(Click on event name for more information)

Golden Feather Literature Festival~ ongoing until Jan 31, Mongolia

5th Tales in the Park Festival~ ongoing until Feb 7, Bangkok, Thailand

Discovering Ethnic Minorities – Storytelling Workshops for Children~ ongoing until May 31, Hong Kong

2008 Cybils (the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) Finalists Announced~ Jan 1

Costa Book Awards Winners Announced~ Jan 6, London, United Kingdom

7th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities~ Jan 9 – 12, Honolulu, HI, USA

Mitali Perkin’s Secret Keeper Book Launch Party and Writing Workshop~ Jan 15, Palo Alto, CA, USA

CISA World Symposium and Storytelling Festival: Indigenous Voices, Ancient Trade Routes~ Jan 15 – 17, San Leandro, CA, USA

Storytelling by Winners of the First Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2008~ Jan 17, Singapore

Newberry Library Lecture – Babes in the Wood: The Death of Childhood and the Birth of Modern Children’s Literature~ Jan 17, Chicago, IL, USA

Presentation Ceremony for the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation~ Jan 20, London, United Kingdom

20th Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities~ Jan 20 – 25, Eatonville, FL, USA

Presentation by Award Winning Author and Literacy Advocate David Bouchard~ Jan 21, Port Moody, BC, Canada

Jaipur Literature Festival~ Jan 21 – 25, Jaipur, India

SCBWI Tokyo Presents Alison Lester: From Arnhem Land to Antarctica as a Children’s Author and Illustrator~ Jan 23, Tokyo, Japan

Deb Ellis and Groundwood Books Partnership with USBBY in a Fundraiser for IBBY’s Fund for Children in Crisis~ Jan 23, Denver, CO, USA

2nd Children’s & Young Adults’ Book Fair~ Jan 23 – 26, Marousi, Greece

American Library Association (ALA) 2009 Midwinter Meeting~ Jan 23 – 29, Denver, CO, USA

ALA Youth Media Awards Announcement~ Jan 26, Denver, CO, USA

Yabun 2009: Celebrating Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultures~ Jan 26, Sydney, Australia

No Name-Calling Week~ Jan 26 – 30, USA

Family Literacy Week~ Jan 26 – 31, Province of British Columbia, Canada

Family Literacy Day~ Jan 27, Canada

SCBWI South Africa – Cape Town Presents What’s Happening in the SA Educational Book World~ Jan 28 , Cape Town, South Africa

3rd International Galle Literary Festival~ Jan 28 – Feb 1, Galle, Sri Lanka

Kolkata Book Fair~ Jan 28 – Feb 8, Kolkata, India

Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award Entry Deadline~ Jan 30, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

SCBWI Annual Winter Meeting~ Jan 30 – Feb 1, New York, NY, USA

(Click on event name for more information)

Guadalajara Book Fair~ ongoing until Dec 7, Guadalajara, Mexico

Jewish Book Month~ ongoing until Dec 22, Canada and USA

Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children’s Books Exhibition~ ongoing until Jan 17, Chicago, IL, USA

Summer Reading Club 2009~ ongoing until Feb 15, Australia

Over Rainbows and Down Rabbit Holes: The Art of Children’s Books Exhibition~ ongoing until Mar 8, Amherst, MA, USA

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI Tokyo) Illustrators Exhibition~ Dec 1 – 14, Tokyo, Japan

Australian Poetry Slam 2008 – National Finals~ Dec 4, Sydney, Australia

Dromkeen Annual Literary Luncheon and Presentation of the Dromkeen’s Librarian Award~ Dec 5, Riddells Creek, Australia

University of the Philippine’s Writer’s Day~ Dec 5, Manila, Philippines

Barefoot Books Young Storyteller Competition Winners Announced~ Dec 6, Bath, United Kingdom

5th Annual Frostburg Storybook Holiday: A Community Celebration Through Children’s Literature~ Dec 6, Frostburg, MD, USA

Meet Four Children’s Authors From Pemmican Publications, Canada’s Only Dedicated Métis Press~ Dec 6, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Nordic Festival at Seven Stories, The Centre for Children’s Books~ Dec 6 – 7, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

PJ Lynch “The Champion of Picture Book Illustration in Ireland”~ Dec 8, Dublin, Ireland

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Meet the Author Event~ Dec 10, Paris, France

2008 Governor General’s Literary Awards Presentation~ Dec 10, Ottawa, ON, Canada

1st International Conference on Popular Culture and Education in Asia~ Dec 11 – 13, Hong Kong

American Identity in Children’s Literature Symposium~ Dec 13, Chicago, IL, USA

The Best of the Best in 2008: Distinguished American Picture Books for Children~ Dec 13, Amherst, MA, USA

Artist Reception for Illustrator Felipe Dávalos and his Exhibit “Tiempo de Niños/ Time for Children”~ Dec 13, Sacramento, CA, USA

Mantles of Myth – The Narrative in Indian Textiles~ Dec 13 – 15, Jaipur, India

6th Annual Houston Latino Book & Family Festival~ Dec 13 – 14, Houston, TX, USA

Exhibit: The Magical Toy Shop -Trade and Enterprise in Children’s Books~ Dec 13 – Mar 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

4th Karachi International Book Fair~ Dec 26 – 30, Karachi, Pakistan

(Click on event name for more information)

Library Card Sign-up Month~ USA

National Poetry Week~ ongoing until Sep 7, Australia

Singapore International Storytelling Festival~ ongoing until Sep 9, Singapore

Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art~ ongoing until Sep 14, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Beijing International Book Fair~ Sep 1 – 4, Tinjian, China

National Literacy and Numeracy Week~ Sep 1 – 7, Australia

New Zealand Book Month~ Sep 1 – 30, New Zealand

Christchurch Writers Festival: Getting Between the Covers~ Sep 4 – 7, Christchurch, New Zealand

Shanghai Conference On Children’s Publishing~ Sep 5 – 6, Shanghai, China

Cape Clear Island Storytellling Festival~ Sep 5 – 7, Cape Clear, Ireland

31st IBBY World Congress~ Sep 7 – 10, Copenhagen, Denmark

Hans Christian Anderson Awards Presentation~ Sep 7, Copenhagen, Denmark

International Literacy Day~ Sep 8

UNESCO Literary Prize Awards Presentation~ Sep 8, Paris, France

29th Manila International Book Fair: Words Without Borders~ Sep 12 – 16, Manila, Philippines

Bath Festival of Children’s Literature~ Sep 19 – 28, Bath, United Kingdom

Brisbane Writers Festival~ Sep 17 – 21, Brisbane, Australia

CYA later, Alligator – Children’s and Young Adult Writers And Illustrators Conference~ Sep 20, Brisbane, Australia

6th Annual Houston Latino Book and Family Festival~ Sep 20 – 21, Houston, TX, USA

International Day of Peace~ Sep 21

9th Annual Hog Wild About Reading: A Motorcycle Ride For Literacy~ Sep 21, Port Moody, BC, Canada

Raise-a-Reader Day~ Sep 24, Canada

International Children’s and Youth Literature Festival~ Sep 24 – Oct 4, Berlin, Germany

National Book Festival~ Sep 27, Washington, D.C., USA

Kidlit Bloggers Conference~ Sep 27, Portland, OR, USA

SCBWI Illustrator Day~ Sep 27, San Francisco, CA, USA

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read~ Sep 27 – Oct 4, USA

Word on the Street Book and Magazine Festival ~ Sep 28, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Entry Deadline for the Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations~ Sep 30

(Click on event name for more information)

13th Lima International Book Fair~ ongoing until Aug 3, Lima, Peru

19th Annual Children’s Book Fair~ ongoing until Aug 8, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art~ ongoing until Sep 14, Los Angeles, CA, USA

37th Annual Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Summer Conference~ Aug 1 – 4, Los Angeles, CA, USA

SCBWI Golden Kite Awards Presentations~ Aug 3, Los Angeles, CA, USA

37th Annual IASL Conference: World Class Learning and Literacy through School Libraries~ Aug 3 – 7, Berkeley, CA, USA

8th Annual Nueva Paquime Festival~ Aug 3 – 12, Paquime, Mexico

Kazakhstan Reading Association Conference~ Aug 8 – 10, Astana, Kazakhstan

Edinburgh International Book Festival~ Aug 9 – 25, Edinburgh, Scotland

74th IFLA World Library and Information Congress~ Aug 10 – 14, Quebec City, QC, Canada

The Canadian Book Camp~ Aug 11 – 15, Vancouver, BC, Canada

CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award Winners Announced~ Aug 15, Melbourne, Australia

Crichton Award for New Illustrators Winner Announced~ Aug 15, Melbourne, Australia

Children’s Book Week~ Aug 16 – 22, Australia

Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre Open House~ Aug 17, Fremantle, Australia

LIANZA Children’s Book Award Winners Announced~ Aug 18, New Zealand

Library Week~ Aug 18 – 24, New Zealand

Melbourne Writers Festival~ Aug 22 – 31, Melbourne, Australia

Singapore International Storytelling Festival~ Aug 25 – Sep 9, Singapore

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival~ Aug 28 – 30, Orem, UT, USA

National Poetry Week~ Aug 29 – Sep 7, Australia

Queens Book Fair~ Aug 30, Jamaica, NY, USA

(Click on event name for more information)

Asia-Pacific Conference on Children’s Book Publishing~ Jul 1 – 3, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Storytellers of Canada 16th Annual Conference~ Jul 2 – 6, Saskatoon, SA, Canada

4th Iberian Congress on Literature for Children~ Jul 3 – 5, San Sebastian, Spain

18th International Poetry Festival of Medellin~ Jul 5 – 12, Medellin, Columbia

NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week~ Jul 6 – 13, Australia

Multicultural Children’s Literature Conference~ Jul 7 – 8, Boston, MA, USA

15th Tokyo International Book Fair~ Jul 10 – 13, Tokyo, Japan

SCBWI Tokyo Authors & Illustrators Networking Night~ Jul 10, Tokyo, Japan

9th Annual Pacific Northwest Children’s Book Conference~ Jul 14 – 18, Portland, OR, USA

25th National Children’s Book Day~ Jul 15, Philippines

10th Harlem Book Fair~ Jul 17 – 20, Harlem, NY, USA

Montana Poetry Day~ Jul 18, New Zealand

17th Storytelling Festival at the Edge~ Jul 18 – 20, Stokes Barn, United Kingdom

Children’s Books Ireland ‘Summer Stories’ Family Event~ Jul 20, Dublin, Ireland

19th Annual Children’s Book Fair~ Jul 21 – Aug 8, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Maori Language Week~ Jul 21 – 27, New Zealand

IRA: Heritage Language Literacy Development in SE Asia Conference~ Jul 22 – 23, Jakarta, Indonesia

Hong Kong Book Fair~ Jul 23 – 29, Hong Kong

13th Lima International Book Fair~ Jul 24 – Aug 3, Lima, Peru

22nd World Congress on Reading: Reading in a Diverse World~ Jul 28 – 31, San Jose, Costa Rica

The Philasia branch of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators kicked off the new year with a speaker event featuring award-winning Filipino children’s book author and SCBWI member, Lara Saguisag.

The author of There’s a Duwende in My Brother’s Soup, Tonyo’s Wishes and Cat Eyes, and co-editor with April Yap of Nine Supernatural Stories, Laura Saguisag’s newest book, Children of Two Seasons: Poems for Young People, was published in December of 2007, after winning the 2006 Writing for Children Chapbook Series, a writing competition organized by the Writing Program of The New School University, in New York, known for its commitment to creative writing. The poems in the book, illustrated by emerging Filipino illustrator Hubert Fucio, describe the everyday adventures, thoughts and feelings of young children, as well as their take on simple things such as animal sounds, grandparents’ stories, etc.

Held on January 7th at Fullybooked, a bookstore in Makati City, Philippines, Lara’s talk focused on exploring notions of childhood and “Filipino-ness” in Filipino’s children’s literature. When I asked Lara why this topic, she responded:

I spent the past three years writing in New York City. I was very excited to be there, but it slowly dawned on me that my idea of childhood was very different from that of my American peers, and how our writing for children was greatly affected by our different notions. Many of my classmates often thought I was writing “too young” for my intended age group, so I came to realize that that was because the children I knew in the Philippines seemed to me much more “dependent” than their American counterparts.

It may seem very obvious to state that children in the U.S. are different from children in the Philippines. I do feel, however, that many children’s book writers tend to assume that there is a “universal” kind of childhood (childhood as a happy time, free of labor and worries, a time for children to be protected), when, largely, this is a conception of childhood that began among Western middle-class families.

Lara, who is a Presidential Fellow at Rutgers University in New Jersey, NY, where she is completing her PhD in Childhood Studies, began her lecture with a simple question: “Who is the child?” (more…)

(Click on event name for more information)

Growing Up Asian in America Art & Essay Contest for Youth~ entry deadline Mar 6, San Francisco, CA, USA

StoryFeast 2008 – International Storytelling Festival~ Feb 1 – 3, Vancouver, BC, Canada

18th New Delhi World Book Fair~ Feb 2 – 10, New Delhi, India

National African American Read-In~ Feb 2 – 3, USA

SCBWI Annual Winter Conference~ Feb 8 – 10, New York, NY, USA

First Nations Public Library Week~ Feb 11 – 16, Canada

ALOUD: A Celebration for Young Readers~ Feb 12 – 14, Toronto, ON, Canada

Taipei International Book Exhibition~ Feb 13 – 18, Taipei, Taiwan

Cybils – Children’s and YA Bloggers’ Literary Award Winners Announced~ Feb 14

Reading the World Conference~ Feb 16 – 17, San Francisco, CA, USA

International Australia and New Zealand SCBWI Conference~ Feb 23 – 24, Sydney, Australia

Freedom to Read Week~ Feb 24 – Mar 1, Canada

Kiriyama Prize Finalists Announced~ Feb 26, San Francisco, CA, USA

New Zealand Post Book Award Winners Announced~ Feb 26, New Zealand

(Click on event name for more information)

Announcement of the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature~ Jan 3, USA

SCBWI Speaker Event: Lara Saguisag on “The Filipino Child and Filipino Children’s Literature”~ Jan 7, Makati, Philippines

Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities~ Jan 11 – 14, Honolulu, HI, USA

American Library Association Midwinter Meeting~ Jan 11 – 16, Philadelphia, PA, USA

American Library Association Literary Awards Announced~ Jan 14, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Mumbai International Book Fair~ Jan 16 – 20, Mumbai, India

Cooperative Learning in Multicultural Societies: Critical Reflections Conference~ Jan 19 – 22, Turin, Italy

Costa Book Awards Winners Announced (formerly the Whitbread Literary Awards)~ Jan 22, London, England

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias~ Jan 24 – 27, Cartagena, Columbia

SCBWI Tokyo Author and Illustrator Showcase~ Jan 26, Tokyo, Japan

Family Literacy Day~ Jan 27, Canada

Kolkata Book Fair~ Jan 30 – Feb 10, Kolkata, India

(Click on event name for more information)

Karachi International Book Fair~ Nov 30 – Dec 3, Pakistan

Carter G. Woodson Book Awards Presentation~ Dec 1, San Diego, CA, USA

Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure Final Auction~ Dec 3 – 7, USA

Australian Poetry Slam Grand Final~ Dec 7, Australia

Dromkeen Literary Luncheon and Presentation of the Dromkeen Librarian’s Award~ Dec 7, Australia

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Booktalk and Group Critique~ Dec 10, Philippines

2007 Governor General’s Literary Awards – Public reading by all award winners~ Dec 12, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Nestle Children’s Book Prize Winners Announced~ Dec 12, England

2007 Governor General’s Literary Awards Presentation~ Dec 13, Ottawa, ON, Canada

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?