The Asian Festival of Children's Content 2015

It's almost time for the biggest children's literary event in the region - The Asian Festival of Children's Content - or AFCC as it is popularly known. 

If you're an aspiring author or illustrator, it's the place to be. This year the conference will be a week-long affair that includes a Teachers Congress, Parents Forum, and the Writers & Illustrators Conference as well as masterclasses, seminars, workshops and a media summit. 

Wendy Orr

With Sally Gardner

Susanne Gerry

Candy Gourlay, Wendy Orr, Sally Gardner, Susanne Gervay, Naomi Kojima, Marjorie Coughlan, Corinne Robson, Leonard Marcus, James Mayhew, Christopher Cheng, Ken Spillman, Andrew Weale, Norm Jorgensen, James Foley, Suzy Lee, Yusof Gajah, Emily Lim, Shamini Flint, Dianne Wolfer, Eliza Teoh, Mio Debnam,Adeline Foo, Sarah Odedina, Otto Fong, David Liew are just some of the illustrious speakers who have graced the event. 

Now if you're hankering to get your work discovered, I've got some great news for you. All aspiring authors and illustrators will  have a chance to pitch their story ideas at speed pitching sessions and they can also have their illustrations or stories critiqued at the First Look and First Pages critique panels. But space is extremely limited at each of these sessions so register quickly if you don't want to miss out on your potential big break. 

Leonard Marcus and James Mathew

Ken Spillman

Attendees will get a glimpse of the glitterati of the literati at the first awards of the literary award season. Just like Hollywood has the Golden Globes, The Screen Actors Guild Award and The Oscars,  AFCC has the SPBA, The HACBA and The SKTAA.

After weeks of anticipation, the authors and illustrators nominated for the Scholastic Picture Book Award,  Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award, and Samsung KidsTime Author Award will finally find out who will walk away with the coveted prizes! 

Good luck to all the nominees. OK, I know everyone says that it's an honour to be nominated and it doesn't matter if they win or lose; the nomination is the award enough. Blah, blah, blah.  I say that's absolute rubbish! Rubbish, I say. Everyone wants to win! They really, really, do. Having been a previous Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award nominee and speaking from experience *wink wink, nudge nudge*  I have to say I think it's a lot nicer to  accept the award and collect the winner's  cheque than to plaster a smile on your face and applaud graciously when someone else is announced as the winner.   (I'm an author, not an actor for crying out loud. LOL!;)) But I have to concede that if winning is not an option saying you were a nominee is the next best thing.

The Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award

Though some say The Asian Festival of Children's Content is similar to the Bologna Children's Book Fair of the East,  but going back to my earlier Hollywood references, it is really more like the Oscars, the Oscars of the Asian children's literature scene. OK, so there won't be any paparazzi, red carpet appearances or even a red carpet for that matter. You won't have style reporters quizzing you about your AFCC fashions ( seriously what do children's writers and illustrators really know about fashion anyway?) and Wolgang Puck will not have a legion of his chefs whipping up a five-star Michelin banquet at the AFCC closing dinner. But that doesn't mean you should skip the festival! You'd be CRAZY if you did. It's a MUST ATTEND event! How are you going to get discovered if you're not willing to be seen, people?

Anyway this year's country of focus is China and I think that's fantastic as it's probably the biggest market for children's books around and it's still growing. Now, if you're like me  --a Chinese person who can't speak a word of language --  don't worry, the sessions will have live translation.

Oh, and this year, I'll be speaking on conducting school visits with my fellow author, Sarah Mousey, aka my biggest competition :). 
As you can see from the pic below, I've decided to shrink her down and made her bio really, really, really small. Hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want to!

You should come to our session so you can hear Sarah speaking in Chinese. (Through a translator  if we have one. If we don't, then some might not understand what Sarah's saying at all. LOL.
Sarah, you'll have to start your own blog to get back at me! :) :) So come on, people, what are you waiting for?  Register now! 

CLICK THIS LINK TO REGISTER

AFCC DAY 3: A Day of Book Launches

The third day of the AFCC got off to a fantastic start when I met up with the wonderful Sally Gardner for a quick glass of Coca-Cola along with Denise from Closetful of Books, Evelyn Sue Wong, Felicia Low and Adan Jimenez.

After lunch Evelyn, Corinne Robson, Myra Garces Bascal and Ken Spillman launched their bibliography on rice to a packed roomful of participants. This year's festival theme is rice and so it is no wonder that this year's theme had me hankering for a nice bowl of fried grain.

Shortly after that it was time to get ready for my book launch of A Day with the Duchess. I'm always a bundle of nerves before any of my book launches. What if people don't show up? What if there aren't any kids? I'm so grateful to everyone who came and showed up to help. Mum, Auntie Susanna, Andrea, Corinne, Emma, Evelyn, Faith, Marjorie, Helen, Karen, Kristina, the two Lindas,  Sarah, Mika, Tilly, Dave, Kelvin, Simon, Peter and everyone. I'm sorry if I left anyone out. But a HUGE thanks.

The best launch was yet to come and I'm saying this without the hint of any bias. Auntie Susanna had discussed her launch for Fun at the Opera  with me and she seemed uncertain about what she was going to do, but you wouldn't have guessed it if you had been there.

The launch was absolutely brill. She started off by wearing one of her Chinese Opera hats. Niece Jeanne, and granddaughters Tilly and Mika were drafted in to help by donning Chinese Opera costumes.

Auntie Susanna regaled us with stories about growing up with an opera troupe and Claire Chiang told us about the big plans that are in store for what started out as a sweet little book. Auntie Su's Opera is going be heard long and loud for years to come. At the conclusion of her launch Auntie Susanna invited everyone to join in an opera dance as a classical Chinese flautist played. It was a fantastic, fun launch! I have to say Mum had more fun at Auntie Susanna's launch than my own.

Mum was feeling tired after both launches so I accompanied her back home, but not before stopping at my great friend Sarah Mounsey's launch for her third book in her award-winning trilogy Purple Paw Prints and the Itchy Spots. Sarah is always able to charm and capture an audience in a way that I could never do.

Once I was back home, I showered, changed and headed back out the door for India Night at Bugis Plus.  Mr SR Nathan, 6th President of Rep of Singapore was launching the translated versions of his book The Crab and the Crane.

HE and I share several similarities, if I say so myself. 1) We're both Singaporean. 2.) We write children's books  3.) We have the same publisher. And that's about it! While Mr President is climbing the heights of publishing...I'm er...stuck in first grade!

Auntie Susanna was at the forefront once again when it was announced that her book with Chris Cheng Water had been translated and she was called to the stage to pose before a phalanx of photographers.

With the formalities of the evening over, we were treated to a performance by the ultra talented Kiran Shah and Rosemarie Somiah that left is in stitches.

President Nathan was besieged by some fans for an autograph as the evening concluded. It reminded me of myself every time I approach a celebrity and hound them for their John Hancock. Note to self: STOP IT!

As HE was leaving, he took time to stop and pose for a photograph with Auntie Susanna. It turns out that he knew her Dad!

And so the third glorious day of the AFCC had come to an end. Once again kudos to the AFCC and NBDCS team. You always seem to out do yourselves.

Anyway I had better stop blogging as I'm supposed to accompany Sally Gardner to the TV studios for an interview soon! After that I have a pitch session and a meeting with my Angel Agents Andrea and Helen. Busy, busy, day!

AFCC Day Two: Emma's Elephant Book Launch

So day two of AFCC was upon us and it was the day of the official launch of Emma's Elephant. I ordered a chocolate cake and Emma kindly woke up at some unearthly hour to bake some brilliant biscuits for the launch. Thanks, Emma, they were GGGRREEEAATT!

Catherine Carvell hosting (Photo: Candy Gourlay)

Now this book launch was unlike my last one as I only had half an hour for the launch, including set up time. So I asked good friend and  future best-selling author Catherine Carvell (watch out for her book in 2014) to host the event as she did an unbelievable job at my last book launch. I also asked Emma Nicholson, another good friend and soon-to-be-published author, to read the story. She reads it a bazillion times better than I ever could.

Everything was set, or so I thought.  All I would have to do was sit back, relax and let Catherine and Emma do all the work. Smart plan, right? Well, Catherine caught on very quickly and she insisted I rehearse the interview questions at her place before the launch. Catherine's lovely and highly intelligent kids Sian and Thomas were drafted in to help. I used to get my niece and nephews to help with book promotions when they were little, but I can't do that now as they're in their teens and early twenties and have wised up to what I'm up to. More often than not they can be heard mumbling: "Uncle Dave, you're weird." 

Photo: Candy Gourlay

So following her command for a rehearsal, I headed to Catherine's place, where she had prepared a very lovely lunch of  scrumptious home-made pumpkin soup and sausage rolls. Yum!! Sian made me a very nice good luck bracelet charm. Thanks, Sian.

Emma, Enrico, me and Catherine (photo: Candy Gourlay)

Although I tried to procrastinate, Catherine insisted we get to work on my answers. The first of which she declared "Rubbish". I gave her a couple more answers to the questions; each time my answers were completely different, so Catherine had no idea of what I would actually say. Realising that rehearsing with me would be of no real help whatsoever, she focused on other things; she printed out some colouring sheets and planned some games just in case a whole bunch of kids turned up. Catherine is a genius at working under a great deal of stress and pressure. And if you haven't already guessed it her code name for me is:  STRESS and PRESSURE.

Emma's  gravity-defying biscuits

As we finished rehearsing,  the heavens opened up and it began pour.  Despite the heavy rain, we managed to find a cab and we all high-tailed it to the library. Emma met us there for a dry run. She originally planned on reading the whole story, but I asked her: 
"Who will buy the elephant milk if we give them the whole elephant?"  

So she agreed to read only half of the story. With that settled, I shoved a couple of her delicious biscuits down my fat face. Then Enrico, my long-suffering illustrator, turned up to run through his part for the launch, which was to doodle a couple of quick sketches. "No problem," Enrico said. But Enrico is so calm, cool and collected that he always says that even when there is an actual problem.

Shortly after, Mum and Dad arrived with the chocolate cake I had ordered.  Dad ultimately decided to skedaddle back home in case I said or did something embarrassing. Hey he's my dad he knows what I'm capable of, but Mum decided to risk it and stayed to help with serving the cake.

Emma and Ella the Elephant

As we were rehearsing, Thomas tapped me reassuringly on the forearm and said: "I know why you still live at home with your mummy and daddy." Sian clarified this to my mum when she told her: "He's like us!" What did she mean? I'm like an Australian?

Karen and Emma with Ella the Elephant (photo: Candy Gourlay)

The final member of the launch team Karen Quek joined us  as the puppeteer for Ella the Elephant and then we took to the stage.  Looking out to the audience, I saw Mum with an oh-no-what's-he-going -to-say look on her face. Tom and Wendy Orr were right next to her and Ken Spillman, Candy Gourlay, Ovidia Yu and Emily Lim were seated nearby. It's a great honor and privilege when best-selling authors whom you hold in great regard attend your book launch,  but it is highly nerve- wracking as well. What if I come across as a blithering idiot, I thought to myself. But when I accepted that was an inevitability, I relaxed somewhat. Thanks Wendy and Tom,  Candy (Great photos), Ovidia Yu, Karen Quek, Emily Lim, Corinne Robson, Vivian Kirkfield, Linda Lingard, Ken Spillman, Ray, Denise, Cheryle, Lynette, Sarah, Kristina, Ola, Michael and Auntie Susanna for your support.

And of course I have to thank  my launch team: Mum, Catherine, Emma, Karen, Enrico, Sian and Thomas.

With the book launch over, I headed back home with Mum to get ready for dinner at Jumbo Seafood with Wendy, Tom and the SCBWI Gang.

A Meeting with Kyle Chandler, a Book Festival and an Award Nomination

Kyle Chandler and Me

Hey, everyone, I met Kyle Chandler today, but first let me tell you about the Asian Festival of Children's Content where my books There's Soup on My Fly! and Blow A Kiss were vying for the Hedwig Anuar Award, which carried a $10,000 cash prize that was to be shared between the author and illustrator.

The Hong Kong & Singapore  members of SCBWI
  Top L to R: Janet, Kathleen, Sue. Bottom L to R:  Resham, Pooja, Me, Kenneth
Not pictured: Catherine

Well,  they didn't announce the shortlist until the awards night and I was pleasantly surprised that There's Soup on My Fly was one of the eight books shortlisted for the award. Well, you know I didn't win, of course,  because if I had, this post would have started very differently.  I did, however, meet the night's guest of honor, President Jose Ramos Horta of Timor Leste, but as you can tell from the photo, he looks like he'd rather be doing something else than posing with me. 

This is what the Prez must be thinking: Why am I posing with this goober?

As you know, I was also a finalist for the Crystal Kite Award so this is shaping up to be a pretty great year. Would have been better if I won the award though, hahaha. No, seriously, it would have.

Cheif Judge of the Hedwig Anuar  Award Ken Spillman announces the short list

Kimi 's seated in black jacket in the front row and Kate's right behind her.
Trevor's the only dude in the photo.

Nominee Sue, SCBWI Singapore leader Kenneth and lovely Lynda
who was so supportive

I also met some wonderful people at the festival, who also happen to be great writers, some of whom were shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award. 


Kimi Takazawa who hails from Hawaii was nominated for her book about some very unusual chickens - watch out for it!  Kate Whitehead from Hong Kong is another name to look out for. I've got a gut feeling, and my gut is rather sizeable, that both ladies will make it big in the children's lit soon.  You heard it here first!


It was fantastic meeting Janet and Lynda, who were so wonderfully supportive and encouraging! And BTW, Trevor Kew, you're a teacher and author and that's kewl! Auntie Susanna Goho Quek, you're such an amazing artist. Thanks for working with me for FREE!! ha ha. 

Clockwise from the middle: Sarah, Catherine and Kate

Before I forget, I have to add that I'm so proud of my friend and long-suffering editor Sue Flotow who was among the elite list of Scholastic Asian Book Award finalists for her story Kam's School Fish Rolls. After reading it I knew she would be shortlisted, and guess what, she was!!


Special thanks goes out to everyone who were great during the week, especially my fellow SCBWI Singapore members Resham, Pooja, Catherine, Sue, Qian, and of course, our fearless leader and all-round good guy Ken, who puts up with a lot of ***** mostly, ok, no, all of it, from me.

Kyle  Chandler and Me( David Seow)

So you might be wondering how I met Kyle Chandler. Well, I found out that J.J. Abrams and the cast of the movie Super 8 flew in town  to promote their movie and I was lucky enough to meet Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Early Edition, Homefront) who stars in the movie along with Elle Fanning (Dakota's kid sis) and Joel Courtney, who plays his son.

I've been a fan since Early Edition and Kyle was really great.  He's such a nice down-to-earth guy and listened to me babbling about Friday Night Lights and he waited patiently as the contents of my laptop bag fell out as I tried to fish out my books to give him as a souvenir. Of course I had to do the fanboy thing and ask for an autograph and he graciously obliged.  Let me just say he's not one of those celebrities who has the handwriting skills of a doctor, his signature is legible!  I apologized for being a bother, and he kindly assured me that I wasn't. 

Kyle Chandler and my friend Ray

I told him that 'Fly' was recently nominated for a book award and he offered his congratulations. He then asked me to pose for a pic  with him using his camera, not mine, but his! What a thrill! At first my friend Ray couldn't work his camera and told him that he'd take the pic with my camera and then we would email it to him. Ray's attempt to get the personal contact details of a Hollywood star was an epic fail! 


The pic was eventually taken and with a firm handshake, and a smile thanks were exchanged and he was off to his next appointment. I said it before he's a very friendly guy. Thank you, Mr Chandler!  Go see Super 8, people! 


And before I forget, head on down to the bookstore to get Adeline Foo's latest book Whoopie Lee, Almost Famous and Shermay Loh's Archibald and the Blue-Blood Conspiracy. They're fantastic authors. Oh and you might like to get my books too if you haven't already. Ta for now.