The Asian Festival of Children's Content 2016 by Tina Cho

My first ever writing conference happened in Singapore at the Asian Festival of Children's Content May 25-29th. I was only able to attend May 24th - May 25th because my other job is a teacher at an international school. 

The AFCC is "an annual festival in Singapore that celebrates and promotes the creation and appreciation of children's books and content, with a focus on Asian themes." 

May 24th was the awards ceremony for the Scholastic Asian Book Awards in which my novel manuscript was shortlisted and won 1st Runner Up. I was honored to shake the hand of Singapore's Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education. And I was even more honored that the renowned U.S. historian and author Leonard Marcus was the chief judge who read my story! 

Me, Leonard Marcus

Sessions I attended and a blurb about each:

• From Comics, Graphic Novels, and Picture Books to Fusion Texts by Dr. Janet Evans: She explored books that entwine elements of the three mentioned genres into a fusion book which allows controversial texts for younger children. Ex. The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman

• On Translation by Cathy Hirano: An excellent session by an American who has lived in Japan for many years and translates books. She explained why translated stories are crucial to understanding culture and why translated books are needed. She also explained issues in translation. I'll blog about this more later.

• The Editors Are Your Best Friend Panel Discussion: Sarah Odedina (Editor-at-Large for Pushkin Press and editor of Harry Potter books England), Daphne Lee (editor Scholastic Asia), Andrea Pasion-Flores (agent Jacaranda Agency Philippines): This panel discussed all things editing--what drew you to editing, publication process, what are you looking for. Perhaps more later in a blog post.

• What Makes a Book Award Worthy: Leonard Marcus (U.S.), Dr. Murti Bunanta (Indonesia), and Deborah Ahenkorah (Ghana): Compared Newbery/Caldecott with Africa's Baobab Award and more. I'll definitely blog more about this one with criteria that make an award-winning book!

• Tackling Novel Revision by Holly Thompson (Japan SCBWI R.A.) She shared her tips for revising your novel.

Cynthia Leitich Smith (L), Holly Thompson (middle), Andrea Pasion-Flores (Rt)

• First Pages Critique: I was brave and submitted 100 words of a picture book manuscript. It was so fun to hear Australian author Christopher Cheng read my words out loud with his wonderful accent. And the popular Cynthia Leitich Smith (U.S. author) and Holly Thompson (Japan SCBWI R.A.) and Andrea Pasion-Flores (agent Jacaranda Philippines) critiqued it live. 

I'm so glad I went but hated having to leave early. Like everyone says, attending a conference is so wonderful with the connections you make and book deals you walk away with! (Yes, Scholastic Asia wants to publish my novel.)