Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

Congratulations to the three finalists in the Children's Picture Book Category of the 1st Filipino Readers' Choice Awards ! Mahabang-Mahabang-Mahaba By Genaro R. Gojo Cruz and A. Ghani Bautista Madueño Adarna House, 2010 Oh, Mateo! 13: Tree for All By Grace D. Chong and Beth Parrocha-Doctolero Hiyas/OMF Lit, 2011 But That Won’t Wake Me Up! By Annie Dennise Pacaña-Lumbao, Anelka Lumbao, and Liza Flores Adarna House, 2010

Filipino book bloggers and book club members have put together the 1st Filipino Readers' Choice Awards ! The Awards aim to: develop awareness and appreciation of Philippine-published books, engage Filipino reading communities and honor their favorite Philippine-published books, and give Filipino readers a greater voice and recognize their vital role in the Philippine book industry. Do you have favorite Philippine-published books from 2010 or 2011? Please nominate them for the 1st Filipino Readers' Choice Awards! Here are the categories for the Awards: * Children’s picture book * Chick lit * Novel in English * Novel in Filipino * Comic/graphic novel * Short story anthology * Essay anthology * Poetry collection Click here for the nomination form. Nominations close next Monday, July 23!

You guys doing anything Saturday afternoon? =D Let's hang out with illustrators and talk about the key points the Philippine delegates took away from the third Asian Festival of Children's Content !

How will you celebrate? =D

Links, links, links! * Click here for a report on the very active Filipino reading community - it's my last post as the PaperTigers June guest blogger! * Author Candy Gourlay was one of the first to blog about the 3rd Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) in Singapore. Read her posts here . * Little, Brown editorial director Alvina Ling blogged about the AFCC and Book Expo America (BEA) here . Meeting Alvina was one of the highlights of the AFCC for me! =D *major fangirl spazzing* * Illustrator Blooey Singson summarizes the AFCC here . * Here author Trevor Kew shares key points he took away from the festival.

All of the sessions I attended at this year's Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) inspired me to read more, blog more, teach more, and generally work more for children and teens and the books they enjoy. But three of the sessions in particular really hit me hard! Applying Asian Folktales and Fine Art Traditions to Picture Books Presenter: Yoko Yoshizawa , Illustrator, Japan During Yoko Yoshizawa's presentation, I was reminded of what I live for: creative people and their work and sharing their work. I was so amazed by Yoko's love for and dedication to folktales, folk art, and naive art. Some countries or cultures cannot publish their folktales or art because of political or economic reasons, and Yoko works hard, even uses her personal funds, to introduce some of these tales and art to Japan through children's picture books. When she discovers a great folktale and is impressed by the folk art or naive art in its place of origin (for example Chiang Mai, Thai...

Literature, Media, and the Romance of Childhood: States of Innocence and the Business of Frightening Our Children, an interdisciplinary conference for early career researchers and postgraduates MA/MS/PhD students and independent researchers are welcome. When: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 (9 a.m. - 6 p.m.*) and Wednesday, August 22, 2012 (10 a.m. - 4 p.m.) Where: The University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City (specific rooms to be announced) We welcome 250- to 300-word abstracts from postgraduates and early career researchers who would like to contribute 20-minute papers to a two-day conference at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Paper topics include but are not limited to: children's literature innocence and experience the sexualization of children in literature and in the media the gothic imagination and the literature of horror conduct literature and media didacticism maternity, paternity, and parenting the Harry Potter phenomenon and relevant popular literature e...