The event, held mainly in The Arts House, would last from 26 to 29 May and would play host to 86 speakers and experts from 15 different countries.
There will also be three new initiatives this year. The first event “Celebrating Our Stars” brings together authors, illustrators and publishers of Singapore’s children books. The second event will be a panel discussion on “trajectories and themes in Children’s Literature from the Philippines”. It would be led by Russell Molina and Jomike Tejido, two of the most popular and respected Filipino author/illustrator. Lastly, the launch of the Rights Fair aims to bring together publishers, literary agents and rights agents to link up with distributers and promote quality Asian children’s content to Asia and the world.
This year, AFCC aims to highlight Asian talents by showcasing children’s literature coming from countries in the region, focusing on Asian authors and illustrators in the diaspora. The AFCC’s ‘global trek’ begins in 2012 with talent coming from the Philippines, with award winning authors, bloggers, and other literary figures invited specially to share their expertise.
The National Book Development Council of Singapore has also announced two awards at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content. The first award, the inaugural SingTel Asian Picture Book Award, begins in 2013 and targets an outstanding unpublished picture book with a distinctly Asian theme. The Award offers a total of $10,000 for the First Prize. The second award is in collaboration with Scholastic Asia and offers a prize of $10,000 as well for the winning manuscript. The winner would also be considered for publication by Scholastic Asia.
