What to expect in AFCC Singapore in 2017

"When we're growing up, we often look to the West for children's stories, but it's important to remember that Asian stories hold rich treasures as well."

So, here's one for the literary tourist, writers, illustrators, literary professionals, parents, teachers, and librarians who would like to meet, learn, develop their craft, and discover business opportunities. The Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) is back on May 17 -21, 2017 for the largest festival in Asia dedicated to children's stories and books.

In an interview with Travelers Today, Festival Director Kenneth Quek said, "Whether you are an established or emerging writer or illustrator of children's books, you can attend the AFCC Writers & Illustrators Conference to learn the latest trends and developments revolving around children's literature." He continued to say that parents and teachers of pre-school children can also attend the Parents Forum and Teachers Congress to acquire knowledge on how to boost their children's early literacy skills.

Prominent speakers in the festival to look out for at next year's conference include comics creator Paolo Fabregas, illustrator and author James Mayhew, and Sarah Odedina, who is the editor of the Harry Potter series. Families can also look forward to free programmes for children in public libraries.

Is there anything new in AFCC 2017? International authors, illustrators and translators rejoice! The AFCC Asian Children's Book Award by Genting Singapore is open and the winning entry will win a cash prize of SGD$30,000. "This award is the first of its kind to give equal recognition to not just the writers and illustrators of picture books, but also the translators," Quek said.

The award is still accepting submissions until January 15, 2017. Also back for next year is afccSKETCH, an online illustration contest. Each winning participant in the afccSKETCH contest will receive a complimentary 3-day Writers & Illustrators Conference ticket worth S$350.

Conference sessions include "Not So Happily Ever After: Strange and Spooky Tales", "Turning up the Tension: Creating a Page-turning Fiction", and "Robots, Aliens and Time Machine". Participants get up close with the Diversity track, which will feature folklores, Asian elements, a library of international children's literature, as well as insights into publishing markets such as Slovakia, Ireland and Indonesia.

Comic artists and illustrators can also enjoy the comics and illustrations tracks at the Writers & Illustrators Conference, where they can meet and learn from comic experts and artists, such as Lefty (Malaysia), Paolo Fabregas (Philippines), and Rizqi Mosmarth (Indonesia), or established illustrators such as James Mayhew (UK), Orit Bergman (Israel) and PJ Lynch (Ireland).

The healthy children's book industry of Asia. Quek noted that they have witnessed a healthy growth in the demand and support for children's literature in countries in Asia. "The children's book market is becoming more competitive, with more self-publishers and children's book publishers entering the scene; these publishers are creating more original children's books, and not just importing titles from overseas or translating bestsellers. There is also more effort amongst publishers in Asia to sell book rights out of Asia," he said.

Because of AFCC, children's content creators have jumped into several cross-cultural collaborations on children's books. For instance, The Magic Bird was written by Ken Spillman, an Australian, was illustrated by Malavika from India, and published by a Malaysian publisher.

"In Asia, although we are situated close to each other, we may not be well aware of wonderful children's stories that exist from the different countries, due to language boundaries," Quek stated.

"Moving forward, we think more effort can be put into translating quality children's titles, so that more people in Asia (and the world) will be able to read and absorb the rich and delightful stories written by talented children's authors in Asia," he added.