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

2011 PBBY-Alcala Prize~ submissions accepted until Mar 30, Philippines

Sun Gallery’s Twenty-second Annual Children’s Book Illustrator Exhibit~ ongoing until Apr 16, Hayward, CA, USA

15th Annual Writing for Children Competition~ submissions accepted until Apr 24, Canada

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Exhibit: Anita Lobel – All the World’s a Stage~ ongoing until May 28, Abilene, TX, USA

Look! The Art of Australian Picture Books Today~ ongoing until May 29, Melbourne, Australia

The Art Institute of Chicago Exhibit: Real and Imaginary: Three Latin American Artists – Raúl Colón, David Diaz and Yuyi Morales~ ongoing until May 29, Chicago, IL, USA

Animal Fair: Birds, Beasts, and Bugs in Children’s Book Illustrations~ ongoing until Jun 5, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Seven Stories (the National Home of Children’s Books in Britain) Events~ Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

International Youth Library Exhibits~ Munich, Germany

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Exhibits~ Amherst, MA, USA

Dromkeen National Centre for Picture Book Art Exhibits~ Riddells Creek, Australia

Mirror, an Exhibition by Children’s Author and Artist Jeannie Baker~ Australia

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Events

New Zealand Book Month

Read Across America Day~ Mar 2, USA

Sutradhar’s Story Revolution~ Mar 2 – 5, Bangalore, India

Primary Source’s Global Read of The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez~ Mar 2 – 9

World Book Day~ Mar 3, United Kingdom and Ireland

Summer Reading Relay~ Mar 3, Melbourne, Australia

The Big Write Festival~ Mar 3 – 13, Stratford, United Kingdom

42nd Annual Georgia Children’s Book Awards and Conference on Children’s Literature~ Mar 4 – 5, Athens, GA, USA

Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival~ Mar 4 – 5, Redlands, CA, USA

Perth Writers Festival~ Mar 4 – 7, Perth, Australia

Penguin Books India Presents Spring Fever~ Mar 4 – 13, New Delhi, India

Your School Library’s Sixth International Professional Development Online Conference: Advocacy, Evidence and Image~ Mar 4 – 18

Shanghai International Literary Festival~ Mar 4 – 19, Shanghai, China

Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference~ Mar 5, Bellingham, WA, USA

Singapore Young Author Award Ceremony~ Mar 5, Singapore

Singapore Children’s Book Club Discuss S. M. De Silva’s Blood on the Moon~ Mar 5, Singapore

Pratham Books Sabha 2011~ Mar 5, Bangalore, India

Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices Day~ Mar 5, Madison, WI, USA

World Book Night ~ Mar 5

International Research Conference: What Exactly is “Overseas Manga/Comics”? – The Forefront of Comics and Globalization~ Mar 6, Kyoto, Japan

The Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets 2011 Competition Launch~ Mar 7, United Kingdom

Engaging Hearts and Minds: Equity, Social Justice and Global Citizenship in Action~ Mar 7 – 8, Toronto, ON, Canada

YALSA’s Teen Tech Week~ Mar 7 – 13, USA

Share a Story – Shape a Future, A Blog Tour for Literacy: Unwrapping the Gift of Literacy~ Mar 7 – 11

New Dog, New Tricks: Insideadog Website Relaunch by the Centre for Youth Literature~ Mar 8, Melbourne, Australia

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature~ Mar 8 – 12, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival~ Mar 8 – 18, Hong Kong

World Read Aloud Day~ Mar 9

Children’s Literature Conference: The Power of Story~ Mar 10, Tucson, AZ, USA

SCBWI Lit Fest Dinner with Aleesah Darlison and Adrian Tilley~ Mar 10, Hong Kong

31st Annual Children’s Literature Conference~ Mar 11, DeKalb, IL, USA

Art Blocks for Ghana Online Auction~ Mar 12

Oxford Children’s Book Group Presents: Author Aidan Chambers in Conversation~ Mar 12, Oxford, United Kingdom

Silverfish Books’ Meet the Author Session: Singaporean Children’s Author Ho Lee-Ling~ Mar 12, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

CLN Presents: Picture Books as Writing Tools with author Lisa Bulllard~ Mar 12, Plymouth, MN, USA

Pratham Books Sabha 2011~ Mar 14, New Delhi, India

Somerset Celebration of Literature~ Mar 14 – 18, Mudgeeraba, Australia

14th Time of the Writer – International Writers Festival~ Mar 14 – 19, Durban, South Africa

School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids’ Books~ Mar 14 – Apr 4, USA

Supporting UAE Children’s Book Authors: The ‘Emirati Authors Write for Emirati Children’ Initiative at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair~ Mar 15 – 20, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Illustrated Talk with Author Shaun Tan: Untold Stories~ Mar 17, Melbourne, Australia

Children’s Book Illustration: The Picture Book World of Polly Dunbar~ Mar 17 – 24, London, United Kingdom

Singapore Book Club Discusses the Graphic Novel Gone Case~ Mar 18, Singapore

Celebration of Teaching and Learning~ Mar 18 – 19, New York, NY, USA

Salon du livre de Paris, Guest of Honour: Nordic Countries~ Mar 18 – 21, Porte de Versailles, France

Children’s Books Week~ Mar 19 – Apr 3, Flanders, Belgium

World Storytelling Day~ Mar 20

43rd Annual Children’s Literature Festival~ Mar 20 – 22, Warrensburg, MO, USA

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination~ Mar 21

World Poetry Day (UNESCO)~ Mar 21

Harmony Day~ Mar 21, Australia

Seminar: Children’s Literature in Nordic Countries~ Mar 22, Paris, France

Reading the World: Exciting Literature for the Global Classroom~ Mar 22, Watertown, MA, USA

36th Annual CABE Conference: Language, Culture & Leadership – Co-creating Community~ Mar 23 – 26, Long Beach, CA, USA

A Different Trend: Canadian Children’s Literature in Sweden and Finland with Author Roy MacGregor~ Mar 24, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Myths and Fairy Tales in Film and Literature post-1900~ Mar 25 – 26, York, United Kingdom

Bangkok International Book Fair~ Mar 25 – Apr 6, Bangkok, Thailand

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winners Announced~ Mar 29, Vimmerby, Sweden

Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Guest of Honour: Lithuania~ Mar 29 – 31, Bologna, Italy

World Book Summit~ Mar 31 – Apr 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia

WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival is an annual literary festival taking place Oct. 9 – 14, 2007 in Alberta, Canada. One of Canada’s premier literary festivals, WordFest 2007 features over 75 writers of local, national and international stature and will attract more than 12,000 individuals.

Children’s and young adult’s literature will be highlighted in the First Calgary Savings Book Rapport Programme. Festival Director Anne Green tells us:

“Book Rapport brings students up-close and personal with their favourite authors, which is a rare and fantastic opportunity for them. Students can hear the authors read, ask them questions, while teachers have a creative way to bring life into literature.”

Anne adds that this year’s Book Rapport Programme offers a superb line-up of KidLit writers, including the following award winning Canadian authors:

Canadian superstar Kenneth Oppel. Oppel, recipient of numerous prestigious literary awards, is the author of the million-copy-selling Silverwing Saga and has more than twenty children and young adult books to his credit. “To have Ken Oppel attend WordFest is great news for Calgary’s schools, students and families,” says Anne.

First nations writer Larry Loyie and his partner Constance Brissenden. In 2003, Loyie and Brissenden won the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction for their children’s book, As Long as the Rivers Flow which was inspired by Loyie’s Cree childhood and the true story of his grandmother’s confrontation with a grizzly. As Long as the Rivers Flow is about a First Nations boy’s last summer spent with his family in the bush before being taken to residential school. The second book in this series When the Spirits Dance recounts the dramatic changes to the boy’s life when his father is sent overseas in World War 2.

Quebec writer Michel Noël. Noël has over fifty books to his credit and has written several award-winning books for young people, including Pien, which won the 1997 Governor General’s Award for French language children’s literature. His novel Good for Nothing, winner of the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, takes place in northern Quebec in 1959 and is the story of young Métis who seeks to establish his own identity and find out more about the mystery surrounding his father’s death. The book provides compelling insights into many issues faced by First Nations people during this time (residential schools, racism, land claims etc.) as well as the ongoing struggles of native communities today. Noël was named Citizen of the World by the Canadian Association for the United Nations for his work in seeking better understanding among people.

For those of us who can’t attend WordFest in person, we can still take part! Pop culture writer Hal Niedzviecki will be writing the first official WordFest blog. Niedzviecki describes it as “a gossipy insider look at what’s going on and where to be, what’s not to be missed, who is who, and the opportunity to have your questions answered.”