The inaugural Asian Festival of Children’s Content is set to take place May 6-9 in Singapore, and word is quickly spreading that this is a not-to-be-missed event!   The National Book Development Council of Singapore, which has been organizing the highly successful Asian Children’s Writers &  Illustrators Conference (ACWIC) for the past 10 years, has decided to take a slightly new approach this year by combining it with three new symposiums to form the Asian Festival of Children’s Content.  Jade Yong, Marketing Director for the festival tells us:

Writers, illustrators, school teachers, publishers, librarians, literary agents, distributors and retailers, translators, technology solution providers and other media professionals related to the world of children’s content will find this to be a  learning event that they cannot afford to miss. We are expecting about 300 to 400 delegates from all over Asia, Australia, New Zealand, North  America and Europe to attend the event.

Over 70 speakers will be at the festival, and some familiar names to PaperTigers’ readers include: Holly Thompson (Japan), Daphne Lee (Malaysia), Rukhsana Khan (Canada), Naomi Kojima (Japan), Uma Krishnaswami (USA), and  Christopher Cheng (Australia). Since, unfortunately, no one from PaperTigers will be able to attend the festival this year, we look forward to hearing from those of you attending! If you send us feedback, we will be happy to share your impressions, discoveries and/or photos with our readers.

The schedule for the festival has been released and  is as  follows:

Asian Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference~ May 6-8, 2010

The Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference (ACWIC) will celebrate children’s books, provide access to children’s literature with Asian content, and promote the writing and publication of Asian children’s books. By providing great workshops and networking opportunities, this conference aims to actively promote and foster the exchange of ideas on the global market.

The conference is broken down into seven tracks:  New Media Technologies & Children’s Content, Alchemy of Writing, Illustrators’ Palette, Librarian’s Menu, Publishers’ Daily Bread, Marketing and Distribution—Creating Bestsellers, and ACWIC Highlights. The detailed scheduled is  here.

Asian Children’s Publishers Symposium~ May 8, 2010

The Asian Children’s Publishers Symposium (ACPS) will consist of workshops from leading players within the industry and interactive panel discussions led by professionals, all designed to foster knowledge, learning and strategies for building a successful children’s publishing industry.

Asian Primary & Preschool Teachers Congress~ May 8, 2010

The speakers and workshop leaders at the Asian Primary & Preschool Teachers Congress (APTC) will collectively provide an overview of comprehensive literacy instruction and showcase its best practices to educators, teachers and parents, to help bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Asian Parents Forum~ 9 May, 2010

Asian Parents Forum (APF) workshops will offer opportunities for parents and interested individuals to get professional advice, support and information on quality content, creative experience and potential, so that participants can become more confident and competent in promoting the reading habits and answering the learning needs of their children.

As you can see, the first Asian Festival of Children’s Content will cover all aspects and formats of children’s content inspired by and based on Asian sources. We encourage you to attend it, if you’re able and in the field. It should prove a wonderful opportunity for professional development and networking!

(Click on event name for more information)

Canadian Library Month~ Canada

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read~ ongoing until Oct 3, USA

Hispanic Heritage Month~ ongoing until Oct 15, USA

Entries Accepted for the 2010 PBBY-Salanga Prize~ ongoing until Oct 23, Philippines

22nd Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava~ ongoing until Oct 26, Bratislava, Slovakia

The Art of Allen Say: A Sense of Place~ ongoing until Oct 28, Exeter, NH, USA

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

National Young Writers’ Festival~ Oct 1 – 5, Newcastle, Australia

4th Annual Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) Nominations Open~ Oct 1 – 15

The Children’s Book Festival~ Oct 1 – 31, Ireland

Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature Awards Ceremony~ Oct 2, Boston, MA, USA

8th IBBY Regional Conference “Children´s Books: Where Worlds Meet”~ Oct 2 – 4, St. Charles, IL, USA

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Oct 3 – Nov 1, Takahama City, Japan

Orange County Children’s Book Festival~ Oct 4, Costa Mesa, CA, USA

13th Poetry Africa~ Oct 5 – 10, Durban, South Africa

Children’s Book Week: Words and Pictures~ Oct 5 – 11, United Kingdom

TaleBlazers Festival~ Oct 5 – 30, Province of Alberta, Canada

6th International Literacy Conference~ Oct 7 – 9, Penang, Malaysia

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival~ Oct 7 – 11, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Inky Awards Shortlist Announced, On-line Voting Begins~ Oct 9, Australia

Latino Book and Book Festival~ Oct 10 – 11, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Monterrey International Book Fair~ Oct 10 – 18, Monterrey, Mexico

Frankfurt Book Fair~ Oct 14 – 18, Frankfurt, Germany

OGAMAS Aboriginal Literary Festival: What We Gather For Each Other~ Oct 15 – 17, Brandon, MB, Canada

56th Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Oct 16, New York, NY, USA

International Conference on the Book~ Oct 16 – 18, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Américas Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature Winners Ceremony~ Oct 17, Washington, D.C., USA

SCBWI Tokyo Presents Writing for Children: The Picture Book with Author Holly Thompson~ Oct 17, Kyoto, Japan

CHARACTER COUNTS! Week~ Oct 18 – 24, USA

YALSA’s Teen Read Week: Read Beyond Reality~ Oct 18 – 24, USA

Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival~ Oct 18 – 25, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Library Exhibition~ Oct 18 – 25, Jakarta, Indonesia

Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale~ Oct 20 – 24, Bogor and Jakarta, Indonesia

14th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education~ Oct 21, Hartford, CT, USA

Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature: Creative Approaches to Biography and Historical Fiction~ Oct 22 – 24, Westport, CT, USA

Finnish Reading Association Conference: New Literacies-Reading and Writing with New Technologies~ Oct 23 – 24, Jyväskylä, Finland

Children’s Literature Council Fall Gala~ Oct 24, Los Angeles, CA, USA

IBBY Congreso Internacional Lectura~ Oct 26 – 31, Havana, Cuba

Book Week~ Oct 27 – Nov 9, Japan

National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) 19th International Conference~Oct 28 – Nov 1, Denver, CO, USA

Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Oct 30, San Marcos, TX, USA

Children’s Literature Festival~ Oct 31, Keene, NH, USA

As I mentioned the other day, SCBWI Tokyo recently hosted an event titled Storyboards and Picture Book Dummies for Good Bookmaking with picture book author/illustrator Naomi Kojima. Born in Japan, Naomi spent her childhood years in the U.S. and studied sculpture at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Her first two picture books, Mr. and Mrs. Thief and The Flying Grandmother were published in New York soon after she joined a Massachusetts SCBWI chapter. Since then, her books have been published in the U.S. and Japan, and translated into French, Swedish, and Indonesian. Her other books include The Alphabet Picture Book and Singing Shijimi Clams which my daughter gave rave reviews to when she borrowed it recently from our local library.

Holly Thompson, Regional Advisor for SCBWI Tokyo, was kind enough to send some photos of the event (which was conducted in English and Japanese!) and writes:

Yes, Naomi Kojima gave a wonderful workshop for SCBWI Tokyo! She covered storyboarding and dummy making, and participants were given sample storyboards as well as text to divide and paste into notebooks to create dummies. Kojima shared several of her own storyboards including one for a new story she is currently developing. At the end participants had a chance to share the dummies they had created and to discuss their different approaches to dividing the text for effective page turns. In the second photo we are all holding books by Naomi.

Thank you for your continued interest in SCBWI Tokyo! We would be happy if you would share this with PaperTigers readers.

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.

Author Holly Thompson was raised in New England and earned her M.A. in fiction writing from New York University. She has resided for many years in Kamakura, Japan where she teaches creative writing at Yokohama City University and is a Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) -Tokyo branch.

Her latest book The Wakame Gatherers, published by Shen’s Books, is the story of a young girl, Nanami, who has two grandmothers – Baachan whom she lives with in Japan, and Gram who lives in Maine. When Gram visits Japan for the first time, Baachan and Nanami take her on a trip to the seashore for the centuries-old Japanese tradition of gathering wakame seaweed. Nanami acts as translator as her two grandmothers discover they have much in common, despite being from two countries that fought each other during a time that both women remember vividly. With bright, beautiful illustrations by Kazumi Wilds, this book captures the warmth and love of a blended Japanese and American family, with its two grandmothers who become close despite their memories of war.

Recently 14 teachers from Colorado traveled to Japan to take part in a three week study tour entitled “Japan Through Children’s Literature”. Holly was asked to host a study session based on The Wakame Gatherers and took the teachers, along with community volunteers, to the sites illustrated in her book. It was a truly memorable event for all involved, with teachers commenting “That was the best day we’ve had on the tour!” “Amazing!” “So great to be able to cook together,” and “This, today, was the true meaning of exchange.”

Click here to read Holly’s description of the day’s events and learn more about wakame!

As the researcher for our Eventful World calendar, I am always searching for events that highlight children’s and young adults’ literature. As you can imagine, it is fairly easy to find events taking place in Canada or the United States so when I find out about events happening in other Pacific Rim countries it can be especially exciting. Imagine my thrill when award-winning children’s book illustrator John Shelley emailed me with regards to a workshop that he hosted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia!

Originally from the U.K. John resides in Tokyo and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) . In June, he and fellow SCBWI Japan chapter member Holly Thompson traveled to Mongolia and hosted a three day workshop for children’s authors and illustrators. Over 40 participants attended the event with John addressing the illustrating aspects of children’s literature and Holly addressing the writing. Despite the major challenges involved (few of the attendees even spoke English!) John and Holly were able to cover the whole gamut of children’s publishing, from story ideas to story boarding, submissions to marketing and promotion. A very successful workshop indeed!

I encourage you to visit John’s blog to learn more about the workshop, the participants, and the state of the children’s book market in Mongolia. As John states in his blog:

We learned a lot through this and other experiences. Children’s publishing in Mongolia is in a state of development. The population of the whole country is less than 3 million, and as the number of people who can afford to buy children’s books is very small, the market is limited…Holly and I both felt a keen desire to help Mongolian illustrators make a name for themselves outside the country. The fundamental problem is simple – with a weak and limited local market for children’s books in Mongolia, writers and illustrators are faced with the choice to either create a stronger publishing market locally, or establish a bilingual agency that will promote work internationally. It’s a slow process, but people are aware of what needs to be done and will get there in the end, with help.

How interesting is that?