Organized by the National Book Development Council of Singapore since 2010, it endeavors to highlight content in children’s books and media that would be more relevant and meaningful to Asian children. As festival director R. Ramachandran explains, “[We in Asia] have been longtime consumers of Western content. It is now time for the pendulum to swing our way.” Indeed, it is high time Asian culture became better known to the two billion children worldwide.
This year’s conference is quite special because the festival focuses on the Philippines. We were given the honor because of our encouraging development of children’s literature in English and in Filipino (and hopefully, in the years to come in our major languages in our islands) and the rich diversity of our culture. Full story
