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!

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.