THE NATIONAL Book Development Board launched the 12th Philippine International Literary Festival to mark National Literature Month.

This year’s virtual festival goes global with the theme “RECLAIMING OUR NARRATIVE: 500 Years of Filipino Storytelling.”

The board’s Executive Director Charisse Aquino-Tugade said that the festival re-examines the narratives and celebrates the great storytelling traditions.

In April, the NBDB will take readers on a virtual bookstore tour starting with My Book, My City, a directory of bookshops with virtual tours of independent bookstores around the country.

NBDB Chairman Dante Francis Ang II said that the celebration would encourage Filipinos all around the world to read, tell stories, and listen to one another.

“There is, now more than ever, a need to connect with one another through stories — and so we only thought it apt to launch, in time for National Literature Month, this year’s Philippine International Literary Festival, a celebration that, at its root, encourages Filipinos all around the world to read, tell stories, and perhaps most importantly, listen to one another,” Ang said.

The NBDB will mark National Literature Month along with the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.