@cerbojam: MIBF 2026 | Discovering Nordlys

This past Friday, the only reason I went to this year’s Manila International Book Fair was to meet a good friend who recently launched his latest book, and it's been four years since he came back from living in Denmark.

It was good to see him, but before I got to see him, a bit of confusion cleared up. Amidst the miscommunication making me think I missed his signing session, I decided to spend time exploring the second-level halls of this year’s MIBF.

I actually stumbled upon the Norwegian Embassy, which is kind of out of place for a booth that promotes interesting books. But I was sorely mistaken to think that caught my attention...

The Royal Norwegian Embassy was in the right place and the definite location to promote their country, but the culture through the published books has not been seen outside their country. There are interesting books, and a cousin actually grew up in Oslo, which is something I find fascinating about the country that has the longest daylight hours during the summer between May and July.

Besides the weird day and night experience, it’s their deep connection to Scandinavian folklore that has inspired other Western comic books from Marvel that introduced Thor from Norse mythology. But this one was written and illustrated by an artist inspired by Scandinavian folklore, which introduced me to Nordlys (translated as Northern Lights).

The cover of the book, with the title in a holographic effect, caught my attention, and there were two volumes already in their booth. I got to browse some of the pages for the second volume, which has more colour than the first volume. But knowing nothing about anything just fascinates me, similar to discovering Australian indie books and the ones I discovered in Singapore all those years ago.

Filipino folklore is exploding on the world stage, being adapted into various media internationally, with Netflix featuring Trese and the upcoming Forgotten Island from DreamWorks Animation. I’ve read and shared some of what Philippine Mythology is all about, but not much about other folklore from other countries until finding out about Nordlys.

I met Claus, who is the Business and Trade adviser for the Royal Norwegian Embassy, who lent me a browsing copy of the second volume and invited me to come back on Saturday to meet the artist. But due to a hectic Saturday, it took me two hours to get to the SMX Convention to meet Malin Falch, and I entirely missed her signing sessions, even at the Norwegian Embassy booth.

But the Fully Booked staff who oversaw the remaining copies of her books offered me the last signed first volume, which I was happily obliged to get as a token souvenir and my only purchase for this year’s MIBF. Fully Booked will now carry the books at their shop, and hoping to get the second volume.

For now, I think missing the last day of MIBF isn’t that big a low point since the heavy downpour has made me stay indoors and start reading the first few chapters of this book. This volume includes Nordlys: The Valley of the Trolls and Nordlys: The Vikings and the Oracle, originally published in Norwegian.

In case you missed out on everything about this book and you’re curious, you’ll be able to find the book at Fully Booked (just inquire with them). This has heavy cardstock and is worth the local cover price it demands.