Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

Filipino Readers Make It Social! The 1st Filipino Reader Conference When: September 14, 2011, Wednesday, 1-6 PM (during the Manila International Book Fair) Where: SMX Mall of Asia (Metro Manila, Philippines), Meeting Room 2 Objectives: 1. to provide support, instruction, and social time for book club members and book bloggers 2. to celebrate readers and reading in the Philippines 3. to promote a closer connection between readers, writers, and publishers Program: 1:00 – 1:20 PM Registration 1:20 – 1:30 PM Welcome Remarks 1:30 – 2:00 PM Keynote Speech: How readers can help promote Filipino authors, publishers, and Philippine literature Speaker: Carljoe Javier Author of And The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth , The Kobayashi Maru of Love , and Geek Tragedies . Also published stories in anthologies and magazines, such as Free Press , Philippine Graphic , and Fudge . Taught Creative Writing at UP Diliman and was a fellow for fiction at the UP and Dumaguete...

Singaporean Emily Lim is the award-winning author of the picture books Prince Bear & Pauper Bear , The Tale of Rusty Horse , Just Teddy , Bunny Finds the Right Stuff , and Baby Panda Finds His Way - all stories that give readers the warm fuzzies! Here I chat with Emily about her work and children's literature in Singapore. Why do you write children's literature? Can you please tell us about your path to publication? What keeps you inspired and motivated as a children's book writer? I started out with children's books as that was the genre under the First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative, organized by our Book Council and the Media Development Authority [MDA] of Singapore. Under that Initiative, winners were given a grant to get their book published. I was in between jobs at that time. So I decided to research on the publishing process and publish my own book. I borrowed "how to" books from the National Library and attended a few book c...

The Ramayana was required reading in my all-girls high school and I quite like the idea of a new generation of students studying the great Indian epic using this graphic novel retelling from Sita's point of view. Sita's Ramayana by Samhita Arni and Moyna Chitrakar (Tara Books, 2011)

"Native American children's literature" and "Asian American children's literature" in Keywords for Children's Literature by Philip Nel and Lissa Paul (NYU Press, 2011).

One picture with two of my favorite things: children's books and K-pop! [ETA: Seriously, allkpop is just as important to me as A Fuse #8 Production . And that's saying a lot.]

Vonlai knows that soldiers who guard the Mekong River shoot at anything that moves, but in oppressive Communist Laos, there’s nothing left for him, his spirited sister, Dalah, and his desperate parents. Their only hope is a refugee camp in Thailand—on the other side of the river. When they reach camp, their struggles are far from over. Na Pho is a forgotten place where life consists of squalid huts, stifling heat, and rationed food. Still, Vonlai tries to carry on as if everything is normal. He pays attention in school, a dusty barrack overcrowded with kids too hungry to learn. And he plays soccer in a field full of rocks to forget his empty stomach. But when someone inside the camp threatens his family, Vonlai calls on a forbidden skill to protect their future, a future he’s sure is full of promise, if only they can make it out of Na Pho alive. Hi, everyone! :o) Today's interview is with the beautiful Laura Manivong , author of Escaping the Tiger (HarperCollins, 2010), a treasure...