Dim's Write Stuff

A memorable part of being involved in this year's Asian Festival of Children's Content was being asked to moderate a number of sessions for other presenters in addition to presenting my own. This was an opportunity I whole heartily embraced for it suggested a much more involved, hands on chance to become more intimately acquainted not only with some erstwhile unknown movers and shakers in the Kids' Lit stratosphere but also the topics they chose to discuss. I discovered, this in turn enhanced my own presentation for I was able to draw comparisons and find connections for delegates attending my session, thus providing a lovely continuity of content discussion. Whilst session moderating here in Oz suggests enthusiastic time keeping, in Singapore it took on a deeper responsibility involving pre-conference hook ups with the session presenters, research of their topic (and books), compilation of topics for Q & A, on site note swapping and general session support. At on...

Throughout the Asian Festival of Children's Literature , I recognised a certain camaraderie of spirit among delegates and presenters alike. There pervaded a keen will to not only create emotionally and socially educational stories (or content) for kids that is both genuine and entertaining but to also somehow ensure that this content reaches it mark. In short, there exists in SE Asian a strong desire to share exciting, meaningful stories with kids from early childhood that offer them more than just a sound base from which to learn and excel academically. Sketch by Favian Ee AFCC 2017 This is no easy feat for we creators, nor for the educators on the front line, in schools and libraries who may sometimes be restricted by mandates to deliver a certain type of content. This restraint of course is not exclusive to Singapore and her surrounding neighbours. So what do teachers really want? This next session highlighted some of the answers. Books Teachers Wish Authors Would Write ...

Winter marks the release of yet more of my picture book stories into the wide blue yonder. This is an exciting time for me and those lucky enough to be flying Virgin Airlines, plugged into the Children's Inflight Entertainment program for that is where you will find my stories, as part of the new Kindergo immersive story app . They are stories aimed for younger audiences, bouncing with fun and frivolity and like my previously published digital narrative, The Chapel of Unlove on the Story City App in 2016, fulfil a maturing desire to expand my repertoire and use of cross media platforms to tell my stories. But what exactly is cross media story telling? What are the various platforms to exploit and how can creators used to pen and ink utilise them? Story Telling Across Platforms with Jyotirmoy Saha This session was moderated by the blatantly cheeky, creative industry crackerjack, Marc Checkley. Between them, they described the conception and development of a Filipino based ...

My conference triage is reasonably simple: if I manage to glean a new sliver of information that enables me to improve my craft or  happen upon a revelation that deepens my understanding of story telling or  experience affirmation of a belief or method I am already practising, then I feel I have gained something useful. The following round-up highlights some of the sessions I attended while swanning around the Asian Festival of Children's Content this year. Deep Point of View (DPOV): What is it and How to Write It with Kathleen Ahrens  Kathleen encouraged us to first re investigate our Intention - why we write. Knowing that then allows us to engage with the readers' emotions and therefore establish, DPOV. She introduced us to different POV Characters and the tenses and view points they can be portrayed in for example, first person, third person, second person etc. as narrator omniscient multiple viewpoints  single major viewpoint Deep Point o...

Petra Nagyova Dzerengova Slovakian author, Petra Nagyova Dzerengova apologised for the excruitiating pronunciation of her name but offered no apology for her choice of subject matter for her Asian Festival of Children's Content presentation. As Deridre Hanna of Paradise Kids taught me, one thing in life is certain, 10 out of 10 people will die. There is no point trying to hide it. Petra reasoned there is also no reason not to share discussions about these types of issues with young children. Despite the fact that more and more authors are tackling so called 'difficult' subject matter in children's books, yours truly included, there is still a reluctance to openly share them. Debate on their usefulness continues to circle like a pack of wary hyenas. Petra examined the salient reasons for busting through the doubts, which she supported with examples of a number of picture books that handle the subject (of death) well. On Death... We try to ignore it in most...