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African American History Month~ USA

National African American Read-in~  USA

Black History Month~ Canada

February Literacy Workshops for Parents, Teachers and Writers with Daphne Lee~ Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

National Storytelling Week~ ongoing until Feb 6, United Kingdom

Kolkata Book Fair~ ongoing until Feb 7, Kolkata, India

“Tea with Chachaji” A Musical Production based on Chachaji’s Cup by Uma Krishnaswami~ ongoing until Feb 11, New York, NY, USA

Stories from Childhood: Lin Hai-yin’s Children’s Literature Book Exhibition and Activity Series~ ongoing until Mar 1, Tainan City, Taiwan

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ ongoing until Mar 1, Seoul, Korea

Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books Presents: Journey to Adventure~ ongoing until Mar 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

Entries Accepted for the Growing Up Asian in America Contest~ ongoing until Mar 10, San Francisco, CA, USA

The Making of the Word Witch: The Poetic & Illustrative Magic of Margaret Mahy & David Elliot~ ongoing until  Mar 14, Ashburton, New Zealand

21st Annual Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit~ ongoing until Apr 3, Hayward, CA, USA

Mother Goose in an Air-Ship: McLoughlin Bros. 19th Century Children’s Books from the Liman Collection~ ongoing until Apr 18,  Amherst, MA, USA

Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books, 2006–2009~ ongoing until Apr 18, Chicago, IL, USA

From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit; A Judith Kerr Retrospective~ ongoing until May, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Leo Lee Arts Centre Presents Renowned Canadian Author Deb Ellis~ Feb 1 – 2, Hong Kong

Association of Jewish Libraries Presents the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour~ Feb 1 – 5

Book Signing Event with Paula Young Shelton author of Child of the Civil Rights Movement~ Feb 2, Washington, D.C., USA

Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable Presents Authorfest 2010~ Feb 2, Vancouver, BC, Canada

International Conference on Children’s Libraries – Building a Book Culture~ Feb 4 – 6, New Delhi, India

New York Public Library Exhibit: 2010 Caldecott Winner Jerry Pinkney’s African-American Journey to Freedom~ Feb 5 – Apr 18, New York City, NY, USA

SCBWI Workshop: Picture Books – The Perils, Pitfall and Promise~ Feb 6, Ventura, CA, USA

8th Annual Orion School Author and Illustrator Festival~ Feb 6, Redwood City, CA, USA

Imagine 2010: Children’s Literature Festival~ Feb 6 – Mar 2, London, United Kingdom

Seven Stories Presents Taffy Thomas, First Laureate for Storytelling~ Feb 6, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Words on Wheels~ Feb 12 – 17, New Zealand

Kids ♥ Authors Day~ Feb 14

First Nations Public Library Week~ Feb 15 – 20, Province of Ontario, Canada

SCBWI’s Annual Golden Gate Conference At Asilomar~ Feb 19 – 21, Pacific Grove, CA, USA

Freedom to Read Week~ Feb 21 – 27, Canada

Northern Ireland Booktrust Conference: The Gift of Books – Inspiring a Lifelong Love of Reading~ Feb 22, Antrim, Ireland

Exhibition of Joy Mallari’s Artwork From the Book Doll Eyes~ Feb 25, Makati City, Philippines

International Conference on Children’s Literature in Language Education~ Feb 25 – 27, Hildesheim, Germany

Latvian Book Fair~ Feb 25 – 28, Riga, Latvia

Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference~ Feb 27, Saint Paul, MN, USA

Joy Cowley Writing Workshop: Writing from the Heart~ Feb 27 – 28, Auckland, New Zealand

Bath Literature Festival~ Feb 27 – Mar 7, Bath, United Kingdom

As a follow-up to our recent post on the International Conference “What a Story: Children’s Literature Today” held in Beirut, Lebanon, here is author Elsa Marston’s feed-back on the event:

A quick report on the international conference on children’s literature held in Beirut, June 12-14, which by all evidence came off very well indeed–especially for something that has never been done before in the Arab countries (at least on this scale). I was able to attend only the third day, when I spoke on U.S. children’s/YA literature about the Arab world. I was most impressed by the eager attendance and high energy, and was told that the first two days were the same. There were presenters from the U.K., Denmark, Germany, Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, France, Italy, as well as Lebanon; and the simultaneous translation was quite amazing.

Later I met with a couple of the women who had organized the conference, to brainstorm ideas for the next, planned for 2011. One thing will have to be different: box lunches instead of the lavish gourmet meals the hotel served, Beirut cuisine at its most elegant! (This conference was paid for by corporate, governmental, and NGO contributions, with no registration fees; but that kind of thing can hardly be counted on in the future.) Something else struck me: the need for writers to develop a certain spirit of “critical encouragement,” or “encouraging criticism,” as they work together to develop their craft professionally. Anyone who has ever been in a writers’ group, or critiqued a work in progress, knows that constructive criticism, that neither praises too much nor hurts too much, is a fine art….and it doesn’t come naturally in every culture.

The papers and presentations (the majority in English, I think, the rest in Arabic) will be published in a volume, presumably by the end of the year. I will welcome inquiries from anyone who might like to get a copy.

School librarian, teacher and incoming PBBY chairman Zarah Gagatiga has passed along the following information on two exciting events taking place in July in the Philippines:

The 2nd National Conference on Children’s Literature – July 16 & 17

The Pilandokan (National Research Society for Children’s Literature) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts will be sponsoring the Second National Conference on Children’s Literature with the theme “Panitikang Pambata sa Edukasyon” (Children’s Literature in Education) on July 16-17 at the University of the Philippines – Diliman.

This national conference will feature paper presentations and workshops by scholars, creative writers, artists, and children’s right advocates. Topics include the Filipino concept of child and childhood; the state of children’s literature in the Philippines; book piracy; literacy programs for urban poor children and the deaf; and the formation of Filipino childhood identity. The Keynote Speaker will be the Pilandokan Founding President Dr. Rosario Torres-Yu.

For further information, please contact Dr. Eugene Y. Evasco and/or Prof. Will P. Ortiz (pagongatmatsing (at) yahoo(dot)com).

26th National Children’s Book Day – 3rd week of July

For the first time ever, the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) will hold the celebration of NCBD (National Children’s Book Day) outside Manila in Marikina City. This year’s themes focus on leadership and readership with the slogan Readers Make Good Leaders!

The whole month of July promises to be a fun-filled month of reading, writing and interactive activities for children and literacy advocates. The Salanga and Alcala Prizes will be awarded during the opening ceremonies on July 21, 2009 at the Marikina Convention Center.

You can read about the preparations in Zarah’s post here and I’ll post more information on the Children’s Book Day festivities in the coming weeks.

Born and raised in the USA, Elsa Marston is a children’s author who specializes in books, both fiction and non-fiction, about the Middle East. “A lot of my writing is about the Middle East and Arab-Americans.” says Elsa. “That’s because my late husband, Iliya Harik, was from Lebanon; family connections and his work as a political scientist (Indiana University) took us to that part of the world many times. I want to share with young readers my own interest in those lands and peoples, and equally important, help contribute to better understanding of the Arab/Muslim world. In that way I hope to continue Iliya’s life’s work, along with my own.”

From June 12 to the 14, Elsa will be attending an international conference on children’s literature in Beirut, Lebanon and told us:

I think this is the first time anything quite like this, at least with this scale and scope, has been done in the Arab countries, although there are IBBY chapters in Lebanon and Palestine and probably elsewhere. The preliminary program looks very interesting… an idea of some of the concerns that are gradually starting to take hold in the literature of that part of the world. Up till very recently, literature for children and teens consisted mostly of translations of European fairy tales and simplified western novels, and Arabian Nightsy stories. The idea that fiction for young people could reflect the lives of those young people and their societies had not quite caught on. (It must be admitted, the same thing was true here with respect to the Middle East, until about a dozen years ago! And that’s basically what I’ll be talking about.)

Elsa expects the conference to be largely in Arabic, with English and French mixed in liberally; and program highlights include: (more…)

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Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Week~ ongoing until Jun 3, Sweden

World Book Fair~ ongoing until Jun 7, Singapore

Once Upon a Time: Children’s Book Illustrators, Then and Now~ ongoing until Jun 14, Oakland, CA, USA

Books Illustrated Traveling Exhibition: An Australian Menagerie – Australian Picture Books~ ongoing until mid Jun, China

Seoul Arts Center Exhibit: Voyage to the World of Illustration~ ongoing until Jun 23, Seoul, Korea

Skipping Stones Magazine’s Youth Honor Award Program – Multicultural Awareness and Nature Appreciation~ entries accepted until Jun 25

Illustration Exhibition for Children: Pictures of Fantasy~ ongoing until Jun 30, Siena, Italy

Exhibition of Prize-Winning Works of 16th Noma Concours (2008) “Palette of Dream Colours IV”~ ongoing until Jul 5, Tokyo, Japan

READ!Singapore 2009 – Dreaming A Good Read~ ongoing until Aug 31, Singapore

Picture Perfect: Art from Caldecott Award Books, 2006-2009~ ongoing until Nov 8, 2010, Chicago, IL, USA

Reading Matters on the Road Series~ Jun 1 – 2, Bendigo, Australia

Don Quixote in “Sunny Spain”: the Mediation of National and Cultural Identity in Children’s Literature~ Jun 2, London, United Kingdom

Mitali Perkins and Rachel Vail, Resonating with Young Readers~ Jun 4, Greenwich, CT, USA

Nairn Book and Arts Festival~ Jun 5 – 13, Nairn, United Kingdom

Building Bridges – Bilingual Tandem Telling for Multicultural Audiences~ Jun 6, Singapore

Antioch University’s 2nd Annual Children’s Literature Conference~ Jun 6, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Book Launch for Grace Lin’s Newest Book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon~ Jun 6, Cambridge, MA, USA

Librarian’s Day~ Jun 7, Cuba

A Passion for Poetry Series Featuring Steven Herrick (Australia) in conversation with Paula Green (New Zealand)~ Jun 10 – 12, New Zealand

FNLIJ’s 11th Book Fair of Children’s and Young Adult Literature~ Jun 10 – 21, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

36th Annual Children’s Literature Association Conference~ Jun 11-14, Charlotte, NC, USA

The Art of Children’s Books~ Jun 12, Toronto, ON, Canada

Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival~ Jun 12 – 13, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Eric Carle’s 80th Birthday Bash and Children’s Book Festival~ Jun 13, Amherst, MA, USA

Cape Town Book Fair~ Jun 13-16, South Africa

Enchanted Worlds – Art of Fairy Stories & Mermaid Tales exhibition~ Jun 13 – Sep 5, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Giving Voice to Children’s Literature~ Jun 15, Sacramento, CA, USA

International Day of the African Child~ Jun 16,

Borders Book Festival~ Jun 18 – 21, Melrose, United Kingdom

The Great Story Picnic Season~ Jun 20, Oxford, United Kingdom

The Torquay Froth and Bubble Literary Festival~ Jun 20 – 21, Torquay, Australia

New Rochelle Festival of Books ~ Jun 20 – 21, New Rochelle, NY, USA

The Nye Memorial Children’s Literature Tour of the Ukraine~ Jun 23 – Jul 10, Ukraine

CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards Winners Announced~ Jun 25, London, United Kingdom

International Authors’ and Illustrators’ Forum~ Jun 25 -26, Munich, Germany

Sunthorn Phu Day (celebrated poet)~ Jun 26, Thailand

Canadian Multiculturalism Day~ Jun 27, Canada

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African-American History Month~ USA

3rd International Galle Literary Festival~ ongoing until Feb 1, Galle, Sri Lanka

SCBWI Annual Winter Meeting~ ongoing until Feb 1, New York, NY, USA

6th International Indigenous Librarians’ Forum~ongoing until Feb 4, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Bermuda Reading Association’s Literacy Week and 25th Annual Conference~ ongoing until Feb 7, Bermuda

Kolkata Book Fair~ ongoing until Feb 8, Kolkata, India

Scraps & Imagination – Elisa Kleven’s Mixed Media Picture Book Art Exhibition~ ongoing until Feb 27, San Francisco, CA, USA

20th Annual National African American Read-in~ ongoing until Feb 28, USA

Entries Accepted for the Growing Up Asian in America Contest~ ongoing until Mar 5, San Francisco, CA, USA

Taipei International Book Exhibition~ Feb 4 – 9, Taipei, Taiwan

National Launch: Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy~ Feb 5, Washington, DC, USA

The Irish Society for the Study of Children’s Literature 2009 Conference: Nation, Translation, Migration~ Feb 6 – 7, Drumcondra, Ireland

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival~ Feb 7 – 15, Bombay, India

Black History Month Family Day Celebration~ Feb 8, Washington, D.C., USA

First Nations Public Library Week~ Feb 9 – 14, Province of Ontario, Canada

Reading Crusade 2009~ Feb 9 – Mar 23, Christchurch City, New Zealand

Crossing Cultures, Changing Skins: Writing Across Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Culture~ Feb 10, New York City, NY, USA

Imagine 09: Children’s Literature Festival~ Feb 12 – 22, London, United Kingdom

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Presents Rhythms of the Heart: The Illustration of Ashley Bryan~ Feb 12 – Apr 30, Abilene, TX, USA

Kids ♥ Authors Day~ Feb 14

24th Jerusalem International Book Fair~ Feb 15 – 20, Jerusalem, Israel

Words and Beyond: Exploring Illustrated Children’s Literature in the English Language Classroom~ Feb 17 – 20, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Read Today, Lead Tomorrow Speaker Series Featuring David Bouchard “Boys: Reading for Success”~ Feb 18, Port Moody, BC, Canada

7th International Literacy Conference~ Feb 18 – 20, Guatemala City, Guatemala

International Reading Association’s 54th Annual Convention West: Beyond the Horizon~ Feb 21 – 25, Phoenix, AZ, USA

25th Annual Freedom to Read Week~ Feb 22 – 28, Canada

The Forbidden Bookshelf: Banned Children’s Books Week Writers Talks~ Feb 22 – Mar 1, Wellington, New Zealand

CABE’s 34th Annual Conference: Releasing Multilingual Dreams Today, Creating New Worlds Tomorrow~ Feb 25 – 28, Long Beach, CA, USA

Emirates Airlines International Festival of Literature~ Feb 26 – Mar 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Latvian Book Fair~ Feb 26 – Mar 1, Riga, Latvia

Seattle Rainbow Bookfest~ Feb 28, Seattle, WA, USA

The Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable Serendipity 2009: Telling Our Stories~ Feb 28, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Bath Literature Festival~ Feb 28 – Mar 8, Bath, United Kingdom

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23rd World Book Fair 2008~ May 30 – Jun 8, Singapore

4th Nami Island International Book Festival~ ongoing until Jun 30, Korea

Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference~ Jun 5-7, Singapore

Antioch University First Annual Children’s Literature Conference~ Jun 7, Los Angeles, CA, USA

6th Annual Feria del Libro: A Family Book Fair~ Jun 7, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children’s Writers and Illustrators~ Jun 8-15, New Zealand

Montana New Zealand Book Award Finalists Announced~ Jun 10, New Zealand

35th Annual Children’s Literature Association Conference~ Jun 12-15, Normal, IL, USA

Book Expo Canada~ Jun 13-16, Toronto, ON, Canada

“Princess Shawl” book launch and reading by Shirley Lim~ Jun 14, Kuala Lumpur

Cape Town Book Fair~ Jun 14-17, South Africa

CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards Winners Announced ~Jun 26, United Kingdom

Sunthorn Phu Day (celebrated poet)~ Jun 26, Thailand

American Library Association Annual Conference and Exhibition~ Jun 26 – Jul 2, Anaheim, CA, USA

Canadian Multiculturalism Day~ Jun 27, Canada

Jakarta Book Fair~ Jun 28 – Jul 6, Jakarta, Indonesia

American Indian Youth Literature Awards Presentations~ Jun 30, Anaheim, CA, USA