Bata is “child” in Tagalog.  The Bata Project (in conjunction with Synergeia) is a fundraising initiative begun by Winnipegger Glenda Ollero to help underprivileged Filipino children go to school.   For $12, you can fund one child’s education for a year.  Check out their website (and Synergeia’s too) for more information on this children’s educational initiative in the Philippines.   If you’re a Winnipegger, check out their events and consider purchasing one of their colorful pins made by Filipino artisans.  For more on children’s books in the Philippines, check out our past PT issue on the country.

Award winning Australian children’s author Chris Cheng is a passionate literacy advocate and besides writing full-time and being Co-Regional Advisor for SCBWI Australia/New Zealand, he has an extensive schedule of  speaking engagements at schools and literacy festivals. Chris recently returned from the Philippines and shares with us his experiences at the First Manila International Literary Festival:

Last month the National Book Development Board of the Philippines held the First Manila International Literary Festival and I was thrilled to be the only Australian (and one of five international speakers, including Vikas Swarup author of the book Q&A on which the movie Slumdog Millionaire was based) at the festival. The three day festival was titled LOL, Lit Out Loud. There were also many Filipino speakers that included some wonderful poets, columnists and authors.

The Filipinos have a glorious love of poetry and throughout the festival there were breakout panels expressing and discussing the love of poetry – there were also wonderful recitations of poetry on the opening day (many in the Filipino language so even though I couldn’t understand what was being said listing to the sounds being spoken for me was a joy) which begs me to request that we should have more opportunities at festivals and events and in our daily lives for ‘hearing’ poetry being recited.

I was engaged to speak on children’s literature in Australia and abroad, to talk about the changing children’s market and also to talk about my own writing experience and the writing of identity. As I have written a number of very popular children’s titles on the Chinese diaspora; New Gold Mountain, the Melting Pot, and Seams of Gold,  this was right up my alley. Talking about identity was extremely powerful for in the Philippines many of the available titles are imported. A very, very small publishing industry exists – they are establishing an identity but it is small.

There were session on graphic novels, travel writing, experimental literature, story telling workshops, gender writing – even a cooking demonstration with book launch – and the food by Mita Kapur (the books is the F Word – we discussed that title and how it would work in Australia!!!)

I was also thrilled to be able to send a short time on Saturday morning talking to the staff at the all girls school – the Immaculate Conception Academy at Greenhills in Manila. My one hour talk on writing and teaching became a two hour talk when they asked for demonstration of how teachers can use everyday objects all around them to be the stimulus for writing! We ‘wrote’ (talked actually) great stories on wall fans and baby elephants!

It was just a delight to the first Australian to speak this festival. As a well-established Australian children’s author I feel it is vital for the established nations with a rich literary heritage to support developing nations who desire one. In Australia we love reading our stories – stories that cast a light on life in the bush, in the suburbs and in the city; stories that feature our native wildlife and our own human characters with their particular follies and foibles; that describe our bushfires or floods, or simply our way of life. Readers in other national also deserve to be able to read their stories as well.

More information about the festival can be found here on my blog.

Thanks to Zarah Gagatiga, Chair of the Philippines Board on Books for Young People (PBBY), for sending me details on this year’s  27th National Children’s Book Day (NCBD) in the Philippines to be held on 20th July.

This year’s theme is “A Book Reader is a Winner” and PBBY will be commencing their celebrations at the Museo Pambata in Manila for the handing out of their annual awards. This year’s Salanga (Writers’ Prize) goes to Raymond G. Falgui for his poetry collection Green Leaf and Other Poems (the first time the award has been awarded for poetry); and the Alcala (Illustrators’ Prize) has been awarded to Aldy Aguirre for his “dreamy and whimsical illustrations” of Falgui’s poems in the same book.

Filipino author Candy Gourlay will be delivering the day’s keynote address, fresh from the successful publication of her Young Adult novel, Tall Story, in the UK. The day will also be marked by the opening of a Retrospective of Albert Gamos, an award-winning Filipino illustrator who died last year. An esteemed honorary member of Ang Illustrador Ng Kabataan (InK), he was well-known for his classical and intricate style of illustrating for children.

As part of the NCBD celebrations PBBY and the National Book Development Board (NBDB) will announce the Best Reads of 2008 and 2009.

Schools, learning communities, libraries and families are all encouraged to get involved. For ideas on what type of activities could be organized, check out Zarah’s Top Ten Suggestions.

And even if you are not in the Philippines, why not join in the celebrations by reading a Filipino children’s book or YA novel? The summer edition of the National Geographic Kids magazine has picked Candy Gourlay’s Tall Story as one of its Brilliant Summer Books. You can get plenty of ideas from our recent issue of PaperTigers focusing on the Philippines; and more Filipino book suggestions can always be found on Zarah’s and Tarie Sabido’s blogs.

As Zarah says “The NCBD celebration is not exclusive to PBBY. Bring it to your schools and families. After all, we are all here to celebrate reading, books and the Filipino young reader.”

If you’re in Evansville, Indiana on July 25th, come out and meet Kristi Valiant, illustrator of Cora Cooks Pancit! She’ll be autographing books at Barnes & Noble (624 South Green River Rd) at 2:00pm. Kristi says she’ll be bringing her red apron and some pancit for everyone to taste.

Cora Cooks Pancit is a lovely story about a Filipino girl who cooks her favorite noodle dish with her mother. However author Dorina Lazo Gilmore notes that it is not just about cooking pancit and neither is it a book just for the Filipino audience. “It is about celebrating the family. It is about cooking with your parents.”

Here’s a review of the book from publisher Shen’s Books:

Cora Cooks Pancit tells the story of Cora who loves being in the kitchen, but always gets stuck doing the kid jobs like licking the spoon. One day, however, when her older sisters and brother head out, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama’s assistant chef. And of all the delicious Filipino dishes that dance through Cora’s head, she and Mama decide to make pancit, her favorite noodle dish.

With Mama’s help, Cora does the grown-up jobs like shredding the chicken and soaking the noodles (perhaps Mama won’t notice if she takes a nibble of chicken or sloshes a little water on the floor). Cora even gets to stir the noodles in the pot—carefully– while Mama supervises. When dinner is finally served, her siblings find out that Cora did all their grown-up tasks, and Cora waits anxiously to see what everyone thinks of her cooking.

Dorina Lazo Gilmore’s text delightfully captures the warmth between mother and daughter as they share a piece of their Filipino heritage. With bright and charming illustrations by Kristi Valiant, Cora’s family comes alive as Cora herself becomes the family’s newest little chef.

To read a great interview with author Dorina Lazo Gilmore, visit Tarie’s blog Into the Wardrobe.

The Philasia branch of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators kicked off the new year with a speaker event featuring award-winning Filipino children’s book author and SCBWI member, Lara Saguisag.

The author of There’s a Duwende in My Brother’s Soup, Tonyo’s Wishes and Cat Eyes, and co-editor with April Yap of Nine Supernatural Stories, Laura Saguisag’s newest book, Children of Two Seasons: Poems for Young People, was published in December of 2007, after winning the 2006 Writing for Children Chapbook Series, a writing competition organized by the Writing Program of The New School University, in New York, known for its commitment to creative writing. The poems in the book, illustrated by emerging Filipino illustrator Hubert Fucio, describe the everyday adventures, thoughts and feelings of young children, as well as their take on simple things such as animal sounds, grandparents’ stories, etc.

Held on January 7th at Fullybooked, a bookstore in Makati City, Philippines, Lara’s talk focused on exploring notions of childhood and “Filipino-ness” in Filipino’s children’s literature. When I asked Lara why this topic, she responded:

I spent the past three years writing in New York City. I was very excited to be there, but it slowly dawned on me that my idea of childhood was very different from that of my American peers, and how our writing for children was greatly affected by our different notions. Many of my classmates often thought I was writing “too young” for my intended age group, so I came to realize that that was because the children I knew in the Philippines seemed to me much more “dependent” than their American counterparts.

It may seem very obvious to state that children in the U.S. are different from children in the Philippines. I do feel, however, that many children’s book writers tend to assume that there is a “universal” kind of childhood (childhood as a happy time, free of labor and worries, a time for children to be protected), when, largely, this is a conception of childhood that began among Western middle-class families.

Lara, who is a Presidential Fellow at Rutgers University in New Jersey, NY, where she is completing her PhD in Childhood Studies, began her lecture with a simple question: “Who is the child?” (more…)