 THE Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore proved to be a truly inspiring experience for me. Held from May 6-9 at the beautiful Arts House at the Old Parliament, the festival brought together professionals from various publishing industries – from print to film to software. What these people had in common, of course, was a passion and interest in creating content specifically for children and young adults As you can guess, my interest was particularly in connecting with editors, publishers, writers and illustrators from near and far, many of whose work I have admired for many years, and some of whom I have had contact with through email and their blogs.  R KhanOne such woman is Rukhsana Kahn, an author and storyteller from Canada. I first heard of Kahn when I was sent the online link (tinyurl.com/37wchbu) to the paper (Freedom of Speech Versus Cultural Sensitivity: Balancing the Right to Create Freely vs. the Need of People to be Respected) that she presented at the IBBY World Congress 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. What a great presentation! Reading it, I was struck by Kahn’s passion, her intelligence, sensitivity and sense of humour. In person, Kahn more than surpassed my expectations. She is one of the most eloquent and entertaining people I hav e ever met, and I was deeply honoured, very grateful (and a little mortified) when she generously took the time to give me some much-needed advice on my own presentation style.  I was also thrilled when she said how much she liked the first book published by my imprint OneRedFlower Press. The book, My Mother’s Garden was launched at the festival. The author/illustrator Emila Yusof was not able to attend, but the publisher Linda Tan Lingard and I displayed the book and spoke about the imprint and our hopes to publish Malaysian children’s and YA literature, and, in time, books that celebrate other cultures too. When I was first shown Emila’s mock-up of My Mother’s Garden, the little girl in it was dressed in jeans and a sweater. I asked Emila to dress her in a baju kurung instead, to better reflect the fact that she is a little Malaysian girl – the flowers and other plants in the garden show the local setting of the story. I didn’t think the girl would look odd in a baju kurung as many little Malay girls still wear that. And also, Malaysian girls and women of all races wear this outfit too, including as a school uniform. My mothers garden Textwise, Emila had written a simple narrative, but also composed rhyming verses for every picture spread. It is very hard to rhyme well. Unless you’re very good at it, there’s a danger that your text will end up sounding forced, clumsy or just plain cheesy. And so I removed the rhyming text, and Emila and I worked to improve the narrative, adding more descriptive details to the text. However, as I felt that the flowers and the little girl’s appearance were enough to give this book a thoroughly Malaysian feel, I refrained from adding any pointedly Malaysian references within the narrative. However, the book ends with an illustrated glossary of the flowers and plants, with their English and Malay names. My Mother’s Garden suffers from a slight oversight in that its spine doesn’t bear its title. This will make it hard to pick out when it’s sitting spine-out on bookshelves. Well, as Linda said to me, let’s hope it goes into second printing so we can add the title then!  The theme of the festival was Asian Content for the World’s Children and there was much discussion about ways to close the gaps between the world’s reading communities. While it’s true that a good book is able to transcend all kinds of borders, its merit isn’t the only thing that determines how wide an audience it garners. You still have to think about things like publicity and distribution rights. It has always struck me as odd that we get so few Australian books in our stores. Australia is so close to Malaysia and so many Malaysians have emigrated to Australia, or have gone to school there, that it would just make sense for us to have more access to its literature. I was on a panel that discussed Asian-Australian collaboration, and I mentioned how I grew up hearing jokes about Australia being a land of convicts, and remarks about how Australian indigenous people were uncivilised, lazy, and ungrateful. These views, shared with me by friends and relatives who had studied in Australian universities or emigrated to that country, show how any single story of any community can do so much damage. The magic pudding1 I said that, to me, one of the most important reasons to promote artistic collaboration between countries is to promote access and exposure to the many stories of our countries and our peoples. It’s also an important reason to publish Malaysian stories for Malaysians, since the stereotypes we are exposed to and have come to believe in are not just of people in other countries and of other cultures, but also of the people with whom we share neighbourhoods, study and work with; people whom we even marry and whose families and communities we become a part of. I don’t want to see less of the wonderful books published every year in the States and Britain – our reading lives would be a lot less rich without them. We just need other stories too. Stories from India, from China and Japan and Korea, from Singapore and other ASEAN nations, from Australia, from Africa, from Polynesia and beyond. Asian content for the world, yes, but most importantly and urgently, Asian content for Asia. SCBWI Malaysia: Supporting Malaysian Children's Book Writers and Illustrators By DAPHNE LEE From Tots to Teens, StarMag I'M taking a break from recommending Christmas gifts to write a little about the Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Malaysia. Founded in 1971 by a group of Los Angeles-based children's writers, the SCBWI now has regional chapters in other parts of the United States, as well as international chapters in countries like Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Monolia, the Netherlands, Russia Spain and Taiwan. This year, the Malaysian chapter was registered and on Nov 20, it held its first conference, at the LimKokWing University of Creative Technology. The president of the Malaysian chapter is Linda Tan Lingard who is an avid reader and collector of children's books. Like many Malaysians with a passion for children's literature, Lingard is aware of the dearth of quality Malaysian children's lit. She ventured into publishing to address this dearth and, to date, her company, Oyez!Books, has published over a dozen titles by Malaysian and expat writers and illustrators. Lingard decided to start the Malaysian chapter of the SCBWI because she felt that Malaysian authors and illustrators need support and would benefit the most from being part of an international and well-established organisation. It is hoped that the SCBWI Malaysia will provide Malaysian children's book writers and illustrators with professional advice and information, as well as a platform for networking. The society hopes to hold regular conferences and organise talks and workshops for its members. The conference last week featured an exhibition of illustrations from Malaysian picture books; a talk by artist, illustrator and writer Yusof Gajah (on becoming a children's book writer and illustrator); and two panel discussions. I moderated one of the discussions (about the importance of creating Malaysian children's literature for Malaysian children), while the other (on the use of illustrations in Malaysian children’s literature) was moderated by picture book illustrator Sarah Joan Mohktar. Panelists included graphic novelist Chin Yew; Linda Tan Lingard, providing the publisher's perspective; and Sireh Anuar, cartoonist and lecturer at University Multimedia. The illustrations shown at the exhibition showed that Malaysia boasts illustrators of great promise. Artwork on display included award-winning pieces from [right] Yusof Gajah's Gajah Sejati (Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka); Steven She's minimalist line drawings from Kindness from a Great Ape (Future Ace Publications), Emila Yusof's beautiful watercolours from Sedna the Eskimo Girl, a story in the Oyez!Books's collection Wonderful Folktales from Around the World; Chin Yew's acryllics from the graphic novel The Boy Who Loved Clouds [below left]; and Mie Mambo's comic art from his soon to be published Tapir series (Kaki Komik). I am excited about the SCBWI as I think it's hightime we had a society that encourages, supports and nurtures those who wish to write and illustrate children's books, as well as all those involved in one way or other (directly and indirectly) in the production, promotion and distribution of Malaysian children's literature.To join the society please email lindalingard@yusofgajahlingard.com.        Images from the SCBWI Malaysia Conference 20 November 2009 at Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology, Cyberjaya. Top to Bottom:
SCBWI Malaysia is a not-for-profit organization set up to develop local writers and illustrators and to bring together writers, illustrators, publishers, booksellers, educators and others for positive and mutually beneficial communications and interactions. With the kind sponsorship of Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing, SCBWI Malaysia is pleased to invite you to participate in a one-day conference as follows: Date : Fri, 20 November 2009 Time : 10.30am-5.30pm Venue: Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology (LUCT), Cyberjaya Official launch by Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing In conjunction with this conference, we will be having an illustrators’ exhibition, book sales and a series of talks and panel discussions. Illustrators’ Exhibition The Illustrators’ Exhibition will be held prominently at the busy and spacious plaza at the entrance of LUCT. Published illustrators may submit up to five pieces of artwork/print (please do not submit original artwork). Max artwork size is A3 (420x297mm). Either the Publisher or the illustrator may submit artwork for the exhibition. Prints will not be returned. Deadline for submission: 17 Nov 2009 Book Exhibition and Sales Publishers and booksellers may also take this opportunity to showcase and sell their books on that day only. Books should be children, young adults or design books. Booths will be at the plaza of LUCT. Deadline: 12 Nov 2009 Talks and Panel Discussions From 2.00pm onwards, there will be a series of interesting talks and panel discussions on the relevant topics including the use of illustrations in Malaysian children’s literature; addressing multiculturalism issues in children’s literature; preparing children’s picture books – the experience of an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator; and others. Entrance is free. For more information contact: lindalingard@yahoo.com www.scbwi.org | AuthorYusof Gajah ArchivesMay 2010 CategoriesAll |
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