Here’s an important shout out to any of our readers who have written a children’s story that is inspired by Asia. Have you heard about the new Scholastic Asian Book Award?

The National Book Development Council of Singapore and Scholastic Asia are jointly launching the Asian children’s book prize. The award, called the Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA), will recognize Asians and children’s writers of Asian origin who are taking the experiences of life, spirit and thinking in different parts of Asia to the world at large. The award will also promote the understanding of the Asian experience and its expression in innovative and creative forms.

The objectives of the SABA are as follows:
• To recognize excellence in fiction in Asian stories for children
• To showcase the diversity of literary talent within Asia
• To encourage and inspire more Asian-themed books and stories

If you have an unpublished manuscript (original or translation) targeted at children ages 6 to 12 years, and reside in Asia or are of Asian origin*, send your submission in asap as the deadline for entries is December 31, 2010.

The award will be presented at a special ceremony during the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore  in May 2011. In addition, prize winners will be invited to take part and share their special expertise and experience with the participants of AFCC.

For more details, click here.

*For the purpose of this award, Asia comprises the following countries: Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, S. Korea, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and East Timor. The author must be either residing in the countries listed above or the diaspora living in any part of the world.

Georgette's Mooncakes

On July 16th The Singapore Book Club is hosting “In Conversation with Adeline Foo, Lim Fong Wei and Sangeetha Madhavan”.  All are welcome to attend this free event which starts at 7pm at the Earshot @ The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane). Discussion will centre on Adeline’s latest children’s book Georgette’s Mooncakes which was translated in to Chinese by Lim Fong Wei.

Adeline Foo has written 15 books  including the acclaimed Peranakan series (Chilli Padi, The Beaded Slippers) and The Diary of Amos Lee which made Singapore’s top ten best sellers’ list.

Sangeetha Madhavan’s picture book A Blue Cat’s Tale (Straits Times Press) was published under the First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2008. Five of her short stories, commissioned by the Ministry of Education Singapore, will appear on a web portal for children in 2010.

The Asian Festival of Children’s Content has launched it’s new website. Be sure to check out the Programme Schedule as well as the Speaker Profiles! You can also see the schedule herewith the names of their relevant speakers. And what a rich programme it is – there will be some hard decisions to make as to which sessions to attend! Among the speakers lined up are Chris Cheng, Sally Heinrich, Rukhsana Kahn, Uma Krishnaswami, Anushka Ravishankar and Holly Thompson, to name but a few.

Two new children’s book awards will also be announced during the Festival: the Asian Children’s Book Prize, and the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award for Singaporean children’s books.

There was quite a buzz about this Festival at the Bologna Book Fair and I’m sure it will be a resounding success! The event is co-hosted by the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS), a non-profit organization that promotes storytelling, reading, writing and publishing. NBDCS does a fabulous job bringing the book industry and literary community together through social events, courses, seminars, conferences and author lectures. A visit to their website and blog gives great insight on the literary goings-on in Singapore.

Today while perusing the NBDCS website, I came across the inspiring story of Singaporean author Emily Lim. At the age of 28, Emily was diagnosed with Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD), a rare neurological condition that was robbing her of her speech. A few years later, during a breather from her extremely successful corporate career, Emily decided to pursue her dream of writing and entered her story Prince Bear and Pauper Bear in the 2007 First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative, a competition co-organized by the NBCDS. Prince Bear and Pauper Bear, which drew on her own emotional responses to SD, was one of eight winners. With the cash prize and her own savings Emily went about getting (more…)