverted thru this? And so on and so forth. . . .
Perhaps it is in this exact prompting for the evaluation of the idea of the
independent bookfair where we find the contribution to subversion supposedly still
implicit in SubVerso Bookfair 2016. [d]
- See more at: http://www.diskurso.com/2016-02-11-so-ano-pongpinag.html#sthash.qYQviynH.dpuf