Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

* The winner of the EDSA giveaway is . . .  Kathryn Anne Hilario ! Congratulations, Kathryn. Please contact me soon (asiaintheheartATyahooDOTcom) with your mailing address so that I can get the book out to you. :o) * For those of you who missed it, here is the link to Michael Jude Tumamac 's interview of me for Kalatas Literary Ezine . * The Filipino Readers' Choice Awards - Children's Picture Book Category will be open for nominations on the 9th of this month! Go to this link on the 9th and nominate your favorite Filipino children's picture book from 2012! 

I, Tarie Sabido, do solemnly swear to serve the Philippine Board on Books for Young People by upholding its constitution and by-laws; by fulfilling my role as Chair; and, by dedicating my time and talent to help fulfill the PBBY's vision to make every child a reader, every reader a lover of books. So help me God.

{Steph Su delivering her keynote speech at the 2013 AFCC} Last month, I was in Singapore for the 2013 Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) . I hope to share more blog posts (and other social media posts) about my time there, but I would like to start with my favorite session: "Getting the Most Out of Blogging" by very popular blogger Steph Su . This was the first year the AFCC had a day dedicated to AFCC Seminars, and there was a blogging track in it, which my fellow blogger Liyana Othman and I helped put together. "Getting the Most Out of Blogging" was Steph Su's keynote speech for the blogging track. She shared her blogging journey and the many insights she has picked up along the way, focusing on blogging and the self, blogging and friends, and blogging and professional success. {me and fellow blogger Liyana Othman} Maintaining my blogs isn't easy: One, it takes a lot of time and effort, especially because I try to pro...

In one month, it'll be the 2013 Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) in Singapore! The 2013 AFCC is: The Preschool & Primary Teachers Congress Date: May 25 (Saturday) For: Primary, preschool, and kindergarten teachers; parents; librarians; and language specialists The Parents Forum Date: May 26 (Sunday) For: Parents and children; primary, preschool, and kindergarten teachers; and librarians Seminars Date: May 27 (Monday) For: Writers, illustrators, translators, BLOGGERS (!!!), and industry professionals The Writers & Illustrators Conference Date: May 28-29 (Tuesday-Wednesday) For: Writers, illustrators, publishers, librarians, literary agents, distributors and retailers, translators, teachers, and other professionals related to children’s content The Media Summit Date: May 29 (Wednesday) For: Producers, television and film executives, commissioning editors, comic artists, screenwriters, authors, publishers, app developers, animators, filmm...

Hello! :o) You may be visiting Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind for the first time because you read about it in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine . Welcome! I've put together this post to introduce you to Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind and to the rest of the  kidlitosphere . Here are a few of my favorite Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind posts: Author Interview: Perpilili Vivienne Tiongson Illustrator Interview: Fereshteh Najafi Author/Illustrator Interview: Grace Lin 1st Philippine National Children's Book Awards Book Review: What shall I make? by Nandini Nayar and Proiti Roy Inspiration from the 3rd Asian Festival of Children's Content I highly, highly recommend these excellent Filipino book bloggers: Bibliophile Stalker Bookmarked! Chachic's Book Nook Coffeespoons Ficsation  Gathering Books School Librarian in Action You can follow me on my other social media accounts: My first blog (which I still maintain) Facebook Twitt...

Now to make my bookshelves just as full. :o) By the way, click here to see where I got the picture above. It goes with a nice little rant about how a lot of people forget the diversity in Asia.

Shweta Ganesh Kumar shared with me this TED Talk from novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about how "a single story" about another person or country can cause critical misunderstanding, and I felt that the talk really reflected why I started this blog. Please watch it below, if you haven't already: I sometimes teach creative writing to children and teens and have been very shocked to see that the first impulse of my students - all Filipinos or Chinese Filipinos ages 11-15 - is to write stories featuring characters with blond hair and blue eyes. It seems that, like the seven-year-old Adichie, my students have "a single story" about what literature is and do not think that people like them can exist in literature. (Needless to say, I am now trying to expose my students to more Filipino literature and literature from other Asian countries.) I blog because our students, nieces and nephews, children, grandchildren, and godchildren NEED AND DESERVE more than "a ...

All I could do yesterday was follow the news and try to contact my friends in Japan. Now, more than ever, I have Asia in the heart and the world on my mind. I pray for all the people and countries affected by the earthquakes and tsunami, but most especially for Japan. Stay safe, everyone.

* CONGRATULATIONS to the master storyteller Rukhsana Khan for winning the 2011 Charlotte Zolotow Award for her outstanding writing in the picture book Big Red Lollipop (illustrated by Sophie Blackall and published by Viking Juvenile in 2010). * The Filipino-British children's book Tall Story by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling Books, 2011) is now available in the U.S. Buy now! * Watch out for the Feb. 22 release of Orchards , a young adult novel in verse about a Japanese and Jewish American girl, by Holly Thompson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2011). I have an advance reading copy and the book is so lovely! * New on my wishlist is Anya's War by Andrea Alban (Feiwel & Friends, 2011). Anya's War is a young adult novel set in 1930s Jewish Shanghai. JEWISH SHANGHAI! * Click here to read my interview with Sarah Darer Littman , winner of a Sydney Taylor Honor for her young adult novel Life, After . The Sydney Taylor Book Award is for outstanding children's...

First things first: Please check out this Publishers Weekly article by the ever impressive Teri Tan . She gets right to the heart of the inaugural Asian Festival of Children's Content . *** The last day of the festival was the Asian Parents Forum. I didn't attend the forum, as I am not yet a parent and I wanted a free day to go around Singapore before flying back to the Philippines. But for the curious, below is the list of events for the Asian Parents Forum: Brainchild - how parents and teachers can enable children for the future via diverse aspects of the brain's artistry, virtuosity, and sense of play 5 Steps to Make Your Child Self-Confident - tips to help strengthen a child’s self-belief Values-Based Coaching and Mentoring Through Storytelling - tips on raising children's self-esteem, techniques for giving advice that motivates children, and ways to inspire children to set and achieve their own high standards Starting wi...

How is everyone? :o) I should have my roundup of day 2 of the AFCC tomorrow. Right now I'd like to share a few more pictures from day 1. On day 1, I had dinner with some children's book writers and fellow children's book enthusiasts, including Kathleen Ahrens (former regional advisor of SCBWI Taiwan and present international regional advisor of SCBWI), Linda Tan Lingard (regional advisor of SCBWI Malaysia), Kenneth Quek (regional advisor of SCBWI Singapore), Irene Ying-Yu Chen (assistant regional advisor of SCBWI Taiwan), Holly Thompson (regional advisor of SCBWI Japan), and Chris Cheng (co-regional advisor of SCBWI Australia & New Zealand). We ate at an Indian restaurant. The conversation was great and you'll see from the last picture in this post that I thought the food was delicious. See you all tomorrow!

This post is long overdue: I had the most amazing Friday in February. I got to have lunch with children's and young adult book author Candy Gourlay and her Philippine editor Ramón "Rayvi" Sunico. Aside from being a really great writer for young readers, Candy is the most down to earth person I have ever met. Rayvi is a pioneer in children's and young adult literature in the Philippines, and is a fountain of wisdom on reading and writing in general. After our lunch, Candy gave a talk at the Ateneo de Manila University - Suffering in Translation: A Filipino Author's Writing Journey. Here I am listening intently to Candy. I wish that every writer in the Philippines, not just the writers for young readers, had attended the talk. It was an inspiring reminder of the importance of hard work, patience, and perseverance in writing. Candy related her writing journey to the hero's journey . The end of the talk was a real treat for the audience! Candy and Rayvi signed ...