The 2011 Singapore Young Author Award Winners were announced last week! Head on over to Gathering Books to find out more and see photos from the event.

Cue the trumpets….in 3, 2, 1…

The Tiger is now tweeting!!!

PaperTigers is excited to announce that we are now on Twitter. You can find us there under the name PaperTigersOrg (http://twitter.com/PaperTigersOrg). Or click the Twitter icon on the side of our blog to be taken directly there.

We look forward to exploring this type of social media and being able to connect with our readers in real-time, as well as follow the tweets of those involved in multicultural children’s and young adult literature around the world.  Special shout-outs to Mitali Perkins who became our first follower and to all those who tweeted that PaperTigers had arrived on the scene. We can see how information spreads quickly with Twitter and look forward to jumping in with a big roar!

2011 promises to be a year full of exciting events as regards children’s and young adult literature, and we are thrilled to announce that we will be attending the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore this coming May. Obviously being able to tweet while attending such events will be wonderful and we look forward to being able to share our experiences in real-time on Twitter.

So come on over, introduce yourself and join the Roaring Twittering Tiger!

The inaugural Asian Festival of Children’s Content was held this past May in Singapore and was a resounding success with over 400 delegates from 17 countries attending. The dates for the 2011 Asian Festival of Children’s Content have now been confirmed and the recently released e-flyer can be seen below! If you are interested in doing a presentation at the Festival you have until November 30th to submit your proposal.

Several weeks ago I posted about The Singapore Book Club’s July event: In Conversation with Adeline Foo, Lim Fong Wei and Sangeetha Madhavan. Panelist Adeline Foo recently emailed me and told me that Myra Garces-Bacsal’s attended the event and blogged about it at Gathering Books. Read Myra’s review (which includes pics and video!) and not only will you feel like you attended the event  but you will really get to know best-selling children’s author Adeline Foo as she talks about her work ethic, where her ideas come from and what lessons budding authors must know.

Myra sums up the evening by saying:

Generally, I thought it was a good evening. It was a long travel from my home  but it was well worth the trip. One possible add-in perhaps that may be considered if there is going to be another “book club” is that an actual specific “book” would be discussed by the attendees in greater detail…Strictly speaking, it was more a panel discussion with book authors than an actual “book club” where you discuss specific targeted books and argue about the characters’ motivations, affect, and personalities in the “club.” Considering though that it was the first children’s book club ever organized, I thought it was a success. Kudos to Adeline, Sangeetha and Fong Wei and the National Book Development Council for organizing the evening. I am avidly looking forward to more evenings filled with discussion about children’s books and themes with aspiring writers, book authors, illustrators, and lovers of children’s literature.

One thing that clearly shone through from last night’s book club, and my earlier coffee and conversation with David Seow, another prolific children’s book author in Singapore – is how tenacious and passionate these writers are despite the seemingly-insurmountable odds stacked against them, being situated in a comparatively small country in Asia. Cheers indeed to the fantasy, magic, and enchantment of children’s books. Keep the faith, everyone.

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…)

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Bath Literature Festival~ ongoing until Mar 7, Bath, United Kingdom

Exhibition of Joy Mallari’s Artwork From the Book Doll Eyes~ ongoing until Mar 9, Makati City, Philippines

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

The Making of the Word Witch: The Poetic & Illustrative Magic of Margaret Mahy & David Elliot~ ongoing until  Mar 14, Ashburton, New Zealand

21st Annual Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit~ ongoing until Apr 3, Hayward, CA, USA

Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books, 2006–2009~ ongoing until Apr 18, Chicago, IL, USA

New York Public Library Exhibit: 2010 Caldecott Winner Jerry Pinkney’s African-American Journey to Freedom~ ongoing until Apr 18, New York City, NY, USA

Read Across America Day~ Mar 2, USA

Papirolas Festival for Children and Youth~ Mar 2 – 7, Guadalajara, Mexico

20th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair~ Mar 2 – 7, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

World Book Day~ Mar 4, United Kingdom and Ireland

New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards Finalists Announced and On-Line Voting Begins~ Mar 4, New Zealand

Irish Society for the Study of Children’s Literature Conference Mar 5 – 6, Dublin, Ireland

The Environmental Imagination and Children’s Literature~ Mar 5 – 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

Shanghai Literary Festival~Mar 5 – 21, Shanghai, China

Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference~ Mar 6, Bellingham, WA, USA

Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices Day and Charlotte Zolotow Award Presentation~ Mar 6, Madison, WI, USA

SCBWI Conference: Creating Diversity in Children’s Literature~ Mar 6, Frederick, MD, USA

SCBWI Writers’ Day with Holly Thompson (Includes a session entitled “Plotting Across Cultures: A Workshop on Writing Intercultural Fiction”)~ Mar 6 – 7, Hong Kong

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

Share a Story – Shape a Future, A Blog Tour for Literacy~ Mar 8 – 14

SCBWI Presents From Literature to Theatre~ Mar 9, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Writing Across Cultures~ Mar 9 – 10, Hong Kong

13th Time of the Writer International Writers Festival~ Mar 9 – 13, Durban, South Africa

New Zealand Post Writers & Readers Week~ Mar 9 – 14, New Zealand

IBBY Ireland Celebrates Hans Christian Andersen~ Mar 10, Dublin, Ireland

California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) Annual Conference~ Mar 10 – 13, San Jose, CA, USA

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature~ Mar 10 – 13, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Arabian Reading Association (TARA) and the Teachers of Young Children (TOYC) 2010 Conference~ Mar 11, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival~ Mar 11 – 14, Hong Kong

The 14th Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival~ Mar 12 – 13, Redlands, CA, USA

My Biggest Writing/Illustrating Challenge and How I Solved It with Panelists Elise Broach, Lita Judge, Grace Lin, Sara Pennypacker~ Mar 13, Amherst, MA, USA

Storytelling by Winners of the First Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2009~ Mar 13 and 20, Singapore

Tucson Festival of Books~ Mar 13 – 14, Tucson, AZ, USA

Children’s Book Week~ Mar 13 – 28, Belgium

42nd Annual Children’s Literature Festival For Children in Grades 4-10~ Mar 14 – 16, Warrensburg, MO, USA

Somerset Celebration of Literature: Reading Locally, Learning Globally – Creating a Universal Experience~ Mar 15 – 19, Mudgeeraba, Australia

Into the Wood: Antonio Frasconi’s Art for Children~ Mar 16 – Jun 13, Amherst, MA, USA

All Saints’ College 9th Festival of Children’s and Young Adult Literature~ Mar 17 – 19,Bull Creek, Australia

40th Annual Conference on Children’s Literature~ Mar 19 – 20, Athens, GA, USA

Multicultural Literature Advocacy Group Presents Books By the Bay 2010 Annual Multicultural Literary Conference~ Mar 19 – 21, Mobile, AL, USA

World Storytelling Day~ Mar 20

Stories Day and Night: A Celebration of Storytelling~ Mar 20, Singapore

Music for Literacy~ Mar 20, Stafford, TX, USA

The Norman Lindsay Festival of Children’s Literature~ Mar 20 – 21, Faulconbridge, Australia

Harmony Day~ Mar 21, Australia

World Poetry Day~ Mar 21

Exhibit of Sally Rippin’s Illustrations for Peeking Ducks~Mar 22 – Apr 11, Melbourne, Australia

Hans Christian Andersen Award Winners Announced~ Mar 23, Bologna, Italy

Once Upon a Time . . . Children’s Book Illustrators, Then and Now~ Mar 23 – May 27, Oakland, CA, USA

Public Library Association’s National Conference~ Mar 23 – 27, Portland, OR, USA

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winners Announced~ Mar 24, Vimmerby, Sweden

Salon du livre de Paris~ Mar 26 – 31, Porte de Versailles, France

38th National Book Fair & 8th Bangkok International Book Fair~ Mar 26 – Apr 6, Bangkok, Thailand

Discovering Buried Fairy Tales: Adventures of a Scholarly Scavenger~ Mar 27, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Margaret Mahy Day~ Mar 27, New Zealand

The Piece by Piece Storytelling Mash-Up~ Mar 28, Toronto, ON, Canada

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2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ ongoing until Dec 6, Ishikawa, Japan

Guadalajara International Book Fair~ ongoing until Dec 6, Guadalajara, Mexico

Jewish Book Month~ ongoing until Dec 12, Canada and USA

When Cinderella Went to the Ball: Five Hundred Years of Fairy Tales~ ongoing until Dec 12, Toronto, ON, Canada

CJ Picture Book Festival~ ongoing until Dec 24, Seoul, Korea

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, 2010, Amherst, MA, USA

Mother Goose in an Air-Ship: McLoughlin Bros. 19th Century Children’s Books from the Liman Collection~ ongoing until Apr 18, 2010, Amherst, MA, USA

Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books, 2006–2009~ ongoing until Apr 18, 2010, Chicago, IL, USA

From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit; A Judith Kerr Retrospective~ ongoing until May 2010, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Grace Lin, Author of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Appears on NBC’s TODAY Show~ Dec 4

Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature~ Dec 4 – Jan 3, 2010, Concord, MA, USA

International Antiquarian Book Fair~ Dec 4 – 6 Hong Kong

The Children’s Literature Centre at Frostburg State University Presents Storybook Holiday~ Dec 5, Frostburg, MD, USA

Irish Children’s Literature and Culture Symposium~ Dec 5, Dublin, Ireland

The Making of the Word Witch: The Poetic & Illustrative Magic of Margaret Mahy & David Elliot~ Dec 5 – Mar 14, 2010, Ashburton, New Zealand

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: An Afternoon with Anita Silvey~ Dec 5, New York City, NY, USA

Who Will Speak for the Child? Human Rights at Home and the Convention on the Rights of the Child~ Dec 7, New York City, NY, USA

BookFest@Singapore~ Dec 11 – 20, Singapore

The Best of the Best in 2009: Distinguished American Picture Books for Children~ Dec 12, Amherst, MA, USA

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Dec 13 – Mar 1, 2010, Seoul, Korea