School librarian, teacher and incoming PBBY chairman Zarah Gagatiga has passed along the following information on two exciting events taking place in July in the Philippines:
The 2nd National Conference on Children’s Literature - July 16 & 17
The Pilandokan (National Research Society for Children’s Literature) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts will be sponsoring the Second National Conference on Children’s Literature with the theme “Panitikang Pambata sa Edukasyon” (Children’s Literature in Education) on July 16-17 at the University of the Philippines - Diliman.
This national conference will feature paper presentations and workshops by scholars, creative writers, artists, and children’s right advocates. Topics include the Filipino concept of child and childhood; the state of children’s literature in the Philippines; book piracy; literacy programs for urban poor children and the deaf; and the formation of Filipino childhood identity. The Keynote Speaker will be the Pilandokan Founding President Dr. Rosario Torres-Yu.
For further information, please contact Dr. Eugene Y. Evasco and/or Prof. Will P. Ortiz (pagongatmatsing (at) yahoo(dot)com).
26th National Children’s Book Day - 3rd week of July
For the first time ever, the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) will hold the celebration of NCBD (National Children’s Book Day) outside Manila in Marikina City. This year’s themes focus on leadership and readership with the slogan Readers Make Good Leaders!
The whole month of July promises to be a fun-filled month of reading, writing and interactive activities for children and literacy advocates. The Salanga and Alcala Prizes will be awarded during the opening ceremonies on July 21, 2009 at the Marikina Convention Center.
You can read about the preparations in Zarah’s post here and I’ll post more information on the Children’s Book Day festivities in the coming weeks.