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Will be blogging about the Asian Festival of Children's Content soon. :o)

I’ve just arrived in Singapore to take part in the upcoming Asian Festival of Children’s Content and thought I would post a few pictures taken during my first afternoon in the city. I’ve only been here a few hours and to say I’m impressed would be an understatement. Singapore is amazing! The weather is beautiful, the people so friendly and the city itself is stunning: modern highrises mixed with colonial buildings, multicultural enclaves such as Chinatown and Little India, all surrounded by immaculate parks and tropical greenery.

The first two photos were taken at Vancouver International Airport and show the First Nations artwork which is highlighted throughout the terminal, then it’s on to Singapore. Enjoy!

Now the jet lag is catching up to me and it’s time to get to sleep. The festival starts on May 25th so I will have some time tomorrow to get to discover Singapore a bit more…

The 2011 Asian Festival of Children’s Content takes place May 26 – 28 at The Arts House in Singapore. This year’s theme, Connecting With Connected Kids, will address an important and timely topic in children’s lit! Of course books remain popular but how is technology changing the world of children’s and YA lit?  As technology puts media access into children’s pockets and bedrooms, how do content makers stay connected with connected kids? Experts from around the world will provide their thoughts on this topic  in the speaker programs and panel discussions.

I am thrilled to announce that on Wed, May 25th I will be joining Tarie Sabido (Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind) and Dr. Myra Garces-Bacsal (Gathering Books) in hosting a pre-AFCC panel discussion entitled Building a Nation of Readers via Web 2.0: An Introduction to Kidlitosphere and the YA Blogosphere.  Come join us from 5:30 – 7pm at The Arts House and partake in our free discussion.  All are welcome to attend and you can reserve your seat by emailing afcc(at)bookcouncil(dot)sg. If you are already registered for the AFCC, you can officially sign in during our event and avoid the hassle of potential line-ups at the sign-in table on opening day.  All the details are included in the lovely flyer below (click on it to enlarge) which Regina at the Singapore Book Council designed. Hope to see you there!

Press Release:

One of the objectives of the AFCC (The Asian Festival of Children’s Content) is to bring children’s writers in Africa and Asia together.

A  delegation of artists (including children’s book writers from the Asian Storytelling Network), students and business people will be in Cape Town, South Africa from 16th-20th Mar 2011 for a festival called Spotlight Singapore organized by The Arts House in Singapore together with support from organizations in Cape Town.

The Program for Children’s Writers includes:

The Journey of the Reader: Using Children’s Books to Understand Cultural Diversity in Singapore & South Africa. Rosemarie Somaiah and Marjorie Van Heerden

Sayang Singapore: Building Bridges in and for Singapore – a look at how individuals and organizations have used children’s books to build bridges in a multi-racial, multi-cultural society. Rosemarie Somaiah

My Journey with Children’s Books: Some Personal Reminiscences – a look at how the style and content of children’s books have changed over the past 50 years and how that influenced my own work. Marjorie Van Heerden

Sharing Stories with Children. Rosemarie Somaiah

The Book and the Buzz: An Open Sharing of How Life Experience Can be Turned into Fiction. Rosemarie Somaiah and Helen Brain

Launch of a poetry anthology, Man/Born/Free: Writings on the Human Spirit from Singapore -  featuring contemporary Singaporean writers. Luminary Singaporean poet, Edwin Thumboo, will be in attendance.

Any inquiries please contact rama(at)bookcouncil(dot)sg or Re Storm (South African coordinator)at re(at)raintree(dot)co(dot)za

The poster has just been released for this year’s Asian Festival of Children’s Content taking place in Singapore in May. Here it is:

The call has gone out for Authors and/or Illustrators to submit work for critique sessions – see here for details (deadline 30 April 2011).

You an find more details about the conference here.

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) and will have some icons up shortly on our website and blog to take you 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.

Corinne the other day pointed us to Tarie Sabido’s blog, Asia in the Heart, as a great source of news and images from the first Asian Festival of Children’s Content, which happened earlier this month in Singapore. Authors Uma Krishnaswami, Chris Cheng and Rukhsana Khan also share their experiences of the event on their respective blogs, so I encourage you to check them out as well.

One of the many highlights of the festival was Uma and Rukhsana’s joint panel about their cross-cultural collaboration in Many Windows. Oh how I wish I could have been able to attend it!

The National Book Development Council of Singapore and Scholastic Asia present the Scholastic Asian Book Award.

The objectives of the Scholastic Asian Book Award are:

* 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

The Scholastic Asian Book Award will be given each year to an unpublished manuscript in English (original or translation), set in Asia and targeted at children ages 6 to 12, written by a writer in Asia or of Asian origin. The award-winning manuscript will get a prize of S$10,000 and a plaque, and will be considered by Scholastic Asia for publication. The first and second runners-up will each get a plaque and be offered advice by Scholastic Asia on editing their manuscripts to submit for publication.

Entries for the inaugural Scholastic Asian Book Award must be submitted by December 31, 2010 at 5 p.m., to the National Book Development Council of Singapore. The winners and runners-up will be declared in May 2011 at the Asian Festival of Children's Content.

Click here for more details on the award.

Wondering what happened at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content which concluded yesterday in Singapore? Check out Filipino editor, English teacher and Cybil judge Tarie Sabido’s blog Asia In the Heart, World on the Mind. Lots of great info and photos!

(Click on event name for more information)

Get Caught Reading Month~ USA

National Share-a-Story Month~ United Kingdom

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month~ USA

Asian Heritage Month~ Canada

BOOKtopia Children’s Literature Festival~ ongoing until May 7, West Vancouver, BC, Canada

Buenos Aires Book Fair~ ongoing until May 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina

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

Mitali Perkins’ 2010 Fire Escape Short Fiction and Poetry Contest~ entries accepted until Jun 1, USA and Canada

Into the Wood: Antonio Frasconi’s Art for Children~ ongoing until Jun 13, Ameherst, MA, USA

Skipping Stones Magazine’s Youth Honor Award Program – Multicultural Awareness and Nature Appreciation~ entries accepted until Jun 25

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Exhibit: Why Grow Up? Etienne Delessert~ ongoing until Jun 26, Abilene, TX, USA

Monsters and Miracles: A Journey through Jewish Picture Books~ ongoing until  Aug 1, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Everyday Adventures Growing Up: Art from Picture Books~ ongoing until Nov 28, Chicago, IL, USA

BOOKFEST – The Vancouver Island Children’s Book Festival~ May 1, Nanaimo, BC, Canada

“Second to the Right, and Straight on Till Morning:” Navigating the Narrative Realm(s) of Children’s Texts~ May 1, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Old Passions – New Technologies: Children’s and Young Adult Literature
in a Web 2.0 World~ May 1, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Expo 2010~ May 1 – Oct 31, Shanghai, China

SCBWI Presents: Shaping a Picture Book/Shaping Character~ May 6, Paris, France

Asian Festival of Children’s Content~ May 6 – 9, Singapore

Bermuda International Literary Festival~ May 6 – 9, Hamilton
Bermuda

SCBWI Hawaii Illustrators’ Exhibit: The Art of Picture Books~ May 6 – Jun 16, Honolulu, HI, USA

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