Mr
Ramachandran, Executive Director of the National Book Development
Council of Singapore, announced on Monday, 28 May 2012 that Malaysia
will be the 'Country of Focus' at next year's Asian Festival of
Children's Content (AFCC). Now in its fourth year, the AFCC is held
annually in Singapore to promote Asian content for children. More than
80 sessions were organised during the Festival covering topics on
writing, illustrating, editing, translating, apps for children and
critique sessions. Book launches and author signings added to the buzz
and there was also an inaugural rights fair. An estimate of more than
700 people attended over 80 sessions held over the four days while total
attendance from the public at various events were estimated at 3000.
Sixteen countries from Asia, South Africa, UK and US were represented at
the AFCC. This year's country of focus was the Philippines which made a
strong showing with 10 speakers, a stand showcasing books from the
Philippines accompanied by musical performances. Norhayati Razali,
officer at the Kota Buku, a body set up to promote the Malaysian book
industry, said the Kota Buku is pleased to play a leading role for
Malaysia's participation at AFCC 2013 which will be held from 25-28 May
2013.
Picture shows Malaysian artist Yusof Gajah and his wife, Zakiah with Norhayati with Mr. Ramachandran. Yusof Gajah was an invited guest at the AFCC, and conducted his popular picture-book workshop in Malay, as he did last year.
