The National Museum of Taiwan Literature’s recently renovated Children’s Literature Reading Room is now reopened. To honor the occasion a new exhibit has been launched: Lin Hai-yin’s Stories from Childhood. Children and their parents are invited to come join in a variety of activities that celebrate Lin Hai-yin’s works and encourage interest in reading. Lin Hai-yin was a well-known Taiwanese writer of Chinese ethnicity who published some 18 books, including novels, short story collections, radio drama and children’s literature.

(Click on event name for more information)

Summer Reading Club: Read on the Wild Side~ ongoing until Jan 31, 2010, Australia

Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books Featuring Artwork from Iconic Children’s Books~ ongoing until Feb 28,  Amherst, MA, USA

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

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

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

2009 Cybils (the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) Finalists Announced~ Jan 1

Launch of the 5th Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Writing Competition~ Jan 4, Philippines

Announcement of the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature~ Jan 5, USA

Costa Book Awards Winners Announced (formerly the Whitbread Literary Awards)~ Jan 5, London, United Kingdom

Canadian Literature Centre Presents Brown Bag Lunch with Award Winning Poet, Author and Cultural Worker Afua Cooper~ Jan 13, Edmonton, AB, Canada

8th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities~ Jan 13 – 16, Honolulu, HI, USA

21st Annual Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit~ Jan 13 – Apr 3, Hayward, CA, USA

American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting~ Jan 15 – 19, Boston, MA, USA

Storytelling by Winners of the First Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2009~ Jan 16, Singapore

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Presents: The Wonder of Words, The Power of Pictures~ Jan 17, Amherst, MA, USA

ALA’s Youth Media Awards Presentations~ Jan 18, Boston, MA, USA

Jaipur Literature Festival~ Jan 21 – 25, Jaipur, India

Book Reading and Signing with Uma Krishnaswami author of Chachaji’s Cup~ Jan 22, New York, NY, USA

ZORA! Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities~ Jan 23 – 31, Eatonville, FL, USA

No Name-Calling Week~ Jan 25 – 29, USA

“Tea with Chachaji” A Musical Production based on Chachaji’s Cup by Uma Krishnaswami~ Jan 25 – Feb 11, New York, NY, USA

Yabun 2010: Celebrating Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultures~ Jan 26, Sydney, Australia

Family Literacy Day~ Jan 27, Canada

CCBC Presents: ALA Award-Winning and Outstanding Books for K-5 (video can be watched on-line)~ Jan 27, Madison, WI, USA

Kolkata Book Fair~ Jan 27 – Feb 7, Kolkata, India

SCBWI Tokyo Presents: Cut to the Chase with Patrick Gannon: Discovering and Making Cut Paper Art and Illustration~ Jan 27, Tokyo, Japan

Galle Literary Festival~ Jan 28 – Feb 1, Galle, Sri Lanka

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias~ Jan 28 – 31, Cartagena, Columbia

Children’s & Young Adults’ Book Fair~ Jan 29 – 31, Marousi, Greece

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Winter Conference~ Jan 29 – 31, New York, NY, USA

Winter Words Festival 2010~ Jan 29 – Feb 7, Pitlochry, United Kingdom

Earlier this week I blogged about an annual event that takes place in Concord, MA, USA: Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature.  Pooja Makhijani left a comment saying “My book – Mama’s Saris – inspired a tree in 2007. It was the best honor my book could have ever received.” She followed up by sending me two photos of the Mama’s Saris tree! Isn’t it beautiful!?

If anyone else has photos of a decorated tree from the event and would like to email them to me, I would love to share them with our readers.

And speaking of photos, don’t forget PaperTigers’ Around the World in 100 Bookshelves project. Send in a photo of your child’s bookshelf and you could win a selection of 5 age-appropriate books to add to your little one’s bookshelf! So far, we have heard from The Philippines, Canada, the UK, US, Sweden and India. We want to see bookshelves from all corners, though, and to hear about the books that inhabit them so next time you have your camera handy, snap a quick bookshelf photo and send it to me at corinne(at)papertigers(dot)org . Hopefully our combined photos will offer a glimpse of a big world made smaller through books and reading. Don’t worry about capturing the whole bookshelf/book collection in the photo. A partial image, along with a reading-related anecdote and/or a few lines describing the bookshelf’s content, should be enough to help us connect across languages and cultures.

For more details on how to submit a photo of your child’s bookshelf, click here.

Canadian Children’s Book Week, the single most important national event celebrating Canadian children’s books and the importance of reading, kicks off tomorrow. The official theme for Book Week 2009, Gold Medal Reading!, will celebrate sports in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games which will be held in Vancouver, BC.  The Book Week tour will have twenty-nine  authors, illustrators and storytellers visiting schools, libraries, bookstores and community centres in every province and territory across the country. Over 35,000 children, teens and adults will take part in the readings and workshops given by the Book Week tour participants.

The Fall Book Harvest will be held this coming Friday at the North Vancouver Public Library, 120 West 14th Street, North Vancouver, BC. Both my 9-year-old daughter and I are looking forward to attending this event! Put on by the North Vancouver Public Library, the BC Coalition for School Libraries, and CWILL BC (Children’s Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia), the afternoon will feature live presentations, free autographs, displays, door prizes, activities, a book sale hosted by Kidsbooks, and a chance for local schools to win a free author visit. Over 30 authors and illustrators are scheduled to appear, including one of my daughter’s favorites (and mine!), Margriet Ruurs! I’ll be sure to bring the camera and try to post some photos next week.

With over 22,000 members worldwide in over 70 regions, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is the largest children’s writing organization in the world and acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between all those involved with literature for young people. Twice a year the SCBWI brings together top professionals to share their knowledge at the annual Summer and Winter conferences. Each month regional chapters sponsor or organize events around the globe and often times these events are open to both members and non-members. (Some of the events are included on our PaperTigers’ Calendar of Events but you can click here to see the full list.) If an event catches your eye, contact a Regional Advisor for more information. Whether you are already established in the children’s industry, just starting to enter the world of children’s book writing and illustrating, or simply have a passion for children’s literature, I’m sure you will find a warm welcome.

Here are a few highlights in September:

JAPAN – This past weekend SCBWI Japan hosted Storyboards and Picture Book Dummies for Good Bookmaking with author/illustrator Naomi Kojima. Holly Thompson, Regional Advisor for SCBWI Tokyo, has kindly sent me photos from the event which I will post soon.

AUSTRALIA – Sunday the 20th

Breakfast with the Visiting SPRUNG Children’s Authors. Share coffee and croissants with visiting children’s authors and illustrators then walk up the road to enjoy a range of sessions at the Albany SPRUNG Writers Festival.

KOREA – Thursday the 24th – Sunday the 25th

The 6th Canadian Children’s Book Seminar at the Embassy of Canada located in Jeong-dong, Seoul. A few hundred children’s books from major Canadian publishing companies will be displayed. This event is not sponsored by SCBWI but Jenny Desmond-Walters, Regional Advisor for SCBWI Korea, found out about it and was kind enough to forward the information. If Jenny is able to attend I’m sure she’ll send us some photos. Stay tuned. Thanks Jenny!

PHILIPPINES – Saturday the 26th

Children’s Book Seminar at the University of the Philippines, Visayas (City Campus). Regional Advisor Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo tells me that this event will appeal to anyone published or aspiring to be a children’s book writer or illustrator.

A huge thanks to Jenny Desmond-Walters, Regional Advisor for SCBWI -Korea, who emailed me last week about an event she had recently attended and that she thought we might like to share with our readers. We are delighted to share it! Jenny visited an exhibit called Voyage to the World of Illustration at the Seoul Arts Center. She was most impressed by what she saw:

Illustration work of 19 children’s picture book illustrators is on display. Several of the exhibits were designed by the illustrators themselves. There is one by French illustrator Herve Tullet that I loved. There are 8 Korean illustrators on display, and the countries of UK, CZ, FR, US, JP, PL and IT are represented. Original artwork is on display in framed pieces along with multimedia exhibits and even a giant stuffed reproduction of a gorilla from one UK illustrator, Anthony Brown.

It’s a remarkable exhibit. It’s not often that children’s book illustrations are given such attention and to be able to see examples of how certain illustrators have brought their creations to life is quite exhilarating. The piece designed by Herve Tullet where he attached each of his board books to a different kind of rope, chain, feather boa, or ribbon to match the books’ style was my favorite thing in the exhibit. Of course, the bigger-than-life sized gorilla flying in the air was pretty amazing too! I’d say for any writer or illustrator of children’s books, this exhibit will definitely ignite some fires in the imagination and inspire us along our chosen path.

The Paju Bookcity Book Festival for Children is taking place through the whole month of May, but has some super special events happening only May 1st – May 5th. There are performances, experiential events and tons of stuff to do. I’m excited about some of the upcoming events like visiting publishing companies on May 8th, 9th, and 20th. Also, the field trip to Book Making Sites on May 13th looks fun. Actually, every one of the events planned looks like something I would love to do. I guess I’ve got my work (or fun) cut out for me.

Click here to see more photos from the Voyage Exhibit and be sure to read PaperTigers current issue, where we pay tribute to the narratives for children, available in English, from/about Korea and the Korean diaspora.

(Click on event name for more information)

Get Caught Reading Month~ USA

National Share-a-Story Month~ United Kingdom

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month~ USA

Asian Heritage Month~ Canada

Paju Bookcity Book Festival for Children~ Paju, Korea

Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature to be Announced~ USA

USBBY – Bridge to Understanding Award Winner to be Announced ~ USA

Discovering Ethnic Minorities – Storytelling Workshops for Children~ Hong Kong

5th Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature~ ongoing until May 3, New York, NY, USA

35th Buenos Aires International Book Fair~ ongoing until May 11, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mitali Perkins’ 2009 Fire Escape Short Fiction and Poetry Contest~ entries accepted until Jun 1, USA and Canada

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

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

The Child and the Book Conference: This Land is Our Land~ May 1 – 3, Nanaimo, BC, Canada

BOOKFEST – The Vancouver Island Children’s Book Festival~ May 2, Nanaimo, BC, Canada

IRA’s 54th Annual Convention: Reading, Writing and Conversations~ May 3 – 7, Minneapolis, MN, USA

ALOUD: a Celebration for Young Readers~ May 4 – 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

WordPower~ May 4 – 8, Fort McMurray, AB, Canada

Tehran International Book Fair~ May 6 – 16, Tehran, Iran

Mapfre Hay Festival~ May 7 – 10, Alhambra, Spain

Once Upon a Time: Children’s Book Illustrators, Then and Now~ May 8 – Jun 14, Oakland, CA, USA

Mt. San Antonio College’s Children’s Literature Day~ May 9, Walnut, CA, USA

Children’s Book Week~ May 11 – 17, USA

New Zealand Post Book Awards Festival~ May 11 – 20, New Zealand

Forest of Reading, Festival of Trees~ May 13 – 14, Toronto, ON, Canada

Auckland Writers and Readers Festival~ May 13 – 17, Auckland, New Zealand

Surabaya Book Fair~ May 13 – 17, Surabaya, Indonesia

Seoul International Book Fair~ May 13 – 17, Seoul, Korea

The 5th China International Cultural Industries Fair~ May 15 – 18, Shenzhen, China

African American Book Festival~ May 15 – 16, Mt. Vernon, NY, USA

Mother’s Day Readings With Authors Mitali Perkins, Christina Seid, Pooja Makhijani, and Others~ May 16, New York, NY, USA

Children’s Books Ireland Conference: Challenge and Change in Children’s Books~ May 16 – 17, Dublin, Ireland

National Black Book Festival~ May 16 – 17, Houston, TX, USA

Sydney Writers’ Festival~ May 18 – 24, Sydney, Australia

The Foundation for Children’s Books New England Voices Series with Authors/Illustrators Grace Lin and Giles Laroche~ May 19, Boston, MA, USA

Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Awards Presentations~ May 20, Dublin, Ireland

The Guardian Hay Festival~ May 21 – 31, Hay-on-Wye, United Kingdom

WriteAway Conference: Something Old, Something New -approaches to classic literature, culture and heritage in education~ May 22, London, United Kingdom

Storytelling Association (Singapore) Presents Silver and Gold: Precious Stories to Inspire Young and Old~ May 23, Singapore

World Village Festival~ May 23 – 24, Helsinki, Finland

Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences and Annual Book Fair~ May 23 – 31, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Week~ May 24 – Jun 3, Sweden

Library and Information Week~ May 25 – 31, Australia

National Simultaneous Storytime~ May 28, Australia

International Latino Book Awards Presentations~ May 28, New York, NY, USA

Reading Matters Youth Literature Conference~ May 28 – 30, Melbourne, Australia

BookExpo America~ May 28 – 31, New York, NY, USA

Thessaloniki Book Fair~ May 28 – 31, Thessaloniki, Greece

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Exhibit: The Wizards of Pop -Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart~ May 28 – Sep 19, Abilene, TX, USA

Canadian Library Association National Conference and Trade Show~ May 29 – Jun 1, Montreal , QC, Canada

World Book Fair~ May 29 – Jun 7, Singapore

The 5th Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature showcases the work of more than 160 international writers from across the globe in conversations, readings, performances, and panels together with their American counterparts for an exciting cross-cultural celebration of the written word. The following events, with a focus on children’s and young adult’s literature, are free and open to the public:

The Voyage of the Reader: Using Children’s Books to Create a Love of Reading ~ Wed, April 29

Participants: Mary Ann Hoberman, Francine Prose, and Vera B. Williams. Moderated by President and Publisher of Razorbill books, Benjamin D.Schrank.

How do authors create and hold on to young readers in the electronic world? Three distinguished panelists-Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator; Mary Ann Hoberman, the U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate; and Francine Prose, the award-winning author of picture books, children’s, young adult, and adult novels-offer their expertise.

Leaps and Bounds, Fits and Starts: The Evolution of a Children’s Book Writer ~ Thurs, April 30

Participants: Neil Gaiman, Mariken Jongman, Shaun Tan, and Andrea Davis Pinkney as the participating moderator.

Join children’s book authors Neil Gaiman, Mariken Jongman, and Shaun Tan for a discussion about the ever-evolving landscape of children’s and young adult literature with Scholastic Vice President, Executive Editor Andrea Davis Pinkney.

Evolution for Children: The Fight Goes On ~ Sun, May 3

Participants: Vicki Cobb, Tijs Goldschmidt, Deborah Heiligman, and Mary Ann Hoberman. Moderated by Ellen Loughran.

Teachers, librarians, scientists, and children’s book writers have fought in the courts and classrooms for the right to teach Darwin’s theory, and the authors on this panel have many ways of winning it.

Started in 1967, International Children’s Book Day takes place on or around Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday, April 2nd, and is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books. The event is sponsored by IBBY, The International Board on Books for Young People, a non-profit organization which represents an international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together. Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to sponsor International Children’s Book Day, deciding on a theme and inviting prominent talents from their country to work on a message and design a poster. These materials are used in different ways to promote books and reading. Many IBBY Sections promote ICBD through the media and organize activities in schools and public libraries. Often ICBD is linked to celebrations around children’s books and other special events that may include encounters with authors and illustrators, writing competitions or announcements of book awards.

The 2009 sponsor of International Children’s Book Day is EBBY – The Egyptian Section of IBBY and the theme this year is “I am the World.” Illustrator and storyteller Hani D. El-Masri designed the poster. Click the images below to enlarge the poster and read Mr. El-Masri’s message and biography.
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