(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

The idea behind the contest is simple: a Filipino artist, officially designated as CANVAS Fellow of the Year, is commissioned by CANVAS to create an original, large scale painting. The painting then becomes the “inspiration piece” of a writing competition (in English or Filipino) open to Filipino writers anywhere. The selected winning entry is illustrated as a series of large scale paintings by the same artist and published as a full color children’s book, with the original paintings showcased as a major solo exhibition for the artist.

This year’s winner, announced in April, was Fernando Gonzalez (this was his second time winning the competition), whose story “Mga Huni sa Loob ng Kawayan” was inspired by an untitled oil painting by artist Juanito Torres (details about the 2010 competition will be announced on January 1, 2010 at Looking for Juan, the official blog of CANVAS).

Previous winners include, among others, Palanca awardee Becky Bravo, whose story “The Rocking Horse” was based on a painting by Elmer Borlongan, and Eline Santos, whose “Doll Eyes” was inspired by the work of Joy Mallari.

In 2006, CANVAS partnered with Ang I.N.K. to launch the “Elias Dakila Story Writing Competition,” based on the theme of environment and culture. The winning story, “The Boy Who Touched Heaven,” published in partnership with Adarna House, was written by first time writer Iris Gem Li and illustrated by Sergio (Serj) Bumatay III (see his gallery feature on PaperTigers). The published book went on to win the National Book Awards as the Best Children’s Book of 2008.

Discovering CANVAS and the stories and artwork they help bring to life through the Romeo Forbes and Elias Dakila competitions as well as other projects, has really opened my eyes to the riches of Filipinos writing and creating art for children. I hope it will do the same for you.

My next post about CANVAS will focus on their series of eco fables (of which The Boy Who Touched Heaven is one example). There’s so much to spread the word on in relation to CANVAS that I couldn’t possibly do it all in one post, so… stay tuned!