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By Misa Dikengil Lindberg, Alexander O. Smith and Avery Fischer Udagawa
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

This month, the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore will feature Cynsations’ own Cynthia Leitich Smith speaking on “The Irresistible Fantastical Supernatural: Writing a World that Beckons.”

Also featured at AFCC 2016 will be Cathy Hirano, a leading translator of Japanese children’s literature into English. Hirano’s translation of the middle grade realistic novel The Friends (by Kazumi Yumoto) won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and a Mildred L. Batchelder Award. Her translations of the YA fantasy novels Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi won the Batchelder Award and a Batchelder Honor, respectively, and paved the way for Uehashi to win the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing. This honor is often dubbed the Nobel Prize for children’s literature.

In addition, Hirano translated a YA fantasy novel by Noriko Ogiwara that went out of print, but drew such a fan following that it was republished with a sequel. The results are Dragon Sword and Wind Child and Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince.

Members of the SCBWI Japan Translation Group have admired Hirano for years. Three members of the group—Misa Dikengil Lindberg, Alexander O. Smith and Avery Fischer Udagawa—interviewed her for Japan-focused publications and here combine their efforts in a “pre-AFCC 2016 omni interview.”

To learn more about the topics discussed in this piece, please follow the links below it to the three source interviews. And don’t forget to enter the Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit giveaway!

Avery Fischer Udagawa: Cathy Hirano, you work as a translator in fields such as anthropology, sociology, architecture and medicine, and you live in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. Where did you grow up, and how did you come to study Japan and Japanese?

Cathy Hirano

Cathy Hirano: I grew up in Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg and came to Japan in 1978 when I was 20. I was not directly interested in Japan at the time but was invited by a Japanese-Canadian friend. My image of Japan was of a highly populated, highly polluted country that manufactured cars and cameras—not a very attractive picture. I had very little idea of Japan’s history or culture and saw traveling here as a stepping-stone to other countries in Asia, and then to the rest of the world.

But my interest in Japan and the Japanese language began as soon as I arrived in Japan. I got lost in Tokyo on my second day here and realized that if I did not acquire reading, writing and speaking skills, I would be lost forever in more ways than one.

I studied for a year in Kyoto at a private language school called Nihongo Kenkyu Center. It was very small with creative teachers who were always experimenting with new methods. I fell in love with kanji [ideograms] at that time. The concept that a “letter” could be a picture with meaning was fascinating. To help memorize them, I used to make up my own stories about how each part of a kanji combined to make the meaning of the whole. In 1979, I went on to study anthropology at International Christian University in Tokyo, which had a fantastic Japanese language program.

How did you discover and cultivate your skills as a translator?

I think it was my Japanese teachers in Kyoto and at ICU who first pointed out to me that I had some ability in this area. Reading has always been a great source of pleasure, inspiration and comfort, and when we had to do translation exercises in class, I wasn’t content with just a literal translation. I had to play with it until it sounded as natural and literary as the Japanese.

Cultivating my translation skills was very much a hit-and-miss, learning-on-the-job experience. I was hired as a translator by a Japanese engineering consulting company after I graduated.

I didn’t know any other translators when I started out, and as far as I knew there were no courses in translation. So I read as much as I could in English about whatever subject I was translating to get a feel for the right language, consulted the Japanese engineers I worked with frequently to make sure I understood, used the dictionaries and references in their library and got native speakers (including my father, who is an engineer) to read what I had written and give me feedback.

This is still the approach I use today for any type of translation. The only difference is that with the Internet, I no longer need to accumulate reference books and dictionaries. Thanks to email, I also have an extended network of friends and relatives, both Japanese- and English-speaking, who I can consult for different subjects.

You have translated a number of picture books—most recently Hannah’s Night by printmaker-illustrator Komako Sakai, for Gecko Press—as well as novels. What attracted you to children’s literature?

I fell into children’s literature entirely by accident. A friend and fellow graduate of ICU who worked in publishing asked me to review English-language children’s books for possible translation into Japanese, a dream job for someone who loves reading. She would give me a stack of books, and when I had finished reading them I would meet her in a coffee shop and tell her what I thought.

She then began asking me to translate Japanese picture books for promotional purposes. My publications of picture books started out as byproducts of the promotional translation: English-language publishers liked the translations and asked for permission to use them.

Meanwhile, when my friend’s company published an award-winning novel by Noriko Ogiwara, I agreed to read it and write a summary. This was followed by a request for a sample and finally to translation and publication of Dragon Sword and Wind Child. This then led to translating three novels by Kazumi Yumoto for Farrar, Straus and Giroux—including The Friends.

Alexander O. Smith: An essay you wrote for The Horn Book about The Friends has become a classic description of Japanese-to-English literary translation. To follow on that discussion, how do you position yourself as translator with regards to the work, the author, and your audience?

I think that my approach as a translator differs significantly for bread-and-butter translation and for literature. With the former, I am more objective. I keep a clear picture in my mind of the target reader and I focus on conveying the intent and meaning of the Japanese rather than on the style, sometimes extensively editing and rewriting the original.

With literary translation, however, I find the translation process more personal and subjective. The author has written the book for me and I’m translating it so that others can enjoy the same experience. In the initial stages in particular, I don’t worry about the readership and instead focus far more on the author, on his or her style, choice of words, rhythm—on the voice. I’m quite faithful to the original.

It is only when I go back and reread it, that I regain some objectivity and become rather ruthless. But I am still trying to convey an experience rather than just content or meaning.

Misa Dikengil Lindberg: Your first novel translation, of Dragon Sword and Wind Child, got republished with a sequel after it fell out of print. How did that come about?

I loved Noriko Ogiwara’s Magatama series and was therefore very disappointed when Dragon Sword and Wind Child went out of print.

Then my daughter grew up and fell in love with Ogiwara’s books as a teenager. Searching the Internet, she found that the English translation had received nothing but five-star reviews on Amazon. She also found used copies selling for up to five hundred dollars and one young reader who had made a website dedicated to the book. This person had even typed the entire out-of-print English translation to put on the site! I was stunned. People had actually liked the book as much as I had!

I contacted the Japanese editor to see if there was a possibility of re-doing it, although I knew most American publishers would be reluctant to publish a book that hadn’t done well before. The editor, who also loves the book, began putting out feelers.

Although we did not know this, around the same time, VIZ Media had decided to branch out into publishing translated Japanese literature and was looking for good Japanese books. One of their editors had read Dragon Sword and Wind Child when she was young and loved it.

When the editing team tried to get a copy of the English translation for review, they found that the majority of library copies had been stolen, which actually made them more interested in the book, indicating as it did how popular the book was. They eventually got a copy and decided to republish it. The original English-language publisher agreed to give them the right to publish it but not the rights to my translation. When the VIZ editor contacted the Japanese publisher, she put them in touch with me and they asked if I would “re-translate” it. Of course, I was thrilled!

Alexander O. Smith: What was it like revisiting the first volume fourteen years after your first translation? 

It was fun, embarrassing, unnerving, confirming. I started by reading it aloud to my kids and their cousins, who by then were in their mid and late teens. They loved it, thank goodness! But they also had some good laughs about some of my word choices while I found myself cringing in places where the language I’d used was stuffy and stilted.

I then went through the translation line by line against the Japanese and caught things I had missed or misunderstood—not as many as I had feared, but still. After rewriting all the trouble spots, I did a final pass through the whole book.

Although it was embarrassing to see the mistakes I had made, it was also confirming to see that I have evolved somewhat as a translator in those 14 years and that I still love to escape into Ogiwara’s world!

How was it to do the sequel?

In a nutshell, the knowledge that people were waiting to read Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince is what kept me going. Readers have power!

Misa Dikengil Lindberg: Nahoko Uehashi’s ten-volume Moribito series, about the adventures of a young female bodyguard, is the winner of numerous literary awards and has become hugely popular in Japan, even spawning anime, manga, and TV series. How did you first encounter Uehashi’s work?

Japanese and English covers

My first exposure to Ms. Uehashi’s work was in 2004, when I was asked to do a summary and sample of Beyond the Fox’s Flute. I was attracted by Uehashi’s writing style and by the fictional world she created. Around the same time, a Japanese friend told me about her Moribito series, and I found it intriguing that a children’s fantasy series was so popular even with people my age (fifty).

Before I had a chance to read the series, however, the Japanese publisher contacted me to do a summary and sample translation of the first book for overseas promotion.

This led to publication of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and later Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness by Arthur A. Levine Books.

How closely did you work with your editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, Cheryl Klein? What were some of the problems you worked to overcome?

Cheryl Klein is the most thorough editor I have ever worked with. She edited the translation as if it were a new manuscript submitted by an English-language author, which made some of her suggestions extremely radical. As Ms. Uehashi is also one of the most thorough and involved authors I have ever worked with on a translation, the result was definitely a team effort.

Probably the biggest problem was fitting the history of New Yogo (the fictional empire in which the story takes place) into the book in a more natural way.

When I first read Moribito in Japanese, the history stuck out awkwardly in the third chapter, slowing everything down. Until that point, the action is fast-paced and the story gripping. Then suddenly the text switches to an unnamed narrator, jumps back in time, and then jumps back to the present again.

It’s quite abrupt and would have sounded unnatural in English. So when I did the initial sample translation, I took it out (with the author’s and publisher’s permission) and tacked it on as a prologue with a note explaining that this would need to be solved during the editing process.

After playing with several ideas, the three of us finally agreed that the history basically belonged in its original location but that English readers needed more of a transition to ease them into it and keep them from getting impatient during that section.

Ms. Uehashi rewrote certain parts of the history, replacing the unnamed narrator with the more personal voice of Shuga, one of the Star Readers. So the English version is actually different from the Japanese but still written by the author.

Alexander O. Smith: The Moribito series and the Magatama series are interesting to me in that they both fit snugly within a very western fantasy genre and yet their stories and worlds are influenced by Asian history and myth. How did you navigate the process of bringing these worlds into English without losing the flavor of the original? Were you inspired, stylistically or otherwise, by any other books in English?

A hard question! For me, it’s a very intuitive process and I’m never sure if I really have succeeded in keeping the flavor of the original. One thing I try to do is read the translation out loud once I get it to a more polished state. That helps me see whether it “feels” the same.

What I’m looking for at a gut level is whether the English grabs me in the same way as the Japanese. To me, Uehashi’s voice is fast-paced, powerful, compassionate, clear and deceptively simple. Ogiwara’s voice, though just as powerful, is completely different. Her rich, lyrical images and sweeping descriptions vividly convey the emotional atmosphere. She has a knack for capturing a focal point or detail that draws in the reader and for mirroring the inner worlds of her characters’ minds and hearts in the outer world. However, this style, which is very Japanese, is less compatible with the English language than Uehashi’s.

To give one example, Uehashi’s battle scenes are graphically detailed. You know exactly when and how each bone is broken, whose bone it is and what it feels like (ouch!!). This brings home the reality of life for the bodyguard Balsa.

As for what books inspired me during the translation process, I actually strive not to be influenced stylistically by other authors so that I can remain true to the original. At the same time, however, I do read books in the same genre because exposure to good English helps me avoid an excessively literal translation.

While translating the Moribito books I found myself rereading Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea series. I think what appealed was their common themes such as the search for meaning, the painful journey of self discovery and acceptance, and the fact that their voices both evoke the oral tradition of story-telling.

When translating Ogiwara, on the other hand, I was drawn to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Again, it wasn’t the style but the story’s epic nature and the use of humor to lighten a serious tale that resonated.

Avery Fischer Udagawa: Are you at work on any children’s or young adult projects now?

Yes, I am getting a start on The Beast Player (Kemono no soja), a fantasy novel by Andersen laureate Nahoko Uehashi.

Cynsational Notes: Interviewers & Source Interviews

Misa Dikengil Lindberg is a freelance writer, editor and translator. She translated the new adult novel Emily by Novala Takemoto and the story “The Dragon and the Poet” by Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), one of Japan’s most beloved writers, for the anthology Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. Her full interview with Hirano, Young Adult Fantasy in Translation: An Interview with Cathy Hirano, focuses on Dragon Sword and Wind Child and Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit.

Alexander O. Smith is the translator of thirty novels from the Japanese, including Brave Story and The Book of Heroes by Miyuki Miyabe, The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, and the Guin Saga series by Kaoru Kurimoto. He is also known for localization and production of video games, and is co-founder of publisher Bento Books. His full interview with Hirano, Catching Up With Cathy Hirano, focuses on Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince.

Avery Fischer Udagawa translated the middle grade historical novel J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 by Shogo Oketani. She serves as SCBWI Japan Translator Coordinator and SCBWI International Translator Coordinator. Her full interview with Hirano, Children’s Book Translation: An Interview with Cathy Hirano (PDF, pp. 7-9), focuses on ways to get started in translation.

Cynsational Giveaway

Enter to win a hardback edition (now a collector’s item) of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano.

The design of this volume is described here by editor Cheryl Klein of Arthur A. Levine Books: Behind the Book: Moribito Guardian of the Spirit.

See also: Moribito: Editing YA and Children’s Literature in English Translation: An Interview with Cheryl Klein by Sako Ikegami (PDF, pp. 4-7.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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From Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

The Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) will return for its seventh run in May 2016, to once again celebrate children’s books and content, with a focus on Asian themes.

Catered for writers, illustrators, educators, librarians and parents, the Festival will be home to 140 sessions as part of conferences like the Writing & Illustrators Conference and Cross-Platform Summit.

A myriad of other activities, including workshops, masterclasses, networking sessions, a book fair and award ceremonies, will also showcase children’s literature from the region.

In line with the tradition of highlighting kids’ content from a specific Asian country at the annual event, Japan is the AFCC Country of Focus this year, as Singapore and Japan mark 50 years of diplomatic relations.

R Ramachandran, Executive Director of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS), said, “NBDCS is proud to once again host AFCC, a unique Asian event that connects Singaporean and Asian talents and representatives from various parts of the children’s content value chain to interact with and learn from regional and international counterparts.

"With the many educational sessions, public programmes and awards that celebrate Asia’s literary excellence, we hope that the Asian children’s content industry will be further developed, as regional content producers gain more knowledge and consumers take greater interest in Asian content.”

116 industry experts to speak at AFCC conferences

From May 25 to 29, about 1,000 delegates are expected to congregate at the annual event, to discover the latest trends and works, as well-established practitioners from 14 countries share their knowledge in creating kids’ content. Delegates can look forward to learning from the experiences of close to 60 local literary professionals and more than 50 international speakers, such as:

• Shaun Tan (Australia), Academy Award winning artist, writer and filmmaker (Note: The conference session with Shaun Tan will be conducted via video conference)
• Cynthia Leitich Smith, New York Times bestselling author of the Tantalize series and Feral series
• Dina Rara (Indonesia), Project Manager of International award-winning TV series Jalan Sesama 
• Calef Brown (USA), who authored #1 New York Times best-seller, Flamingos on the Roof
• Felicia Low-Jimenez (Singapore), author of the Sherlock Sam children's detective series

In keeping with current trends, AFCC 2016 will introduce the inaugural Cross-Platform Summit that will delve into multi-platform storytelling, interactive narrative and digital marketing, while providing media and literary professionals with an opportunity to network with each other.

To equip industry professionals, educators and parents with the know-how to nurture young readers, AFCC will continue to host its other long-standing conferences: Writers & Illustrators Conference, Teachers Congress and Parents Forum.

Early bird discounts for paid conferences end March 31.

Celebrating local children’s literature

To elevate Singapore-developed kids content, AFCC 2016 will once again place a spotlight on local literary excellence at "Celebrating Our Stars." This year, the annual event will feature a review of children’s book publishing in the island-nation, and highlight trends that have shaped the children’s literary landscape here and beyond.

AFCC 2016 public elements

Free programmes will also be available for members of the public keen on children’s literature.

This year, the AFCC Book Fair will provide access to a record number of 42 exhibitors where parents, children and the general public explore and purchase a wide range of the latest Asian books for young ones. The bazaar will be held at the National Library Building’s open plaza at Level 1, from May 25 to 29.

Riding on the success of the inaugural Fun with Languages, which attracted 280 participants in 2015, AFCC 2016 will again cultivate children’s interest in their mother tongue languages through interactive activities such as performances, skits and story-telling. This will take place on May 14 and May 15 at various libraries around Singapore.

And from May 14 to June 3, public visitors can also catch a glimpse of artworks by local and regional illustrators at the Book Illustrators Gallery.

Country of focus: Japan

With 2016 being the 50th anniversary of Singapore-Japan diplomatic ties, AFCC 2016 will feature Japan as the Country of Focus. At least 17 authors, translators, illustrators and other industry experts from the country will share their experience in promoting reading, history of Japanese children’s literature, and publication of kids’ books.

Delegates can look forward to hearing from notable individuals such as Yuko Takesako from Chihiro Art Museum, and well-known Japanese author and illustrator Kazuo Iwamura.

Awards to laud literary excellence

AFCC 2016 will also celebrate outstanding Asian content, by presenting the biennale Scholastic Asian Book Award to the best unpublished middle-grade or young adult novel written by an Asian in Asia.

Additionally, the Samsung KidsTime Authors’ Award will extend the reach of 10 picture books by Southeast Asian authors, by developing these works into digital apps for the Samsung KidsTime platform.

For more information about AFCC 2016, please visit http://afcc.com.sg/, and follow AFCC on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AFCCSingapore) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/afccsg/) for up-to-date news about the Festival.

About The Asian Festival of Children’s Content

The Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) 2016 is a flagship event organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) to celebrate and promote the creation and appreciation of children’s books and content, with a focus on Asian themes.

In 2016, the five-day festival at the National Library Building will feature 140 ticketed sessions including seminars, conferences, panel discussions, workshops and masterclasses, as well as many free public activities including book launches, language programmes, and the AFCC Book Fair.

AFCC 2016 will feature 116 local and international speakers including writers, illustrators, educators, publishers, and media professionals from 14 countries: Singapore, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Philippines, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Iran, Indonesia, Ghana, England and the United States. Japan is the Country of Focus for AFCC 2016.

The Country Partner is the International Library of Children’s Literature, National Diet Library, and its Special Partner is Genting Singapore. AFCC 2016’s Supporting Partners are Chihiro Art Museum, Japan Book Publishers Association and the Joshibi University of Art & Design.

About The National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS)

The National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) is a non-profit, charitable organisation founded in 1969. It promotes storytelling, reading, writing, and publishing through a variety of programmes and festivals, including the Asian Festival of Children’s Content and the All In! Young Writers Festival.

NBDCS also presents many annual and biennial awards, including the Singapore Literature Prize and the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award for works published in Singapore; the Scholastic Asian Book Award, and the Scholastic Picture Book Award for unpublished works.

Its training arm, the Academy of Literary Arts and Publishing (ALAP), runs publishing-related and literary arts-focused courses and workshops throughout the year.

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By  Candy Gourlay Here's a report from the AFCC's first retreat for writers and illustrators on Bintan Island in Indonesia, which I attended as a mentor. 'I hope this retreat will help you to get to the truth within the lie,' Sarah Odedina told a roomful of writers and illustrators at a retreat in Indonesia last week. 'I think all good literature has message and meaning. But the

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Just threw together my videos and photos to give a flavour of the Asian Festival of Children's Content. Hope you like it!

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By Candy Gourlay Notes from the Slushpile suffered the slings and arrows of a trip to Singapore to bring you reportage from the Asian Festival of Children’s Content. This is the second of a series covering the First Page Panel organized by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. With many thanks to the deathless efforts of the organizers of a superb Festival. (left to right) 

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PaperTigers is a proud sponsor of  the 3rd Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) which takes place this week in Singapore. From May 26 – 29, participants from around the globe will gather ” to meet, interact, network and find common ground and business opportunities with the entire community of children’s content creators.” Last year’s AFCC  was highly successful with over 600 conference participants from 23 countries. ( Read our blog posts about the 2011 AFCC by clicking here and our website focus issue on Singapore and the Asian Festival of Children’s Content by clicking here). The 2012 AFCC is bound to break  attendance records with the introduction of new awards, a country focus (Philippines), specialized language workshops and a greater reach to communities in Asia. Be sure to check the AFCC’s Facebook page for timely updates and photos from this year’s event as well as the AFCC website . If you are lucky enough to be attending this year’s conference and will be blogging, facebooking or tweeting please leave a comment below with the relevant links so we can follow along!

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More news about the upcoming 2012 Asian Festival of Children’s Content taking place this month in Singapore! Head on over to Gathering Books and read their blog post “Asian Festival of Children’s Content 2012: A Luscious Feast“! Lots of great photos to enjoy too.

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What’s new for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content coming up next month in Singapore? Tarie Sabido has the answer on her blog Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind.

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Looking back at 2011 one of my highlights was attending the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore. I met so many lovely people and learned so much more about what was happening in the world of Asian children’s literature at this world class event that I would not hesitate to recommend the AFCC as a “must do” to anyone that is able to attend. The organizers did a fabulous job of putting together a program that was jam packed with informative sessions conducted by speakers from around the globe. Stats show that the 2011 AFCC  attracted over 600 participants from 23 countries in the 3 days festival, which comprised of 4 key conferences, 7 Tracks, 70 Sessions, 70 Speakers, 1 Children’s Literature Lecture and 2 literary awards. In addition, another 400 participants attended the free events held in conjunction with the AFCC. President Jose Ramos Horta President of Timor – Leste delivered the Children’s Literature Lecture and presented the literary awards. To get a feel for what I experienced at the 2011 Festival read my posts  here and visit our PaperTigers’ July issue which focused on Singapore and the Asian Festival of Children’s content.

The 3rd Asian Festival of Children’s Content will be taking place May 26 – 29, 2012. Venue is to remain the same: the historic Arts House in Singapore. Organizers are hard at work planning a program that I’m sure will be as successful than 2011. For more information head on over to the Asian Festival of Children’s Content website or visit their facebook page. Illustrators take note – last week  the call went out for submissions of published work to be showcased at the Book Illustrators Gallery. Closing date for submissions is March 31. Email afccbig (at) gmail (dot) com for more details.

 

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The deadline for submissions to the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award is just under a month away, on 17 October 2011 – 5.00p.m. Singapore time.

The National Book Development Council of Singapore and Scholastic Asia have jointly launched the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA). The award will recognise Asians and writers in Asia who are taking the experiences of life, spirit and thinking in different parts of Asia to the world at large. SABA is awarded to an unpublished manuscript (original or translation) targeted at children of ages 6 to 12 years.

This year’s inaugural award was won by Uma Krishnaswami and we can’t wait to see the book. Former Managing Editor of PaperTigers Aline Pereira was one of the judges: read about her Personal View about the Award and the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, where the Award Announcement was made.

For more information, visit the SABA website.

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Head on over to the PaperTigers website to read Mr. Rama Ramachandran’s article Writers and Illustrators Emerging on the Singapore Scene.

Mr. Rama Ramachandran is the Executive Director of the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS). Over the course of his career as a librarian, including in his role as National Librarian of Singapore, he was always actively involved in the NBDCS, serving as its Honorary Secretary and subsequently as its Chairman. Following his retirement from the National Library, he was appointed Secretary General of the International Federation of Libraries and Institutions (IFLA). In 2006, he was invited to become Executive  Director of the NBDCS, in order to bring to fruition the vision he had had for the organisation during his term as Chairman. One of the initiatives he has brought into being is the acclaimed Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC), an annual event that has now been running for two years. You can read our recent interview with Mr. Ramachandran by clicking here.

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Press release:

An Inspired Elementary School Teacher Launches a Revolution in Reading For Colombia’s Rural Children in POV’s “Biblioburro: The Donkey Library”, Premiering Tuesday, July 19, 2011, on PBS

Donated Books, Two Donkeys and One Determined Man Refashion the Bookmobile For a Region Better Known for Guns, Drugs and Poverty

A Co-­presentation With Latino Public Broadcasting

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

Luis Soriano is surely the most famous resident of La Gloria, a small town in a rural area of northern Colombia plagued by poverty, crime and armed insurrection. But Soriano’s fame has little to do with guns, drugs or politics. His reputation rests on the eight hooves of two sturdy donkeys named Alfa and Beto, his own two feet and his willingness to spend weekends tramping through rugged and dangerous backcountry. These are the components of a simple but brilliant idea using donkeys to bring a circulating library of donated books to the children in some of Colombia’s poorest and most remote towns and villages.

Carlos Rendón Zipagauta’s new documentary, Biblioburro: The Donkey Library, tells the story of 39-year-old Soriano and his traveling library from the point of view of the man himself and, one might say, his two hardworking burros. The film rides along with Soriano on one of his arduous weekend rounds and discovers a world of dense tropical beauty, nearly impassible trails, dangers both natural (snakes, swollen streams) and human (guerillas, bandits), open-air classrooms and, most wonderfully, a thirst for reading and knowledge. But Biblioburro is also a portrait of Soriano — an unassuming, small-town elementary school teacher who not only had a great idea, but has been acting on it every weekend for over a decade

Biblioburro provides a bracingly up-close sense of the determination and hard work required to saddle up each Saturday in the early morning darkness, and the sheer nerve and patience — not always expressed quietly by man or donkey — needed to brave Colombia’s poor and violence-torn hinterlands. Why would a man, and his family, persist in bearing such a burden? It soon becomes clear that Soriano is bringing more than books to the education-starved children of northern Colombia. He is bringing a gospel of education as the way the members of the next generat

0 Comments on Biblioburro: The Donkey Library premieres July 19th on PBS! as of 1/1/1900

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Last year in Singapore a new children’s literature conference was launched: The Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC). Organized by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and The Arts House, the mission of the AFCC was (and is) to foster excellence in the creation, production and publication of children’s materials with Asian content in all formats and to facilitate their distribution and access, first in Asia and then to children worldwide. The AFCC noted:

Over a billion children in Asia lack good resources, both for their education and entertainment. Those who have the means and the access, benefit from a wide selection of edutainment material available from the West. Asian material, even those available, is seldom promoted and is therefore left unexplored. Bringing quality Asian content to children is paramount as it would make children aware of Asia’s unique environment and cultural values, promote understanding of, and love for, the literary and visual arts. It will thereby lay the foundation for a good and all-round education. This will benefit parents, teachers, librarians and children in Asia as well as the world.

The inaugural AFCC festival was a huge success with over 400 participants from 17 countries attending, and dates were promptly set for the 2nd AFCC to be held 26 – 28 May 2011. Here at PaperTigers we were eager to attend the 2011 festival, especially when the opportunity arose to conduct an AFCC panel discussion with Tarie Sabido (Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind) and Dr. Myra Garces-Bacsal (Gathering Books.org). So on May 23rd I departed Vancouver, Canada and headed to Singapore, brimming with excitement and enthusiasm (and a wee bit of nervousness at the thought of my panel presentation) and eager to take part in all the AFCC had to offer.  I was thrilled at the thought of this opportunity to meet other like-minded individuals all eager to discuss Asian children’s and young adult literature.

This was my first time visiting Singapore and I was immediately struck by how perfect a spot it was to hold a festival that focused on the gathering of people from Pacific Rim and South Asia countries. Singapore’s geographical location has resulted in the the country historically being a gathering spot for people of many ethnicities and religions.  The majority of Singaporeans is of Chinese descent (74% according to the 2009 census); 13.4% are of Malay and 9.2% of Indian descent. There are four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil; and multiple religions are represented. The multicultural flavor of Singapore is represented in the distinct ethnic neighbourhoods – Chinatown, Little India and the Arab Quarter – as well as the large number of religious buildings, some of which have great historical significance. The Singapore government recognizes the importance of racial and religious harmony and, of course, this is something that we all would like to see promoted and reflected in children’s literature.

To be in such a multicultural city and then to have even more cultures represented, as attendees arrived for t

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Aline Pereira is an independent writer, editor and media consultant specializing in multicultural children’s books, and until January this year, she was Managing Editor of PaperTigers, a post she had held since 2004. So we are very happy to welcome her back with a Personal View she wrote following her attendance of the Asian Festival of Asian Content in Singapore in May.

Aline had a special part to play in the Festival as she was one of the judges for the inaugural Scholastic Asian Book Award, along with “Chief Judge Nury Vittachi, journalist and Hong Kong’s best-selling English language author; Anushka Ravishankar, award-winning children’s poet and author (India); John McKenzie, principal lecturer at the School of Literacies and Arts in Education at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand); and literary agent Kelly Sonnack (Kelly grew up in Singapore), from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency (US).”

In her article, Aline shares with us her impressions of the Festival as a whole, and gives us a peek behind the scenes of the award. You can read the whole article here - and here are a couple of extracts to whet your appetite.

The big picture

A consistent thread seemed to run through a good number of the panels and sessions, as well as through informal conversations: “There are plenty of valid ways to produce and deliver a book”. This naturally led to discussions about the enormous changes the publishing world has gone through in the last decade or so, and all the things that have played a part in these changes. And to think that there was a time, not long ago, when people believed the Internet was a passing fad… Now one can only ignore the internet, social media and digital platforms at one’s peril. Without a doubt, these new technologies have affected the way children’s books are acquired, published and marketed, but one of the many things I came away with from those sessions and conversations was that having these new tools, platforms and processes is simply a means, not the end goal. Without losing sight of readers’ needs, the end goal continues to be finding ways to foster the creation, reception, and dissemination of a diverse children’s literature in all genres, mediums and platforms. When it comes to bringing children and books together, it should never be an either/or scenario, but a “the more, the better” one. After all, why get territorial and deaf to voices (platforms, devices) that are not our own? With regards to Asian content, AFCC was a call to join forces in that effort.

One of my favorite sessions was presented by US publisher Neal Porter (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press) on which types of books travel well to other countries, which don’t, and why. He calls himself an “intuitive publisher”, meaning he publishes what he loves, without worrying too much about the marketability of a project – a privilege most publishers these days don’t have, and one he’s earned after decades of hard work and a successful track record. I have always admired Neal’s imprint, so it was wonderful to learn about which of his books have traveled successfully to/from other countries, even if the majority of the examples given were of books that have traveled between the US and

0 Comments on The 2011 Asian Festival of Children’s Content and its Bounties by Aline Pereira as of 1/1/1900

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Head on over to the PaperTigers Gallery to see some of the work that was included in the Book Illustrators’ Gallery (BIG) at this year’s Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC). The exhibition featured works by artists participating in the conference and in our Gallery you will find both book illustrations and stand alone works by: Jade Fang, Lee Kow Fong, Li Dan, Soo Theng Theng, Wendy Tan, Priscilla Tey and Wong Si-Y.

We also go behind the scenes for a Q&A with Jade Yong of the National Book Development Council of Singapore, one of the AFCC and BIG organisers, who tells us, among other things, of exciting possibilities arising out of the BIG:

The [AFCC] organisers hope to garner support for an award for children’s illustrations, to be introduced at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in the next few years.

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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…

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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

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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.

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I am thrilled to say that I have been invited, and of course accepted, an invitation to speak at the First Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) in Singapore in May 2010. This is sponsored by the National Book Development Council of Singapore.

The goals of the Asian Festival of Children's Content are to:

· Develop the writing and the illustrating of Children's stories and content.
· Promote publishing of Asian content.
· Provide the world with access to such material created in Asia.

Visit the the website (www.bookcouncil.sg) for more info.

And my friend Holly Thompson, the SCBWI Regional Advisor for Tokyo will also be there too!!!

Target participants are writers, illustrators, librarians, teachers, publishers, editors, translators literary agents and producers of media of Asian children’s content. So if you have nothing to do around that time of year ... come on along!

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