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

SCBWI, NBDCS, AFCC, and Children's Publishing in Singapore.

Dinner with Linda Sue Park in 2011

SCBWI Singapore is  relatively small in terms of how big most SCBWI regions are, but in three years it's grown from a core group of six members, including RA Kenneth Quek and coordinator Catherine Carvell, into a group of about 40 members with an average of 17-18 members attending the monthly critique meetings.

In a span of three years, our authors have won awards, published books and have been signed to literary agencies. Even the most jaded publishing type will have to admit that this has been quite a feat for a country where children's publishing is still in its relative infancy.

SCBWI members at AFCC 2012

Speaking with Shamini Flint and Emily Lim at AFCC 2012

On the SWF panel with David Almond, Emily Lim, and John Dougherty

Our  group has been lucky enough to have dined with Linda Sue Park, Wendy Orr, Jacqueline Harvey, and Lisa Yee to name a few. 

Dinner with Ian and Jacqueline, and Lisa Yee

Dinner with Tom and Wendy @ AFCC 2013

Dinner with Jacqueline Harvey

Some of us have been to the Bologna Children's Book Fair and The London Book Fair. We've been asked to speak at festivals and we've attended them too. 

At the Bologna Children's Book Fair

Kenneth dining with Leonard Marcus @ Rules in London

I credit the growth of our group down to two key members: RA Kenneth and  group coordinator, Catherine, our leaders. They are extremely passionate about children's books. Kenneth is also the Deputy Director of the National Book Development Council of Singapore and one of the festivals under his portfolio is the Asian Festival of Children's Content.

Catherine, Sarah, Emma and Kenneth @ AFCC 2012

Mr Rama

Evelyn Sue Wong, Ruhksana Khan and Trevor Kew

Conceived by Mr Rama, Director of the NBDCS, the festival has grown exponentially in recent years. The glitterati of children's literati  that have graced the event include: Wendy Orr, Candy Gourlay, Susanne Gervay, Naomi Kojima, Kathleen Ahrens, Dianne Wolfer, Vivian Kirkfield, Ruhksana Khan, Sarah Odedina,  Helen McAleer, Andrea Pasion-Flores, Helen Mangham, Jayapriya Vasudevan, Cynthea Liu, Alvina Ling, Mio Debnam, Linda Lingard,  Holly Thompson, Leonard Marcus, Steve Mooser,  Norman Jorgensen, Chris, Cheng, Edmund Wee, Yusof Gajah, James Foley, Trevor Kew and many, many more.  It's a great place to meet publishing professionals-- from authors and editors to agents and publishers - and learn more about the industry.

Susanne Gervay @ AFCC 2013

Book signing for Emma's Elephant.

Emma and Wendy Orr

Naomi, Mio and Kenneth @ AFCC 2013

Tuting Hernandez, Myra Garces Bascal, Susanna Goho-Quek, Chris Cheng
and Mr Rama at the joint book launches of ' Water' and 'Beyond Legends, Folktales and Myths'.

The AFCC/Book Council team 2013

CLICK THIS LINK TO REGISTER FOR AFCC

Now this year's AFCC is going to be bigger than ever before and will span five whole days including a media summit, seminars for parents and teachers, talks, workshops, manuscript and illustration critiques, book launches and much, much more.

Now a few friendly words of advice for any first time authors and illustrators out there who will be attending this MUST-GO-TO event.

1. Don't approach editors, publishers and agents with your manuscripts. This is neither the time nor the place to do so. Instead you can submit your manuscripts or artwork for the First Look and First Pages critiques or the pitch session.


2.  Watch, listen and learn. Watch, listen and learn. Watch, listen and learn.

3.   As the sessions run concurrently, pick and choose your sessions wisely. 

4. Enjoy the festival.

Jumbo Seafood Dinner with Wendy and Tom

With the book launch out of the way, it was time to kick back and relax with a nice dinner with Wendy, Tom, and the Singapore SCBWI members.

Emma, Wendy and Catherine

Thanks to Catherine and Emma, we finally decided on Jumbo Seafood as the perfect venue for dinner, but due to a slight bit of confusion some of our members ended up at the wrong restaurant. Thankfully it was within walking distance of the right one.

I have to say Catherine did an excellent job of ordering: chilli crab, black pepper crab, scallops, satay, mee goreng etc...I swear she must be turning into a Singaporean because she was worried that she didn't order enough food. She started off the evening with a welcome speech to Wendy and Tom. I honestly do not know why she says that she's a nervous speaker because she is such a natural.

Tracy, Tom and Emma

The food was great but it was the company that made the evening. Catherine decided that we should switch places so that others could get the chance to talk to Wendy and Tom. 

I sat next to Kate Lillenthal's husband Mark and wouldn't you know it, we both went to the same school in Oregon - the Oregon Episcopal School -although Mark went there several years before I did.

Enrico and Michael shared their illustration techniques between courses, Tracy tackled her chilli crab and I shovelled  down whatever was put in front of me.

Tracy and her tangos with her chilli crab

Catherine serves Wendy her first chili crab

Ola, Michael, Kristy and Enrico

Tom and Kate

Emma, me, Caz Goodwin and Mark

Tom and Wendy with the SCBWI members.

All of us had a really good time and at our next meeting, we  unanimously agreed that the dinner was one of the highlights of AFCC.  The sad thing is that our RA Kenneth Quek was unable to attend because he was  busy running a little thing called the Asian Festival of Children's Content.  He was there in spirit - but he was obviously eating something completely different.

Kenneth was there in spirit and of course eating something completely different.

A huge thanks goes to  Catherine and Emma for all their hard work and for the food tastings we embarked on in our search for the perfect chilli crab. Hey, that could be a reality show: the search for the perfect chilli crab. And huge thanks to our guests of honour Wendy and Tom for making it such a memorable evening.  We wouldn't have had the dinner if you weren't in town, so you've got to come back so we can do it again! And next time hopefully Ken Quek and Sarah Mounsey will be able to make it too.

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.