Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

One of my many favorite food scenes in Dumpling Days by Grace Lin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012): "Careful when you eat these," Auntie Jin said. "They're special." I'd had dumplings lots of times. How special could these be? But as I took a bite, I almost stopped in amazement. "There's soup in these dumplings!" I said. All the adults at the table laughed. "I told you they were special!" Auntie Jin said. "They are called xiaolongbao . They have soup inside of them. They're good, aren't they?" I took another bite. The hot soup filled my mouth, and the mixture of soup and meat and dumpling skin seemed to melt into a warm, rich flavor. They were good. Very, very good. I began to realize why Uncle Flower said Taiwan had the best dumplings in the world. They were so good that I didn't even notice that I had soup dribbling down my chin. I quickly wiped it away. "They say if you can eat these dump...

Call for Papers Taiwan Children’s Literature Research Association, English Department of Soochow University Contact email: tclra101@gmail.com Children’s literature as a field of academic study has grown steadily in Taiwan over the past several years. Many other Asian nations have also seen a concerted interest in both the production and criticism of literature for young people. This interest has given rise to the creation of the Taiwan Children’s Literature Research Association (TLRCA), a distinctly Taiwanese organization in the process of formation that is dedicated to the study of children’s and young adult literature. The first action of the TLRCA is this conference, held in conjunction with the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA), that seeks to unite Asian scholars of children’s literature with each other and with scholars from regions where the study of children’s literature has had a longer tradition. By focusing the theme for this conference on “the Child in the Book” we wi...

Dumpling Days written and illustrated by Grace Lin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, January 2012) Is it January yet??? Gah! It's taking forever.

New blog alert! :o) Children's and young adult literature critic Irene Ying-Yu Chen has started a blog on children's and young adult literature in Taiwan. Go and check out iRead Taiwan and Beyond ! :o) Below are a couple of pictures of me with Irene. I had the great pleasure of meeting her at the Asian Festival of Children's Content.

Ariel Pang is my new favorite children's book illustrator! Ariel is from Taiwan and her works include: Fox Hatches the Egg Barky the Dog Sheep The Lion Who Wants Curly Hair Black Spoonbills Come for Winter Mongoose, Mongoose, Stop! Don't Run. The Outfoxed Fox P is for Pumpkin As you can see, Ariel's illustrations are just the cutest things. Bright, colorful, and playful. They are reviving . I'm really happy to be featuring Ariel and some of her works on Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind. Read on for my conversation with Ariel... Who are your favorite artists, graphic designers, and children's book illustrators? How have they influenced your work? I got influenced by many artists through time. But there are two artists who influence me the most. They are Bobby Chiu and Davy Liu . Bobby Chiu has this broadcasting thing named Chiustream on the Internet where he interacts with other artists in the world through his broadcasting. He shares his philosophy of how to ...

The spotlight is on Taiwan today! :o) To introduce us to children's and young adult literature in Taiwan is Irene Ying-Yu Chen. Irene is a children's literature critic in Taiwan. She is also the assistant regional advisor of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Taiwan. Her academic works are published in Taiwan and abroad and her most recent publication is “Monkey King's Journey to the West: Transmission of a Chinese Folktale to Anglophone Children” in the January 2009 issue of Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature . Irene kindly sent me a copy of her latest publication and I found it a fascinating introduction to and discussion of "Monkey King." "Monkey King" is retold in English literature as a signifier of Chinese culture, but it can also bridge cultural gaps and stimulate cross-cultural literature for children. One of the "Monkey King" versions Irene analyzes is Gene Luen Yang 's y...

This was originally posted at Into the Wardrobe on May 21, 2009. Stopping by today to proudly talk about her Asian American heritage is the beautiful Justina Chen Headley - young adult book author, co-founder of readergirlz (an online book community for teen girls), and winner of the 2007 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. Welcome, Justina! Can you tell us a bit about your Asian American heritage? I am Taiwanese-American. My parents were both born in Taiwan, and I was born here in America. What inspires and motivates you to write for young adults? The teen years fascinate me—they’re at once formative and frustrating. Those are the years that form a person into an adult, yet so many of the rites and rights of adulthood are withheld. Do you have a particular writing process or any writing rituals? I try to journal for a few minutes at the start of my writing day. There’s something about pen connecting with paper that I find to be hugely liberating. And then I’ll write for 3-...