8 AM to 5 PM, SILANGAN HALL
CULTURAL CENTER OF THE PHILIPPINES

Conducted by SCBWI President Steve Mooser and Philippine members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) www.scbwi.org

PROGRAM

* Meet and Greet, Book Browsing
* Welcome Remarks (Emily Abrera)
* Opening Remarks (Beaulah Taguiwalo)
* Introductions (Dominique “Nikki” Torres)
* Children’s Lit Booktalk (Beaulah & Nikki)
* What’s the Buzz in Philippine Children’s Books? (Neni Sta. Romana Cruz)
* Looking for Treasure—And Finding It in Writing (Steve Mooser)
* Between Enchantment & Realism: Philippine Children’s Books Today (Karina Bolasco)
* Humor and Character (Steve Mooser)
* From 2D-3D Children’s Author-Illustrator to Foldabots Paper Engineer (Jomike Tejido)
* The Future of Children’s Books (Steve Mooser)
* Children’s Books Worldwide (Beaulah Taguiwalo)
* Certificates, Book Prizes (Nikki)

FACULTY

Steve Mooser is the President and co-founder of the Los Angeles based Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). The author of nearly sixty books for children, when Steve Mooser began writing books for children he did it with a bang: in the space of five years he wrote 250 books, K-4, for the SWRL Reading Program published by Ginn. He has since written a number of major reading programs for several companies including Ginn, American Book Company, and Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich.

Most readers know Steve for his trade books, which began with the publication of 101 Black Cats (Scholastic) in 1975, and continued through 1999′s release, Maid Marian’s Adventures in Sherwood Forest: A Girls to the Rescue Novel (Meadowbrook). He has written in every genre: picture books (The Ghost with the Halloween Hiccups), to series books (The Creepy Creature Club; It’s a Weird, Weird School), to nonfiction (Lights! Camera! Scream!), to novels (Elvis Is Back and He’s in the Sixth Grade). His most recent easy reader series is Goofball Malone, Ace Detective.

Neni Sta. Romana Cruz is a children’s book author, book reviewer, journalist, and educator. She has conducted numerous writing workshops here and abroad, has nine published books, and essays in over twenty anthologies.

Karina Africa Bolasco is a children’s author and Publishing Manager of Anvil Publishing Inc., the country’s biggest publisher. She is an eight-time recipient of the Manila Critics Circle’s Publisher of the Year Award.

Jomike Tejido is the author-illustrator of Tagu-Taguan, and the illustrator of Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub, both NCBA award winners. Also an architect, his latest book as a paper engineer is Foldabots Toy Book Vol. 3, published by Summit Media.

Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo is a book designer and children’s illustrator. Her work is in more than 55 books. She designed and produced 15 mother tongue children’s books in 2009, and 10 seafarer children’s books in 2010.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. No last minute walk-ins, sit-ins, observers, or anyone below 18 years of age. We reserve the right to ensure the safe and proper conduct of this event by imposing additional rules as we see fit.

QUESTIONS? Text 0905-347-1668 or 0917-787-495. Or email scbwiphilippines@gmail.com. Or visit scbwiphilippines.wordpress.com for the latest details.

Neni Sta. Romana Cruz, Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki), and Chris Cheng. The stuffed toy in the picture is a kangaroo and a kiwi representing Australia and New Zealand which Chris brings wherever he goes to speak as an SCBWI member.

Chris is the SCBWI Co-Regional Advisor for Australia and New Zealand. He was in town as one of the foreign speakers at Lit Out Loud (LOL), the Manila International Literary Festival organized by the National Book Development Board (NBDB). According to Nikki, Chris was still a little high from the Festival and expressed his admiration many times for the leadership of the NBDB.

But at the M Cafe, Nikki wrote, “we had a very free wheeling discussion which touched on Chris as a writer, Chris as an educator, Chris as the longest running RA in the region with the biggest membership outside of the USA [next to SCBWI British Isles]. In the course of the conversation, we also spoke about the differences betwen the educational systems of Australia and the Philippines and how it impacted on children’s books.

“We also discussed the difference in the definition of Young Adult books in Australia and the Philippines. Apparently, in Australia, they have children’s books and books for older readers. The Books for older readers would be the equivalent of what we consider YA books here. When you say YA in Australia, it is defined as books for older readers which deal with controversial or taboo topics. Chris said that this definition was rapidly getting accepted in the West.”

We hope to see Chris again in Manila next year!

More about Chris Cheng here.

More about the NBDB’s Literary Festival here.

Our children’s book seminar finally crossed the strait between Iloilo City and Bacolod when Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki) and I held it at The Negros Museum last Saturday, 2010 October 23. For The Negros Museum, it was the first event of its kind.

As usual, we had a book display. As people came in, they were asked to browse and choose a book to talk about during the Booktalk.

Later, everyone was asked to use the same book they picked as the basis for their scriptwriting exercise, and for writing a story in their mother tongue, Hiligaynon.

At the end of the day, we asked the participants what they like best about the event. “Everything,” Ricky Infante said, “only too short.”

“I’ve always been in love with books and writing and what I love about this seminar is that I find myself with like-minded people. There’s a passion for books and writing here that is invigorating. I felt inspired again,” said Valerie Pareño, a lawyer.

“Very brave organizers, to bring this seminar to Negros,” said Dodjie Marquez, an artist/illustrator/businessman. “Resource speakers very friendly, frank, open-minded, and helpful. Great to meet and interact with like-minded people.”

Here’s more:

“I liked the story writing exercise best. It challenged me to be a quick thinker and put my imagination to the test—which was not easy for me since I am pretty much of a logical thinker. The exercise broke some mindsets that I have when it comes to writing.” (Rina Victoria Alisan)

Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki), SCBWI Philippines Assistant Regional Advisor, is in the front row, extreme left. At the extreme right is Tanya Lopez, Executive Director of The Negros Museum. The author is at the back row, 3rd from left.

“The part where we had to make a story in 15 minutes using 6 sets of words to use in our stories. It helped that we were under pressure and that the sets of words served as the parameters.” (Betsy Gazo)

“Every session was a learning experience but the best part for me was the Booktalk. I enjoyed reading the book that I chose and sharing my opinions with the group. I also liked listening to the others share their opinions about their book of choice.” (Rose Jessica Octaviano)

“It introduced a lot of beautiful books . . .  taught us that we can write about anything . . . inspired me to write stories and playlets for my pupils.” (Mary Grace Jagurin)

“. . . the stories behind the books, especially the seafarer stories, and how they relate to current social situations.” (Ma. Luisa Gonzaga)

“The best part was adapting part of the book we chose by using our own setting, language, and characters.” (Alfonse Yanson Pelayo)

“The seminar is very good! I now know how to write scripts—even in Hiligaynon. Congratulations! Job well done.”

“I got the chance to write stories and scripts again! I really enjoyed the part where we wrote short plays because I am a theater artist and I also preferred to write scripts when I was in 6th Grade.” (Bea Lim)

“I have played around with a couple of short stories and scripts for my Prep kids but with the birth of my son and the responsibilities of teaching and family life, I forget about my fascination with children’s books. Today’s seminar rekindled that passion once again.”

“The chance to read different children’s books . . . The introduction to notable children’s books in the Philipines, U.S., U.K., Australia, and other parts of the world. And best of all, the chance to write our own story and script.”

“Everyone got a chance to talk. We were exchanging ideas and learning at the same time.” (Jensen Artifice)

“The chance to write our own story based on character, trait, prop, weather, time of day, and place. It challenged us to write a story in short period of time. Also the open forum that helped everyone share their ideas and feelings.” (Peter John Palma)

“I was able to write a play or a script and present it to others. It enhanced my creativity and imagination.” (Ma. Ritchell Balisnomo)

“Lots of like-minded people. Meeting those who made it in the industry and hearing from them what it’s like. Tips on how to write stories and plays. Being encouraged to find your own voice. I like The Pick-A-Book part, too; reading the best [books] out there, getting inspired by the stories, beautiful illustrations, and different styles.”

“The Booktalk where each participant said something about the book he chose. The inputs of the speaker, which were very informative.”

“Writing a story . . . the Booktalk . . . the competence of the speakers . . . the topics discussed . . . .” (Patricia Gomez)

“The Browse & Pick-A-Book . . . listening to other people’s opinion about a chosen book . . . It was the part that made quite an impression on me the most.”

“The sharing of works and adaptations . . . The coming out of budding writers . . . Appreciating each other’s creativity and works . . .  The fact that reading good books—children’s books and adult books—is very much alive.” (Mimi Olarga)

We would have heard more of these because more people wanted to join on the last day of registration. We told them that we will have another seminar soon.

Who was there? What do they do, besides being keenly interested in children’s literature? Three of the participants are writers, two are visual artists. Ten are theater artists, eight are college students, six are teachers, and three are self-employed business people and entrepreneurs. We also had one college instructor, one poverty eradication program volunteer, one marketing and communication officer, and one lawyer.

Where are they from? Where do they work, or study? Our participants included nine people from the University of St. La Salle, three from St. Scholastica’s Academy, two from Herbie Foundation, and two from Azatri, a company that makes and sells souvenir items. We also had someone from the Asian Business Institute of e-Technology, the Department of Education, the local chapter of the Philippine Mental Health Association, two from the local daily paper Sunstar Bacolod, and one /artist/illustrator/businessman.

It was a wonderful first event for the SCBWI in Bacolod. At the end of the day, Nikki and I each received a delightful surprise from from Tanya and The Negros Museum: an original pen-and-ink and colored pencil illustration of children, done by local Negrense artist Ramon de los Santos.

In the evening, Nikki and I went back to the Museum for the opening night of their annual Wax Works exhibit/performance. It is an experience that children, I am told and am now convinced, look forward to year after year—to sample not just once, but several times in one evening.

A corner of The Negros Museum exhibit on the second floor that showcases the haciendero lifestyle.

Nikki and I are grateful to The Negros Museum Executive Director Tanya Lopez and her wonderful staff  for making it possible for us to bring our children’s book seminar to Bacolod. Paolo was there just 2 seconds after Nikki and I arrived at the Museum at 7 a.m. He lost no time nor spared any effort—and I’m not saying this in a figurative sense—to get us in. Ihvonie, a non-stop walking talking marketing person, sold us heart and soul on The Negros Museum and its treasures and events—even as she helped arrange and rearrange the tables and chairs, taped and re-taped the microphone chord to the floor, read her chosen book for the Booktalk, wrote her own story, and shared it with the others. Lyn was with us the whole time, both as support staff and as a very hands-on participant.

The extra special delight on the side was The Suites at Calle Nueva—the little pension house that Tanya found for us to stay in. Brand new and consisting of only 20 rooms, it is lovely, clean, and quiet with a small but professional, friendly, and helpful staff. We’d love to see it stay that way.

A mural in the Jerusalem room of the Dizon-Ramos museum and ancestral house.

Nikki and I had a quick look at another museum in Bacolod, the Dizon house, but that is another story. One more reason to return to Negros, soon.

The author is a book designer, illustrator, and editor. She is the Regional Advisor for SCBWI Philippines and may be reached at taguiwalo8888@yahoo.com

The 4th children’s book seminar of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) was held in Iloilo City last Saturday September 18, 2010.

As usual, we had the seminar at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Art Gallery inside a lovely old building built in the 1930s. Way up in the high domed ceiling of the grand front lobby, there are coffee colored stains shaped like oversized ink blots. They are caused by bats whose ancestors have probably hung there, upside down, way before any of us were even born. In the gallery itself, the stainless steel and copper animal sculptures of Januiay artist Antonio Wuthrich surrounded us, providing inspiration and artistic ambiance. Bats or no bats, we were all set.

Front row: Joseph Albaña, extreme left. Prof. Vicente Tan, the author, and Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki) are 6th, 7th, and 8th from the left. Photo by Fryia Jaye Guzman.

We had twenty seven attendees: eleven pre-school and high school teachers, three art instructors, three Montessori school teachers/administrators, two university professors, an education college major, two student teachers, a minister and his wife, a graphic artist/illustrator, an information technology (IT) content writer, and a self-employed entrepreneur.

This time, our host and partner Professor Vicente Tan conducted the opening session on writing for children while Dominique Garde Torres conducted a mid-afternoon session on writing scripts for children. I conducted our classic offerings—the roundtable Booktalk, Notable Children’s Books, and Children’s Books in Hiligaynon or Kinaray-a.

Writing for Children

Professor Vicente Tan (Vinnie) teaches Communication and Media Studies at UP Visayas, chairs the UPV Chancellor’s Committee for Culture and the Arts (CCCA), and curates the UPV art gallery. He has conducted training programs in theater, leadership, and team building for pre-elementary, elementary, and high school students. He talked about writing for children by drawing from one’s past. For example, he discussed the script that he wrote for a short film for children. It is based on his own experience and stories that he heard as a child about underworld creatures: mga tamáwo, mga kápre, mga kamâ-kamâ—Iloilo’s variants of fairies, ogres, and elves.

Cultural worker and arts administrator Joseph Albaña added his own insights, drawn from his experience in working with the Theater Arts Guild of UP Visayas and going all the way back to running the Australian Centre in Makati.

Booktalk

For the Booktalk, we brought forty children’s and YA books: Jerry Pinkneys’ 2010 Caldecott winner The Lion & The Mouse; Neil Gaiman’s 2010 Carnegie winner and 2009 Newbery winner The Graveyard Book; Connie Pirner’s and Nadine Bernard Westcott’s Even Little Kids Get Diabetes; Jamie Lee Curtis’ and Laura Cornell’s Tell Me Again About The Night I Was Born; Norman Rockwell’s Counting Book; Ellen Spinelli’s and Betsy Lewin’s Heat Wave; Sherry Garland’s and Tatsuro Kiuchi’s The Lotus Seed; Neil Gaiman’s and Charles Vess’s Blueberry Girl; and other books published abroad.

We also had books published in the Philippines such as Karen Flores’ and Mark Justiniani’s The Chair King; Raechelle Castellon’s and Maria Bernadette Solina-Wolf’s Lost At Sea and other seafarer children’s stories; the Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a versions of Alice McLerran’s The Mountain That Loved A Bird; Rene Villanueva’s Personal; and the 2010 winners of the 1st Philippine National Children’s Book Awards (NCBA)—Jomike Tejido’s Tagu-Taguan, Russell Molina’s and Sergio Bumatay III’s Tuwing Sabado, Becky Bravo’s and Jason Moss’s Just Add Dirt, Gidget Roceles-Jimenez’s and Bru’s Can We Live On Mars? A Book About Space, and May Tobias-Papa’s and Isabel Roxas’ Araw Sa Palengke. Unfortunately, we did not have a copy of one NCBA winner, Russell Molina’s and Jomike Tejido’s Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub.

We invited everyone to browse through the books and pick one. Each person was then asked to quietly read the book they picked, answer questions designed to make them notice various aspects of the book, talk about the book to the rest of the group, and use it as a basis for their individual hands-on writing and translation exercises. The books we brought were varied, so everyone was able to individually study and later, as a group, discuss and appreciate the different ways that children’s books can be written, illustrated, designed, produced, published, promoted, and distributed.

One of the attendees, a graphic artist and illustrator, was probably the best equipped to appreciate and gush over Gaiman’s and Vess’s Blueberry Girl. He held up the book and tried to describe how the text and illustrations combined into a one-of-a-kind visual experience, then simply gave up and said: “Wow. That’s all I can say. Wow.” Merely seeing that a children’s book can be made to look that way by a fellow artist clearly made the seminar worth it for him.

The minister of a church chose a seafarer children’s book, part of a set of ten designed for children whose fathers are mostly away at sea. He wanted to know where he can get copies of all ten books. In the course of his work, he counsels many broken families where one or both parents are absent, working abroad out of economic necessity. “Madamô nga pamilya ang amo sini,” he said. (Many families are like this.)

Another attendee talked about Norman Rockwell’s Counting Book, all the while hugging it close to her chest. Her parents used to subscribe to The Saturday Evening Post, so she has known and loved Norman Rockwell’s art ever since she was small. “If I ever see this book in a bookstore, I’d buy it in a heartbeat,” she said. “Even if I have to use the last of my money,” she added. And that, we agreed, is the kind of adult you become if, as a child, you grew up loving books and reading. A book comes bundled with an array of rich memories and associations—being loved, feeling good, feeling safe, being happy, feeling empowered, feeling connected, and having the freedom and capacity to remember, imagine, and dream.

Yet another attendee chose The Graveyard Book. An alumnus of our seminar last year and a Gaiman fan, he loves the book, he said, except for the fact that it is softbound. He really prefers hardcover books. Not only are they sturdy and generally well made, they also smell good, especially when they are new. He pointed out that the corners of a paperback’s cover eventually soften and curl. For a certain kind of book lover, it’s really the whole package that counts: content, as well as form. A book is not only a pleasure to read, it is also a pleasure to look at, hold, smell, and keep.

Notable Children’s Books

A delicious and healthy lunch left everyone satisfied and full, but hungry for more of the seminar. To get an idea of what could be the most notable children’s books for 2010, we started with a presentation of award winning books. We discussed the six books that were judged as best published children’s books in the Philippines at the 1st National Children Book Awards (NCBA) announced last July 24, the 2010 winners of the U.S. Caldecott and Newbery medals, the 2010 winners of the U.K.’s Greenaway and Carnegie medals, and the five 2010 winners of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year awards.

We wanted everyone to realize that while award winning books are a good indicator of excellence in children’s books, there are other considerations for choosing what books you yourself will want to read, buy, share, or keep to read again and again. So we ended with a list of children’s books that, in our opinion, may also be considered notable. On what basis? Simply this quote from book editor Peter Carver: “Children’s literature has to be wonderful. It has  to encourage children to keep on reading throughout their lives.”

From Book to Stage

Our debut session on writing scripts for children was conducted by Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki). She has twenty years’ experience with the Dramatic Arts Division of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), and has co-written a script that won as Best Screenplay in Cinemalaya, the CCP’s annual film festival. She is also the Assistant Regional Advisor of SCBWI Philippines, and our seminar logistics specialist.

In her overview of scripts written for children in the Philippines, Nikki noted that there’s hardly any. Most of the scripts she found were not written for children to read and stage on their own. Rather, they were either written for children as the intended audience, or they are meant for teachers and adult facilitators to use in staging plays with or for children. Fortunately, Nikki found excellent samples of 3-, 6-, and 12-minute scripts that children can very well read and stage on their own. They are classified as reader’s theater, and can be found at the website of Aaron Shepard, a fellow SCBWI member based in Seattle, Washington state. Aaron gladly gave Nikki permission to use the scripts in our seminar.

Children’s Books in Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a

The final session was writing children’s stories in one’s mother tongue. That would be Hiligaynon for Iloilo City, and the endangered language Kinaray-a that is spoken in the rest of Panay island. Again, everyone was asked to hunker down with the books they picked for the Booktalk earlier. Their options were: simply translate the story to Hiligaynon or Kinaray-a, or adapt it as well and make changes in the story. It was near the end of the day and this particular activity was, maybe appropriately, closer to home. The stories that resulted were delightful and surprising.

One attendee filled up a whole page with a short story written on the spot in crisp, deep Kinaray-a. Nikki, who does not hail from Iloilo, couldn’t understand a word. But she could tell by the group’s reaction that the story is scary, funny, and spellbinding. The audience listened, breathless, laughing one moment and horrified the next. That was in spite of the author’s extreme nervousness—he had to stop his reading three times just to take a deep breath. “I never thought that I would end up writing today,” he said with a deep sigh of relief when he got back to his seat, fanning himself with his wilted manuscript. “I was afraid my muse has deserted me.”

Another attendee had only a paragraph to show. But when she read the words with childlike wonder and expression, complete with background sounds, her five or six well written sentences in Hiligaynon were picture book perfect. As an illustrator, I can almost see the book—the images spread by spread, some of them accompanied by only a phrase or two, some with no words at all, the five or six well thought out sentences just right, no more, no less.

Our 5th seminar in 2011

At the end of the day, when all the certificates of attendance have been handed out, and all the cameras and cellphones with cameras have had their turn at taking the requisite “class picture” with everyone included, our partner Vinnie looked up as if he was admiring a painting displayed on the art gallery’s ceiling. “I can almost see it,” he said. “Our 20th children’s book seminar.”

And why not? It just keeps getting better. Even the daily Iloilo City brownout spared our 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. activity, thanks to the resourcefulness of Friya Jaye Guzman, Vinnie’s amazing assistant. And all day, we had perfect seminar weather: bright and sunny that every now and then shifted to overcast and cool. It was a stark contrast to last year’s dark clouds and gusty winds which, we later learned, were a boon compared to typhoon Ondoy’s rains and floods that devastated parts of Metro Manila that day on a scale that weathermen said only happens once in a hundred years.

Yes indeed, we can see our 20th seminar sixteen years down the road, just around the bend. Coming up next, our 5th Iloilo children’s book seminar in 2011—bats or no bats!

This report is still in progress, more pictures to follow soon.

The author is a book designer and children’s illustrator. She was born in Jaro, Iloilo City and has been a member and Philippine Regional Advisor of  the Los Angeles based Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) since 2001. She may be reached at taguiwalo8888@yahoo.com.

There could not have been a more perfect setting for the Children’s Book Seminar organized by the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) in Iloilo late last year [on September 26, 2009]. Yes, the very same day that Metro Manila was battling the raging floodwaters, we were on another island, blissfully talking books and writing and imagining story scenarios. It did sound like we were in another realm, until text messages from Manila told many unfortunate and jarring tales.

The workshop participants with Beaulah Taguiwalo and the author (seated, 2nd and 3rd from left) with UP Visayas Chancellor’s Committee on Culture and the Arts headed by Prof. Vicente Tan on the extreme right.

SCBWI Regional Advisor, book designer and illustrator Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo and I ran an 8-5 session for 33 teachers, cultural advocates, nurses, a businessman, a call center trainor, NGO staffers—all interested in writing or illustrating their first stories for children or promoting reading with the children they work with.

The SCBWI is a US-based international organization dedicated to serving the needs of children’s writers and illustrators and its fledgling Philippine chapter is headed by Taguiwalo and Nikki Garde Torres. It features visiting authors and illustrators from overseas and hosts regular monthly Book Talks and manuscript discussions for enthusiasts of children’s books in Makati.

This seminar was the third in a series of annual seminars in partnership with the UP Visayas Chancellor’s Committee on Culture and the Arts headed by Prof. Vicente (Vinnie) Tan. The previous ones were by Taguiwalo and by Karina Bolasco of Anvil Publishing.

The impressive columns in the lobby of the old Iloilo City Hall, a 1930s Juan Arellano building.

It was held in the UPV Art Gallery housed in a lovely, fabled 1930s building built by Juan Arellano. Bearing sculpted images by Riccardo Monti who was also responsible for the sculptures in the UST campus where he was a faculty member, the original structure served as the old Iloilo City Hall and was also a Japanese garrison from 1942-45. In 1947, it was turned over to become the UPV campus and was restored by the Philippine War Damage Commission in 1950. It bears a marker from the National Historical Institute which recognized its significance as a fine example of neo-classical architecture in 2008.

The art gallery that Vinnie curates used to be a courtroom of the Iloilo City Hall. Thus, the wooden floor is inclined to render more prominent the judge’s perch on the elevated platform at the end of the room. There is the original second floor that displays today the gallery’s permanent collection—a rich legacy of paintings donated by first Chancellor of UP Visayas, Dr. Dionisia Rola, now retired in Manila. That used to be the spectators’ gallery in the courtroom.

To make way for the seminar, an ongoing wood sculpture exhibit had to be pushed against the walls—adding so much ambience to the hall now with tables covered by ethnic colorful fabrics meant for patadyongs.

The touch of contemporiety and the lively group became especially welcome when Vinnie gently “warned” us about spirits lurking in the courtroom/gallery. When I sat on the wooden steps leading to the upper floor, he worried that I may be considered a trespasser by the male presence residing there. I sensed nothing except when I went to a particular corner in front. While the session was in progress, the staff smelled the unmistakable aroma of coffee and cinnamon—long before it was snack time. And did we notice the child’s fingerprints on a glass case, when no children were in the premises? All that is dismissed as common fare in this former queen city of the south and its numerous old homes and churches.

One is welcomed into the building by a cavernous foyer with its period feel. One cannot but be drawn to the tall ceiling and its intriguing mosaic. No, not man-made but a natural design and pattern left by the bat inhabitants who like spending their nights and doing their business there. Vinnie cannot tell how large the bat community is, since they only take over way past office hours, for the night shift.

Who needs to brainstorm and conjure writing ideas when the very setting offered so many possibilities?

The day’s topics included an introduction to notable children’s books—both Philippine and foreign publications, who’s who in children’s books, writing for children, and writing in their mother tongue. In between were three writing activities, browsing and reading time, manuscript critiquing. The complaint was understandable: never enough writing time. One participant Ramin Shabestari was driven to writing a 22-chapter novella in the course of his call center life and read an excerpt from his completed draft. That inspired the group to pursue their own writing ideas.

Vinnie Tan and Beaulah Taguiwalo

A particularly fascinating final activity was facilitated by Taguiwalo who has Iloilo roots and is passionate about promoting Kiniray-a, a language on the brink of extinction were it not for crusading efforts like hers and those of writer Leo Deriada, too. The assignment was simple and how the attendees took to it. They were to translate the children’s book of their choice originally written in English or in Filipino in their first language. All done with such mastery and ease. Another convincing proof of learning best in one’s mother tongue.

Taguiwalo’s special advocacy has led her to a family enterprise with husband Mario, Mother Tongue Publishing which has published an English story (Alice McLerran’s The Mountain That Loved a Bird) in six different Philippine languages.

Official Iloilo tour guide and cultural worker Joseph Albaña with SCBWI Assistant Regional Advisor Nikki Torres.

When the day was over, the talk turned to more Iloilo lore, both haunted and otherwise, but all fascinating, thanks to an Iloilo-born raconteur. Truth to tell, the best way to get to know Iloilo is through the colorful incessant stories of Joseph Albaña, cultural officer of the Australian Cultural Center in Manila in a previous existence till his hometown and its gracious lifestyle beckoned.

Today, he is a cultural worker and arts administrator but will drop everything to lead friends through a personalized tour of the city—from the bakery with old-fashioned panaderia recipes to the turn-of-the-century homes across the town plaza which continue to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. There were more homes and cathedrals to visit than a weekend trip could accommodate. It was heartbreaking to see the vestiges of an old home fallen into neglect and disrepair, even having to share garden space with a rice cake stall. And old stately homes just demolished because no one in the family cared enough and the lure of commerce was hard to resist.

Oh, what stories to write, what stories to tell.

The author is a member of the SCBWI and the Philippine Board on Books for Young People. She may be reached at nenisrc@gmail.com. For those interested in SCBWI membership and seminars, email Beaulah P. Taguiwalo (taguiwalo8888@yahoo.com) or Nikki G. Torres (nikkigtorres@yahoo.com).

WHAT: Meet the Author Christopher Cheng

HOST: The Philippine chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI)

WHERE: Makati, Metro Manila

WHEN: Sunday November 21, 2010

WHO: This event is open to SCBWI members & non-members. *

REGISTRATION: Limited slots, self-pay lunch or dinner.

For more information, contact:
* Beaulah at 0917-787-4956
or taguiwalo8888@yahoo.com
* Nikki at 0905-347-1668
or nikkigtorres@yahoo.com

Christopher Cheng is an award winning Australian childen’s author of fiction and non fiction books, including picture books, junior fiction, and novels. He is also the Co-Regional Advisor for SCBWI Australia & New Zealand.

In 1994, his book Eyespy Book of Rainforest Animals was shortlisted by the Wilderness Society for the Environment Award for Children’s Literature.

In 1998, another book, One Child, won as the Wilderness Society Picture Book of the Year. It was also shortlisted for the KOALA.

In 1999, One Child won again — this time as Skipping Stones (USA) Picture Book of the Year. Another book, Rainforests and Alpine Regions (in the Ecosystems of Australia series), was shortlisted by the Wilderness Society for Book of the Year.

His more recently published books are 60 Classic Australian Poems (Random House, 2009); William’s Backyard (Rigby, 2008); The Melting Pot (Scholastic Australia, 2007); Locally Wild (Pluto Press, 2007); 30 Amazing Australian Animals (Random House, 2007); and Seams of Gold (National Museum of Australia, 2007).

To know more about Chris, visit http://www.chrischeng.com/

* Participants must be at least 18 years old.

PROGRAM:

8:00-8:30 — Log-in & Book-Browsing

8:30-8:45 — Opening Remarks (Prof. Vicente Tan)

8:45-9:00 — Introduction of attendees (Nikki Torres)

9:00-10:00 — Writing for Children (Prof. Vicente Tan). Thinking about your own past while staying in touch with the young people of today.

10:00-12:00 – Roundtable Booktalk (Beaulah Taguiwalo). Why did you pick this book? What do you like about it? Do you think children will love it? Why? Do you think some children won’t like it? Why? If you can make your own version, what would it be like?

12:00-1:00 — Lunch

1:00-2:00 — Notable Children’s Books Worldwide (Beaulah). Examples, hands-on exercises and/or critiques.

2:00-3:30 — From Book to Stage (Nikki Torres). Performances based on well-loved children’s books. Taking a well-crafted children’s story and turning it into a performance script for children. Hands-on exercises on writing dialogue for children’s plays.

3:30-4:30 — Children’s Books in Hiligaynon/Kinaray-a (Beaulah). Examples, hands-on exercises and/or critiques.

4:30-4:45 — Closing Remarks (Prof. Vicente Tan)

4:45-5:00 — Certificates of Attendance (Nikki)

FACULTY:

Prof. Vicente Tan teaches Communication and Media Studies at UP Visayas. He also chairs the UPV Chancellor’s Committee for Culture and the Arts, and curates the UPV Art Gallery. He has conducted training programs in theater, leadership, and team building for pre-elementary, elementary, and high school students. In 2009 he directed and wrote the script of a short film for children. He will talk about writing for children based on his experience in the arts and culture scene in Iloilo, Manila, and other places and countries.

Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo is a book designer and children’s illustrator. Her work is in more than 45 published books. In 2009 she designed 15 children’s books in Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a written by children and illustrated by children. In 2010 she co-edited, designed, and produced 10 seafarer children’s books based on prize-winning stories for children whose fathers are mostly away at sea.

Dominique Garde Torres (Nikki) has worked with the CCP Dramatic Arts Division for nearly 20 years. Her articles are regularly featured in the Philippine Free Press. In 2007 the script for Tukso that she co-authored won the award for Best Screenplay in Cinemalaya, the CCP’s annual film festival. She also wrote the text for the Discussion Guide of PETA’s play on voter education.

REGISTRATION:

Pre-registration and payment is required.

To register, see Prof. Vicente Tan c/o Fryia Guzman at the Art Gallery, UP Visayas, Gen. Luna Street, Iloilo City, Tel. (033) 337-9159.

Pay the registration fee in full and submit your complete registration information: name, age (at least 18*), occupation, company or organization, e-mail address, telephone number, and mailing address.

Registration will close at 5 p.m., Wednesday September 8, 2010.

FEE:

Early Bird – P350 until 5 p.m.
Friday, August 27, 2010

Regular – P450 until 5 p.m.
Wednesday September 8, 2010

The fee is transferable but not
refundable. Lunch is included.

CONTACT:

Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo
taguiwalo8888@yahoo.com
Tel. 0917-787-4956

Dominique (Nikki) Garde Torres
nikkigtorres@yahoo.com
Tel. 0905-347-1668

Prof. Vicente Tan c/o Fryia Guzman
Tel. (033) 337-9159

* Participants in SCBWI Philippines events must be at least 18 years old.

Are you a published or aspiring writer or illustrator of children’s books? Do you have a keen interest in children’s literature? If so, come and join our monthly booktalk!

WHEN: 6-8 p.m. on Monday 2010 August 16

WHERE: Figaro Greenbelt 3, Makati

WHAT: It’s basically a booktalk: everyone brings a book for children or young adults to talk about. We use this as a springboard for questions and answers about writing and illustrating, getting published, promoting one’s books, and other markets, media, and issues related to children’s books.

WHO: This for published or unpublished writers and illustrators of books for children and young adults. It’s also for those who love or work with children’s books: publishers, editors, translators, book designers, book packagers, book distributors, booksellers, librarians, storytellers, college and graduate students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and creators of stage, television and movie adaptations of children’s books. SCBWI members and non-members are both welcome.*

HOST: SCBWI Philippines, the Philippine chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI)

FEE: P20 and a receipt for something — anything! — that you ordered from the venue. For  SCBWI members, no fee.

BRING: A children’s or young adult book to talk about. Or, bring your children’s book manuscript or illustrations and ask for a group critique.

HOW: Depending on the size of the group, we first give each person five to ten minutes to speak. Then we have a round-table discussion — about the books that we brought, and whatever other topics these books suggest as long as they’re related to children’s and young adult books. Everyone present is encouraged to ask and answer questions, solicit advice, give suggestions, share their experience. It’s usually fun, enlightening, inspiring, sometimes dismaying or even disturbing, always stimulating and thought-provoking.

GUIDELINES: We actually have very few rules. One of them is that when it’s your turn to talk about the book you chose, please do not tell us the whole story. Two or three sentences telling us what the book is about is fine.

The rest of your booktalk can be what else you considered worth noting about the book: the writer’s writing style, the writer’s other books, the writer’s life and careeer, the price of the book (not a small thing!), the state of the book (worn and tattered and obviously well used, perhaps), the book design, the quality and type of illustrations, the illustrator’s life and career, the quality of the printing and binding, the covers, the beautiful (or pitiful) paper for the inside pages, what you know or would like to know about the book’s publisher.

You can also talk about your reason for choosing this particular book: what about it makes you feel inspired, enlightened, happy, comforted, dismayed, disturbed, sad, calm, agitated, etc. Is it a book you read and liked when you were a child? Is it a book you still love to read as an adult? Is it a book you’d love (or require) other children to read? Is it a book you wish you wrote? Or illustrated? Is it a book you think should be given to all children? Or should it be given to children selectively and carefully? Or maybe not at all? Etc., etc. (Now you know why some of us have to be told we’ve talked beyond the time limit!)

NOTE: This is a monthly event. It is organized by SCBWI Philippines every 2nd Monday. Let us know if you’re coming!

CONTACT:
scbwiphilippines@gmail.com
Beaulah at 0917-787-4956
Nikki at 0905-347-1668

* Participants in SCBWI Philippines events must be at least 18 years old.

The winning books are: Araw sa Palengke (Adarna House) written by May Tobias-Papa and illustrated by Isabel Roxas; Tuwing Sabado (Lampara Books) written by Russell Molina and illustrated by Sergio Bumatay III; Can WeLive on Mars (Adarna House) written by Gidget Roceles-Jimenez and illustrated by Bru; Lub-Dub, Lub-Dub (Bookmark) written by Russell Molina and illustrated by Jomike Tejido; Tagu-Taguan (Tahanan Books) written and illustrated by Jomike Tejido; JustAdd Dirt (Adarna) written by Becky Bravo and illustrated by Jason Moss.

One of the winning authors, Gidget Roceles-Jimenez, is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Adarna House. Founded in 1980, Adarna House is the Philippines’ first and largest publisher of children’s books. Its roots go back to the Aklat Adarna book series that supplemented the mental feeding program of the Nutrition Center of the Philippines in the 1970s. Today, it is the leading publisher of storybooks for children and manuals for parents, teachers, and daycare workers.

Russell Molina. Russell works in an advertising agency. He also loves to write, draw, and create stories for children. Some of his published children’s books are Ang Lumang Kumot ni Lola; Uuwi Na Ang Nanay Kong Si Darna; Sandosenang Kuya; Ako si Kaliwa, Ako si Kanan; Ang Madyik Silya ni Titoy; Lola Puti; and Sampu Pataas, Sampu Pababa.

Jomike Tejido. Jomike is an architect, a painter, and a children’s writer and illustrator. The first children’s book that he illustrated is Abot Mo Ba Ang Tainga Mo? by Heidi Abad. He also illustrated The General by Kitkat Roces, and Musician for the Filipino Church by Lin Acacio Flores. Other children’s books that he wrote and illustrated include Dindo Bodindo and Ang Pambihirang Sombrero.

The NCBA is given by the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY). For the 1st NCBA, the organizers considered books published in 2008 and 2009. A total of 131 books were nominated.

The National Book Development Board (NBDB) is the government agency mandated to develop and support the Philippine book publishing industry. It is run by a Governing Board chaired by Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez and a Secretariat with by Atty. Andrea Passion-Flores as Executive Director.

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) is a non-profit volunteer organization composed of sectoral representatives from the Philippine children’s book industry. It has representatives for children’s book publishers, booksellers, children’s writers, children’s illustrators, children’s librarians, educators, research, and mass media. It started as the Philippine branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) based in Basel, Switzerland. Every year, on the 3rd Tuesday of July, the PBBY takes the lead in celebrating National Children’s Book Day (NCBD) in the Philippines. The date commemorates the publication of Dr. Jose Rizal’s retelling and illustrations of Ang Pagong at ang Matsing (The Turtle and the Monkey) in Trubner’s Oriental Record in London.

See the press release of NBDB here.