The Prospect of Chinese Picture Books in Taiwan and China

The Prospect of Chinese Picture Books in Taiwan and China

2-4 pm, Saturday 6 February 2010

6F, Eslite Xin-Yi Bookstore

Speakers: Ming-Jing Zheng, Jun-Yen Tsao, Su-Jen Feng, and Chih-Yin Yu

This is more important than any other reading that I have.

In order to make this into a future investigation, I would note everything in English just in case I am too busy to do that in the near future.

This is a talk held by FZK PB Foundation with the speakers come from different parts that contribute to the field of children's literature now in Taiwan. They are a writer, an illustrator/editor, an editor/reviewer, and an editor. Zheng first discussed the illustrations by the FZK award winner. He said the painting for children should be 45 degrees. He also exemplified what Mitsumasa Anno have applied in his Anno's Journey Books in order to let us know how Mr. Ju can improve for children.

Actually this part would be a bit difficult for me, as I don't know the terms of illustration techniques.

Then, It is Mr. Tsao who spoke on the philosophy and the importance of Taiwan-published books. In Taiwan, it remains the trend that translate works sell. The importance of translating works from other countries is:

1. to experience the classic

2. to develop a world view

3. to see if kids in other parts of the world may face the same problem from the multiple views of the countries with advanced views on children's books, and

4. that there is definitely a market to the books that are already awarded or sold well in other markets.

However, this means only 1/4 of the TW-published books are in the market place! Editors should be conscious about how TW kids would associate themselves from their own experiences. In addition, the making and publishing of TW books is an accumulation of culture. The cultural workers should have the vision for the future rather than the mere profits that are presented in front. Lastly, the definition of a good PB should involve the benchmark on:

life

art

modern life

ethnic/ cultural feature

While the features will not limit the perception of the books. And so we shall walk through the boundaries of the publishing.

Ms. Feng is a renowned and even popular children's book writer in both Taiwan and China. She knows well how to self-promote and publish, which should be a very good example for future writers and illustrators. She first starts as an editor in a company irrelevant to children's books. But then she starts writing after marriage. Once she got a chance to go to Bologna, very likely in 1991. She promoted herself as a translator on site and then start to engage in translation! After that, she keeps writing, promoting, and translating for children's literature. Even though she does not translate anymore, her works are more than 80, which is just amazing!!!

There are several things to learn from her if anyone would be interested in publishing in Taiwan and China:

1. Not afraid of self-promotion

2. Networking in every way you can: she even has a blog in sina, the largest (?) website in China so she can write to the fans and people

3. once there is a possibility to work with an illustrator, she would write 10-12 stories for the illustrator to pick.

4. willing to support a new illustrator, and wait for them to finish the draft -- which made her a nickname called the mother of newbies "新人之母"!

Next, it is my favorite and the most important one: Ms. Yu!!

Yu directly told us that TW market is shrinking due to the low birth rate -- only 191K kids are born in 2009! In addition, schools are closed, class size shrunk, parents less willing to purchase books for children due to the financial crisis and lower income. Without further ado, TW market will go into extinct in 5 years!!

Yet there are ways to change -- one of them is to follow Korea's steps. KR started to encourage PB publishing since the 1980s. They buy rights, and more aggressively sell rights in Frankfurt, Bologna, Mexico, Indonesia, and other parts of the world. Even if the publisher only has a dummy copy, an electric file, or just one copy in hand, they actively sell copyrights. TW is working on this, but not hard enough. To books published from TW, the markets are first Taiwan, then International, USA, and then China.

In China, there are

16980K kids born in 2008

14000K kids born in 2009, and it is estimated that

20000K kids born in 2010 (due to the World Exhibit in Shanghai this year)

Chinese market is rising, as their cultural consumption and level is rising, and there are more and more publishers selling books for children. An evident proof comes from Dangdangwang.

In conclusion, Yu reminds editors needs to enlarge their vision, and sell rights whenever possible. We have several star illustrators, but we need more than promotion and squeezing for more books. We need to have different strategies to encourage reading as well as sell rights.

I love TW picture books and hope our market won't shrink that easily. I will introduce several nice books soon and look forward to having your feedback.

Shanti shanti.

2010 May 28th: Dr. Daniel A. Wagner on Global Literacy

A reading and literacy forum called "New Perspectives on Global Education: Research Trends on Literacy in Children and Adults" (全球教育新觀點：兒童與成人讀寫研究趨勢) was held in the Central Library, Cheung-her branch. I first knew this event around one month ago. Since it is free of charge and of high relevance to my interest and research about reading and writing, I registered on-line with no hesitation.

First let me introduce a bit about the speaker. Dr. Daniel A. Wagner is a professor in the school of Education, Penn U. He is also Director of the International Literacy Institute, Director of the National Center on Adult Literacy, and Director of the Penn Global Development Initiative (GDI). From his school faculty website, it is known that Dr. Wagner has extensive experience in national and international educational issues, has consulted for numerous U.N. and donor agencies as well as with the U.S. government, and has worked in more than a dozen countries around the world. Dr. Wagner has more than 120 professional publications, including 20 books (translated into a half-dozen languages) across topics of literacy, basic education, child development, applied technology, and research and policy in cultural and international perspectives. For more information, please check: http://www.gse.upenn.edu/faculty/wagner .

Dr. Wagner comes to Taiwan this time as his second visit. While he was still a PhD student in the 1970s, he accompanied his advisor to Taiwan for a research on Taiwan's literacy scale and dyslexia. He was surprised to know that Taiwan's general literacy was higher than USA and this time he is even more surprised at Taiwanese people's general English competency. Yet the overall point of having this forum this time is to talk about the global research on education and literacy with two sessions: the morning session Literacy and economic development and the afternoon session Trends in child and adult literacy: A global perspective and new trends. So I will talk more about the talk itself first.

What is Literacy?

Since we are now talking about the global literacy, we have to give a definition. According to the Organisation of Economic and Culture Development (OECD) in Paris, France, literacy is defined as a particular capacity and mode of behaviour: the ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activities, at home, at work and in the community - to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential. (For more information, please see this.)

Literacy is highly relevant to a country's GDP and economic growth. With various charts, tables and data, Dr. Wagner declares how literacy is Gini coefficient (the contrast b/w the richest and the poorest), a correlation to the gap of literacy and income.

Literacy is also related to education, public health, crime rate and so forth. So when to invest literacy for children, and how? -- The answer is the ASAP, as

• Bad reading habits are cheaper to fix earlier,
• Teaching good habits early is the key, and difficult to remediate later,
• parental literacy is the strongest predictor of children's literacy.

Return on Investment (ROI) in early intervention is the largest: b/w 7-10 USD on each 1 USD invested.

However, in some cases, parents often overestimate their child's reading ability. This reduces our ability to intervene proactively.

In conclusion:

1. Literacy is crucial to the social and economic development
2. Literacy matters for adults across the world
3. Literacy is not guaranteed by schooling
4. But parents' literacy is vital for children's
5. Early successful reading has highest return on investment (ROI)
6. Research and surveys can pinpoint how and where to intervene
7. A long way to go to maintain and advance literacy

For the afternoon session, Dr. Wagner talked about rends in child and adult literacy: A global perspective and new trends.

Myths about Literacy

• Literacy changes the ways humans think, and their intelligences
• Illiteracy in Country A or in Region B will be eradicated in the year 2014
• Solution? Simply choose one: silver bullet curriculum / correct language/ political will / more money / each one teach one / ...

People used to think that literacy is nothing to worry about in countries from the northern American or western Europe. Yet in USA, even with universal primary and second schooling, no change over 1993-2003. There are still around 25% Americans with functional illiteracy. In other parts of the world, the lowest literacy stands among: poorest population, least educated, ethno-linguistic minorities, refugees, and nearly half the population of many developing countries.

ICT: Information and communication technology

With the state-of-the-art ICT, the cost of information is decreasing exponentially. ICT helps literacy with access, connectivity, content (language, subject, etc.), and learning competencies. In the case of India, there is a project held in Andhra Pradesh, called Language & Technology, Together, Help

The main target group includes:

-- girls and young women

-- ethnic and linguistic minorities

-- lowest income and unemployed

Approach:

--relevance of content

-- high quality instruction

-- multilingual basis for literacy

--extremely user-friendly

The researchers did not use the latest and the most expensive computers for the testers. Instead, they took the low-cost hardware infrastructure based on under-used ICT labs. Their multimedia materials in multiple languages are directed for literacy and information. Results? 30% of the learned returned to school, or kept being persistent users. However positive the learning the results are, the result is not overwhelming. Interestingly, the relationship between print-reading and online-reading is low. Maybe youths are learning different kinds of literacy through ICTs.

As for adults, another project works for adult literacy and reeducation: learning-connections.org.

It fosters motivation and incentives of less literate adults with online assessment, career counseling, self-assessment, and job referral.

In conclusion:

1. Even if everyone goes to school, the last mile, i.e. a fully literacy society, will be difficult
2. Local contexts matter. There is a need for Smaller-Quicker-Cheaper assessment
3. A need to increase demand for literacy, not just supply. -- Importance of ICT
4. Technology needs to be carefully considered, yet the new ICT give some of the last hopes for improving literacy and education

In both sessions, I found more and more people willing to / brave to ask questions. Most of them are very insightful and at the same time challenging to answer. A mother asked how to make her children read for fun while there is almost no time for anything but schoolwork. A social worker asked how to incite foreign mothers to join the reading sessions as they don't understand Chinese nor English and could not teach and communicate with their children fluently. A teacher asked how to make parents read, and what will be more efficient, urging parents to make their children read, or urging the parents to read themselves? Dr. Wagner and the invited hosts could not answer the questions fully (and the invited hosts sometimes divert the questions to what they wanted to express... which was odd and fun!) but I am pleased to know that we are now better at asking questions than 3 or 5 years ago, and these indeed are very difficult questions, let alone there is no one definite answer to cure everything. Throughout the day, the morning and afternoon Q&As are the highlight for me and many people to ponder and think more deeply about the talk and how to work on literacy in Taiwan ourselves.

One more thing I have to add: A successful event depends upon its consideration to the audience, time-control, and the speaker's presentation skill. This forum is fairly successful as it offers a packet of one free magazine, recommendation of lunch venue info, a discount book list for book-shopping on site, and a feedback form. In addition, the hostess, i.e. CEO of the Commonwealth Magazine Foundation is a very decent and capable host to manage each session slots and the Q&A. Surely Dr. Wagner is a well-prepared speaker with plentiful information to share with the audience. But I have to say there are several flaws in the ways to present and prove Dr. Wagner's arguments, perhaps this is due to the limited time. And this is a public talk with the public, not to the academics, yet the speech is way too much in the tone for fellow researchers rather than to the general public. Nevertheless, it is surprising to find that people in general accept the way (or appearing to be) Dr. Wagner presented his data and tables. Perhaps we Taiwanese are used to having scholars/teachers talking. (grinning) I know this event is held with many parties, and hope one day I can do likewise and hold more successful and meaningful events whether for SCBWI or for academic conferences.

Taiwanese artist’s children’s book on US award shortlist

News from Taipei Times:

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/08/04/2003450324

Taiwanese artist’s children’s book on US award shortlist

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Tuesday, Aug 04, 2009, Page 2

Artie and Julie, a picture book written and illustrated by Taiwanese author Chen Chih-yuan (陳致元), has been selected as one of 10 notable children’s books of the year by a US teachers organization, a publishing source said yesterday.

The English-language book about two friends — Artie the lion and Julie the rabbit — was selected one of the top children’s books by the Children’s Literature Assembly of the US National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for its Notables Award, said Heryin Publishing Co, which published the Chinese edition of Artie and Julie in 2006.

Artie and Julie will be featured, along with 29 other books, at the NCTE Convention in November and at the International Reading Association (IRA) Convention next year, as well as in the Autumn 2009 edition of the Journal of Children’s Literature, said Chou Yih-fen (周逸芬), editor-in-chief of Heryin Books.

The 30 children’s titles, which include fiction, non-fiction, poetry and picture books, demonstrate uniqueness in the use of language or style, involve word play, word origins, or the history of language, and invite child response or participation, the Children’s Literature Assembly said.

Having received glowing reviews from the US-based Kirkus Reviews, the English edition of Artie and Julie, published in the US last year, was introduced as “a good book worthy of having,” Chou said.

Chen, 34, has produced illustrated children’s books, including Guji Guji — a story about a crocodile who thinks it’s a duck after it is raised by a duck, On My Way to Buy Eggs — about a little girl running an errand for her father, The Featherless Chicken and The Best Christmas Ever.

Guji Guji made it to the New York Times bestseller list in 2005.

The Pingtung-born Chen is the only Chinese-language writer and illustrator to have won repeated international recognition for his work, including a best children’s book award presented by the US trade magazine Publishers Weekly in 2003 and a best children’s book award presented by the Japan Library Association in 2006.

2010 SCBWI Bologna Symposium

Hi everyone, my name is Irene Chen. In Taiwan, people call me Irene or Ying-Yu, which is my Mandarin given name. This is my first blog in English introducing my experience working and reading for children's literature in Taiwan and abroad. Hope this would be both informative and enthralling. What's more important, I hope this would draw you into the very nice children's works from Taiwan/ Taiwan-born/ with Taiwan origin artists.

My first post in this blog is a belated report for Bologna Book Fair 2010.

This is about time for me to refresh my memory and share the experience with all the children's book lovers and SCBWI members.

After 6 month's preparations, trials and tribulations, we finally did it! First, please take a look at out fabulous website: http://www.scbwibologna.org/

I am the SCBWI Bologna Secretary for 2010, and there were tons of issues going on each day with the fair organisers, with participants, with website management, and finally, with excitement. This is my first time flying to Italy and working for the international conference and book fair. But luckily, with all the wonderful team (Kathleen Ahrens, Angela Cerrito, Bridget Strevens-Marzo, Mio Debnam, and so many more capable and brilliant SCBWI members), everything went on smoothly.

On 22 March 2010, it is our symposium.

Leonard Marcus: Who Takes the Prize? Inside the World of Children's Book Awards

Leonard Marcus first shared his experiences as judges for many children's book awards.Leonard Marcus is a rare bird - a distinguished children's literature scholar who is also an award-winning writer for kids. His books include Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; Golden Legacy; Minders of Make-Believe; and, most recently, Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy. Leonard is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and other publications and writes a regular column on picture books for The Horn Book. He has served as a judge of the Ragazzi Prize, the National Book Award, and on numerous other prize committees. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit his website:www.leonardmarcus.com.

In the USA, there are Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Awards. In the UK, there are Kate Greenaway Award and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. There are so many more awards coming out to fine works dedicated for children. However, when we look more closely, there are books that never won prize but are the best of the best, such as Curious George, Goodnight Moon, and Eric Carle's series. Why?

Sometimes it is because the awards are set after the publication of certain works, such as Goodnight Moon, a work published in 1947 when hardly any awards are there to appreciate fine works for the young people.

Sometimes there are something dire and you may not want to know. Some of the judges may have acquaintance with the writer/illustrator, and that is why you never know whether the book awarded is indeed the best among those enlisted.

Sometimes there are boundaries for the participants. For example, for National Book Award, there is a US$150 fee to be paid for submission. It is hardly possible for individual or small publishers to pay for the award.

Another notion from Leonard is Ezra Jack Keats Book Award. This is an award from beginners whose publication are under three books and published in the USA. For people who may be interested, go for it!

Fiona Kenshole: Taking the Mystery out of Movie Deals

The next sessions by Fiona Kenshole is a highlight on how to make a book to a script and beyond. Fiona heads up the Acquisitions Department of Laika Entertainment, the Oregon- based feature animation studio owned by Phil Knight ( founder of Nike). The studio recently produced the stop-motion classic CORALINE, which was recently nominated for an Academy Award. Fiona was brought in to set up a development slate of projects for CG and stop-motion feature films, which now includes literary properties such as HERE BE MONSTERS by Alan Snow, and original projects from directors such as Jan Pinkava, creator of RATATOUILLE.

Fiona has had a prestigious 25 year career in children's publishing, commissioning fiction, picture books and non-fiction. She was previously Publishing Director at Oxford University Press, and before that at Hodder and HarperCollins. She has worked with award-winning authors such as Mick Inkpen, Michael Morpurgo and Geraldine McCaughrean, as well as series such as ANIMAL ARK. Fiona is also proud to have been the British publisher of Robert Cormier, Katherine Paterson, Beverley Cleary, Astrid Lindgren and Asterix! She was also active in organizing the Oxford Literary Festival. Fiona is passionate about good story-telling, on the page and on the screen.

Fiona, VP of development acquisitions for Laika that produced the Coraline film, mentions that a page of the book= a minute on the film= a million USD! That is a jaw-falling equation for me! What could be done when there is a 10K-page epic? Fiona later reassured that when it comes to fiction, it is not possible to do such a detailed work. If there is a 350-page fiction, there will be a translation and alternation for the new media.

Fiona further clarified that all admitted a good film is not necessary a copy of the book. From a film reviewer's point of view, when you make profit with your film, take the money and run!

Ellen Hopkins: Writer Workshop - The Young Adult Renaissance

Then it is the talk by my latest favorite author (and one of the most famous YA writer) Ellen Hopkins. Ellen Hopkins is a poet and the award-winning author of twenty nonfiction books for children, and six New York Times bestselling young adult novels-in-verse. Her latest novel, Tricks, debuted at the number one spot on the coveted NY Times list. Ellen lives near Carson City, Nevada with her husband and youngest son, plus two dogs, one cat and four ponds (not pounds!) of fish.

It is our great honor to have her in Bologna and give SCBWI symposium attendees her insights of writing YA for young adults nowadays. Her talk was about The YA Renaissance.

The first thing we need to know about YA is its difference with MG. Generally, tweens are around 9-12 years of age. The protagonists have more positive interaction with their families (reminding me of fictions by Grace Lin and Linda Sue Park). Exception? Sure there are! Lemony Snicket and J. K. Rowling are the model exceptions for this genre.

Then, why YA? First, YA grows to be a hungry market. Young adults would buy their own books instead of taking their parents' picks. It is not mainly the librarian's market for the public/private/school markets. Most important of all, these books might cross boundaries. Young adults start to face more complex life dilemmas and they have to learn dealing with all the troubles and confusion, while these things keep happening to adults as well. (I myself also love reading YA better than PB or MG, as YA offer much more insights in life and different lifestyles we may approach. )

So now, let us start with a premise / situation.

• Has it happened to you?
• Happened to someone you know?
• What if it happened to...?

Then time to build the characters. (Ellen would spend around two months forming characters in her head.) There are protagonist(s), antagonist(s), friends, foils, and adults. When forming your characters, you have to keep them REAL. The following are tips for making your own characters alive in your fictions:

1. Protagonist: make your protagonists at the upper end of the age group. They should have flaws to work with.
2. Antagonist: a bad guy with reasons of being what he/she is. It doesn't have to be a person at all! It could be a vampire (like what we are reading now!), a computer (what! well, maybe like what Courage the Cowardly Dog shows, a computer can be a savior, or a bad guy!), or even a diction.
3. Friends: you have to confine their environment
4. Foil: a human obstacle, a realistic multi-layered characters, or a philosophy, or an environment.

The Voice: you have to think visually with unusual formatting, i.e. verse, letter, journal, etc. And be very aware of the personal intrusion. For YA, mostly it is First person present tense.

Never sugar-coated your story, especially for a real-life story. No artificial dialogue, and write from your own heart.

You can make them laugh, make them cry, but you don't have to make a happy ending.

Write a story that is close to you. But also think: what do they mean to your readers?

The following is a list of authors that Ellen Hopkins recommend:

Laurie Halse Anderson: http://www.writerlady.com/

Laura Wiess: http://www.laurawiess.com/

Maureen Johnson: http://www.maureenjohnsonbooks.com/index1.html

Michelle Zink

John Green

Carrie Ryon: http://www.carrieryan.com/

Bary Leys

Neal Shusterman: http://www.storyman.com/

I will definitely go for more info after reading Ellen's works first!!

Richard Peck: The Right Books, Right Now

The final speaker and speech that I would like to share is from Richard Peck. Richard Peck's newest novel is A Season of Gifts, third in the sequence starring Grandma Dowdel. The first, A Long Way from Chicago (Il Fucile di Nonna Dowdel in Italy) was the 1999 Newbery silver medalist. The second, A Year down Yonder was the Newbery gold medal winner in 2001. Two of his novels, A Year Down Yonder and The River Between Us, were National Book Award finalists. He was the first children's writer to receive a National Humanities Medal, in a White House ceremony in 2002. His forthcoming title, in the fall of 2010, is Three-Quarters Dead.

Richard is a very humorous gentleman whose presentation is fabulous! He first shared with us that a story is an alternative reality. It is creating human beings on the page. A story is always almost something that never happened to the writer.

Contrary to most of the speakers of the day, Richard shared with us most of the NOs while writing for children:

1. Don't grab the agent's attention via intense action right in the beginning of your story
2. Don't be nolstalgic.
3. Never start from a beautiful morning, because morning wake-up is NEVER a great thing (grinning).
4. Fewer imageries on your first page, and
5. Use effective, simple sentence
6. No Vampires, please!!

If you are a children's book writer and would be interested in more about writing, please check Richard's talk on writing for children or SCBWI's official website: www.scbwi.org.

After a series of talks for writers, illustrators, publishers and agents, we also have First Page and First Look for participants. Both Firsts were well-received. We later had a wonderful dinner at a local bookstore: Industry cocktail-buffet-dance at the Libreria Trame, central Bologna. We had the best food in Bologna, wine, dance and all the chit-chats with wonderful people. My first step in Bologna and the industry of children's literature started from here.

You can also find more info from John Shelley's blog:

http://johnshelley.blogspot.com/2010/03/bologna-book-fair.html