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 0 Comments on The Asian Children’s Publishing Symposium Parallel: Asian Markets and Experiences ~ Day 2 at the AFCC as of 1/1/1900