The Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) is a non-profit organization which promotes mutual understanding and cultural cooperation among people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly in the fields of culture, book development, and literacy promotion. Since the beginning, ACCU ’s literacy programs have focused on the disadvantaged groups: those with limited education opportunities in the rural areas and among girls and women. ACCU provides monetary and technical support to create regional versions of posters, booklets, games and puppets thereby making its literacy programs relevant to local life, culture, and languages. For it’s Book Development projects ACCU produces, translates, and distributes children’s books throughout Asia and trains local experts in an effort to contribute to the strengthening of local children’s book production. ACCU sponsors the Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations that showcases the talents of up-and-coming illustrators, graphic designers and artists in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Click here to read PaperTigers’ feature on illustrator Wen Hsu, winner of the 2008 Noma Concours Grand Prize.
This past March ACCU held a symposium entitled “Artists of Children’s Books in Asia, Africa and Latin America” . Children’s book authors, illustrators (including Wen Hsu) and publishers from Costa Rica, Japan, the Philippines and Sudan were invited to Japan to share their thoughts on current issues in children’s book development in their respective countries, and to discuss the roles of picture books in culturally diverse societies. ACCU published a booklet for the symposium which contains the panelists’ papers and it is now available for download. Or click below to download each panelist’s paper:
* Current Situation of Illustrators and Children in Costa Rica・・・Wen Hsu (Costa Rica)
* The Complicated Pleasure of Children’s Books・・・Karina Bolasco (Philippines)
* The Current Situation for Illustrators and Children’s Books in Sudan・・・Alaeldin Elgizouli Naeim (Sudan)
* Children, Festivals and Traditional Culture・・・Tajima Yukihiko (Japan)
* Picture Books Are More than Just Educational Tools・・・Tanaka Naoto (Japan)