Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

Scholastic , the global children’s publishing, education and media company, is giving a chance to Filipino writers living in Asia to submit a short synopsis and the opening pages of their unpublished chapter book or novel and stand a chance to be shortlisted to receive a review and written feedback from the man who discovered J.K. Rowling, Mr. Barry Cunningham. In partnership with   the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) , You Write to Me, I'll Write to You is a manuscript critique initiative of   the Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA)   in an effort to further encourage and inspire Asian writers. The manuscript critique initiative aspires to motivate writers while assisting them to get their manuscript in shape and recognizing excellence in Asian writings. A total of six entries (the brief synopses and opening pages of six manuscripts) will be shortlisted to receive a review and written feedback from Mr. Cunningham, and only the most outstanding ...

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) is now accepting entries for the 2017 PBBY-Salanga Prize . The contest is co-sponsored by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the National Library of the Philippines (NLP). The winner shall receive twenty-five thousand (25,000) pesos and a medal. Prizes will be awarded in an appropriate ceremony to be held during the celebration of National Children’s Book Day in July 2017. Contest Rules The contest is open to all Filipino citizens except those who are related to any PBBY member up to the third degree of consanguinity. Stories should be intended for children aged 6 to 12 years old. The plot and the sequence must be capable of sustaining an illustrated book of 28 to 32 pages. Entries may be in Filipino or English. Entries must be in hard copy, double-spaced, on short bond paper. Maximum length is five (5) pages. A contestant may send in more than one (1) entry. Each entry must be signed by a pen name only. ...

Helloooooo to all my fellow English teachers in Malaysia and Singapore. Please encourage your students to join the Scholastic Writers' Award 2014! If you are in Malaysia, check out this link . And if you are in Singapore, check out this link . :o)

Because of Typhoon Haiyan the 3rd Filipino ReaderCon and 2nd Filipino Readers' Choice Awards ceremony were moved to Dec. 7.

On July 6, join Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (KUTING) , the organization for children's book writers in the Philippines!

Aspiring writers still have time to finalize and submit their entries to the 62nd Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Palanca Awards). The Palanca Awards, the Philippines' most prestigious and longest running literary competition, is accepting submissions until 12:00 m.n. of April 30, in the following regular categories: English Division – Short Story, Short Story for Children , Essay, Poetry, Poetry for Children , One-act Play, and Full-length Play; Filipino Division – Maikling Kuwento, Maikling Kuwentong Pambata , Sanaysay, Tula, Tulang Pambata , Dulang May Isang Yugto, Dulang Ganap ang Haba, and Dulang Pampelikula; Regional Languages Division – Short Story-Cebuano, Short Story-Hiligaynon and Short Story-Iluko. Young writers below 18 years old are encouraged to submit essays in the Kabataan Division. This year's theme for the Kabataan Essay is “In the advent of e-books, do I still consider printed books to be an important part of education?” The theme for the Kaba...

When: 26 May 2012, Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Where: the Cultural Center of the Philippines Hosts: Philippine chapter - Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) YA author, journalist, cultural promoter, translator, and language and intercultural communication teacher Tanya Tynjälä (SCBWI Peru/Finland) will conduct a workshop on writing stories for children and young adults. The lectures and exercises will be based on the work of Soviet formalist scholar Vladimir Propp who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. This workshop is open to anyone age 18 and above who is a published or aspiring writer, or who teaches or wants to teach creative writing for children and young adults. Fee: Includes lunch, transferrable, nonrefundable P800 if you register on or before April 20 P1000 if you register April 20 to May 15 P1200 if you register aft...

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 ...