Last month I was fortunate to attend the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore. Each day of the Festival was jam-packed with activities and it was truly an incredible experience to be surrounded by people from all over the globe who shared such a passion for children’s literature. You can read my previous posts about the Festival by clicking here and if you click here on the Gathering Books blog Dr. Myra Garces-Bacsal has compiled a list of  links to blog posts about the AFCC.

One presentation that I haven’t blogged about yet but want to share with you was entitled  “The Asian Children’s Publishing Symposium Parallel: Asian Markets and Experiences”. I almost missed this session as I lost track of time while perusing and purchasing books in the Media Mart but thank goodness I arrived in time to get a seat as this presentation was a highlight for me. The three panelists: Le Phuong Lien, Head of Children’s Literature at the Vietnamese Writer’s Association; Sayoni Basu, Publishing Director at Scholastic India; and Linda Tan Lingard, Managing Partner of Yusof Gagah Lingard Literary Agency Malaysia, each gave an overview of the history and current state of children’s publishing in their respective countries. Each of these ladies is definitely an expert in their field and I certainly learned a lot. Children’s literature published in Vietnam is a subject I have been eager to learn more about but have had difficulty finding information on so it was a great pleasure in particular to listen to Mrs. Le Phuong accompanied by her lovely daughter who acted as a translator.

Mrs. Le Phuong  discussed three pieces of literature for Vietnamese children, from three different time eras, that highlighted the efforts of  “the Vietnamese writer in the expression of Vietnamese culture for children”.  She noted that  “the trend of searching, realizing and praising the original beauty with strong local characteristics is now being emphasized more and more in the writing for children in Vietnam”.  She also shared her thoughts on the impact of global development and harmonization with respect to Vietnamese children’s literature and also why conferences such as the AFCC are important.  You can downloaded Mrs. Le Phuong’s presentation here and view her power point slides here. I encourage you to take some time to read her presentation as I’m sure you will find it as interesting and enlightening as I did.

Our thanks go out once again to Jenny Desmond-Walters, Regional Advisor for SCBWI – Korea, for letting us know about another fabulous literature project taking place in Korea: Ollybolly.

Ollybolly is a cultural diversity program carried out by the Daum Foundation which “focuses on building a cultural foundation of mutual respect and understanding among people from all walks of life” and “seeks to provide resources for the next generation in order to promote creative and diverse ways of life through the use of media and communications.”

One of the Ollybolly projects is the  recently created Online Picture Book project. This project allows anyone with internet access to watch animated picture book  stories from several countries including Mongolia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The stories are all folktales and can be heard in English, Korean or their original language. Korean and English subtitles are also provided. Plans are in place to have over 170 books online by December and to include stories from Africa, South America and West Asia. Click here to see the list and start watching. I guarantee you will be enthralled not only by the wonderful stories themselves but also by their amazing illustrations!

The Ollybolly website says:

The Ollybolly Online Picture Book allows the next generation to experience stories from countries whose children’s books are not very well known by physical publication, especially in Korea.  The project is designed to increase young people’s sensitivity towards cultural diversity.  At the same time it will encourage them to communicate and live harmoniously with people from other parts of the world.

The Daum Foundation believes that differences are not the cause of discrimination and exclusion; rather, they are a source of creativity. We hope that the key holders of tomorrow will be imbued with wonderment and the positive values of diversity through their enjoyment of the Ollybolly Online Picture Book.