Speakers

Adan Jimenez

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Four Colour Stories – Graphic Novels and Superhero Comics

Adan Jimenez has been reading and working with comics his entire adult life, selling them in New York and Singapore, and writing about them for magazines and websites. He is now reviewing comics for e-newsletter Shelf Awareness, and working on his very first graphic novel. He is also one half of Sherlock Sam writing duo AJ Low.

Adeline Foo

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Connecting With Preteens: The Awesome MRT Diaries

An MFA graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Adeline Foo has published 22 children’s books. These include seven national bestsellers that have collectively remained on The Straits Times bestseller list for more than 84 weeks. Two books in The Diary of Amos Lee series were adapted into a 10-part television series. A new book, One Boy’s Quest to Learn What It Means to be Singaporean, kickstarting a middle-grade series, was published by the National Library Board as part of the Singapore Memory Project.

www.amoslee.com.sg

AJ Low

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: An Appetite for Series: Feeding off the Readers Hunger

AJ Low is the husband-and-wife team of Adan Jimenez and Felicia Low-Jimenez. Born in California to Mexican immigrant parents, Adan became an immigrant himself when he moved to Singapore. Felicia was born and raised in Singapore where she spent most of her childhood with her head in the clouds and her nose buried in a book. Together, they write the Sherlock Sam children's series, and lots of short stories featuring ninjas, robots, cowboys, and superheroes. You can find them at sherlocksam.wordpress.com, facebook.com/SherlockSamSeries, and facebook.com/House.of.Felipidy.

sherlocksam.wordpress.com

Al Santos

Book Publishing Manager, Room to Read

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Low Cost or No Cost: Teaching with Locally Available Materials

Al Santos is an award-winning playwright, storybook writer and producer of children’s television programs. He holds a Master of Education degree from Harvard University and was Senior Lecturer in creative writing at the University of the Philippines. He is currently Book Publishing Manager for Southeast Asia at Room to Read.

Amrita Goswami

Programme Coordinator, Save the Children, India

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Low Cost or No Cost: Teaching with Locally Available Materials

Amrita Goswami is the Programme Coordinator for Save the Children, India. As her work focuses largely on programme activities related to Education and Early Childhood Care & Development with an emphasis on improving learning environment for children at pre-primary and elementary stages, Amrita is a central person for development and implementation of Education and Early Childhood Care & Development thematic strategy for Save the Children in the South Region. 

Andrea Pasion-Flores

General Manager, Anvil Philippines

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Asia Beckons: Children’s Books for an Expanding Asian Market

Andrea Pasion-Flores is the general manager of Anvil Philippines, one of the biggest general trade publishers in the Philippines. Anvil publishes adult fiction, nonfiction, children's picture books and middle grade chap books. Andrea was previously an agent for Jacaranda Literary Agency, handling fiction and the children's list. Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of the National Book Development Board of the Philippines.

Andrew Weale

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Making the Most Out of a School Visit, It Takes Two: the Author-Agent Relationship

Andrew Weale is every mother’s nightmare. He has worked as an actor with Sir Alec Guinness, and as a singer with Sir George Solti. Now, he is the author of five picture books for children, including the Red House Award winning pop-up Spooky Spooky House.

Arup Kumar Dutta

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: The Child in Me: My Writings

Arup Kumar Dutta is a full-time, internationally acclaimed author. Credited with creating “what is veritably a new genre of gripping fiction set in India”, Arup Kumar Dutta's 17 juvenile adventure novels include The Kaziranga Trail, Oh Deer, Footprints in the SandThe Crystal Cave, and The Boy who became King. His books have been translated into German, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Hungarian, and Czech while three have been made into feature films. Two of his books are featured in the “Literature of the World” series brought out by the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, along with those of Satyajit Ray and Ruskin Bond, and he features among the three Indian writers included in the New York publication 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. Among his awards are Shankar’s Award, Journalist Welfare Foundation Award and Kamal Kumari National Award. On February 6th, 2014 he was honoured by the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC), New Delhi, the Indian Chapter of the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY) for his contribution to children’s literature in India.

Atanu Roy

Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: A Brush with Creativity: My Colourful Story

Atanu Roy has illustrated over 100 books, games and educational aids for children. He has received prizes at the Yomiuri Shimbun International Cartoon Contest, 1983, ‘84 and ’86, the Sir Bob Geldof Cartoonaid, 1987, for a book of cartoons, the Children’s Choice Award 1989 (AWIC) and many other prestigious international awards.

Bill Belew

Social Media specialist

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Masterclass
SESSION/S: Author Global Readership: Marketing and Monetising Your Content for Writers, Author Branding

Bill Belew, PhD is professor of Social Media Marketing in Silicon Valley, CA. His sites have garnered more than 90,000,000 unique visitors total in many niches. Bill regularly teaches international audiences and his local network of 5,000 members how to get more legitimate visitors and sales for their products.

毕维廉博士是美国加州硅谷社会媒体市场营销业教授,他的网站在各个领域已累计了超过九千万(90,000,000)人次的访问量。毕维廉博士的授课内容包括如何通过提升客户的网站客流量达到销售产品的目的,他的学员来自全球各地,他的网站拥有超过5,000名会员。

ビル・ベルー(PhD)はシリコン・バレー(カリフォルニア)在住のソーシャルメディア・マーケティングのプロフェッサー。同氏運営のウェブ・サイトは一般・マニア両方のユーザーで計90,000,000(9千万)以上のヒット数を獲得する。約5000名からなるローカルのメンバーから、インターナショナルなオーディエンスまで幅広くウェブ・サイトでの販売やセールスにおいての有効かつ合法的なノウハウを指導する。

www.billbelew.com

Budjette Tan

Comic Artist

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Four Colour Stories – Graphic Novels and Superhero Comics

Budjette Tan is a creative director by day, copywriter by night and a comic book writer after midnight. Budjette is the writer of award-winning graphic novel TRESE, an urban fantasy series co-created with artist Kajo Baldisimo. TRESE is a three time winner of Best Graphic Literature of the Year in the Philippine National Book Awards. He’s also the editor of the graphic novel Skyworld, The Filipino Heroes League, Bathala:Apokalypsis, Erik Matti’s Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles and co-editor of the YA magazine Kwentillion.

Catherine Yap

Senior Programming Director, Channel Management/Programme Strategy & Planning Television, okto MediaCorp

Media Summit
SESSION/S: What are Kids Watching on Local TV?

Catherine started her career in the then Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) as Business Development Executive in its News & Current Affairs Unit and was instrumental in bringing Channel NewsAsia to the region. Over the next nine years, Catherine assumed various roles in the Network Programming & Promotion Division of Channel NewsAsia. There she developed new programming directions and channel branding to cater to the changing local and international TV landscape.

In July 2010, Catherine moved over to okto as its Programming Director, overseeing okto’s acquisition, local commissioning and operations. In July 2013, Catherine was re-designated as Senior Programming Director, Channel Management/ Programme Strategy & Planning. 

Cathy Han

President of BIG BIRD Creative Co, Vice President of the BIG corporate group

Media Summit
SESSION/S: One Source, Multi-Use: Transmedia and Cross-Country Collaboration

Ms. Cathy Han, President of BIG BIRD Creative Co. and Vice President of the BIG corporate group, plays an instrumental role in forming strategic cross-country alliances and JV’s for transmedia projects. Cathy’s Wall Street experience and management consulting background gives her an edge on strategically positioning creative content and projects for international markets. She was the honorary speaker for the 2013 KOPUS Open Forum on “The Future of Asian Content “ and has been a strong advocate for transmedia collaboration.

Prior to BIG, Cathy was Executive Director of New York Chinese Cultural Center and senior consultant at Deloitte Consulting’s NYC headquarters. She served on a number of nonprofit boards and received dual MPA’s from Columbia University and the London School of Economics and held an undergraduate business administration degree from UC Berkeley. She has recently been appointed as Director of International Films for the 2014 Australia-Asia Film Festival in Australia. 

Cathy Hirano

Translator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Go West: Translations for North American and European Markets, Found in Translation – Asian Content for the World’s Children

Cathy Hirano is a Japanese-to-English translator in such fields as sociology, art and architecture. She has translated picture books and seven young adult novels. Her translations of The Friends and Moribito I won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award in 1997 and 2009, respectively, while Moribito II earned the Batchelder Honor Award in 2010.

Charlie Han

Chairman and CEO of Brilliant International Group (BIG)

Media Summit
SESSION/S: One Source, Multi-Use: Transmedia and Cross-Country Collaboration

Mr. Charlie Han, Chairman and CEO of Brilliant International Group (BIG), oversees 6 companies under the BIG corporate group. He sets the vision to establish BIG as Asia’s premier culture and creativity platform and has successfully managed the BIG global expansion with new JV’s and companies formed across different countries. A social entrepreneur at heart, Charlie also leads the transformation of BIG to be a social enterprise-based corporate model—in 2014 alone, building 12 “BIG Houses of Dreams” at orphanages/group homes in Taiwan.

A former executive for financial services and media marketing companies in the USA, Charlie combines his cross-industry and multi-disciplinary backgrounds in his transmedia career. He is Chairman and Board Director of several C&C industry associations in the Greater China region, and founded the Institute for Youth Leadership.

Cheng Chen-chen

Early Childhood Consultant

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Challenges in Language Learning

Cheng Chen-chen holds a doctorate in Special Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also is a certified speech language therapist by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Chen-chen is teaching at SEED Institute and doing research on topics related to social, cultural, and policy aspects of language, literacy, and “disabilities” in multilingual societies.

Cheryl Robson

Publisher, Metro Publishing

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: The Death of Dystopia: Trends in YA, Go West: Translations for North American and European Markets

Cheryl Robson is the founder of the UK’s Aurora Metro Books, which publishes YA fiction, fiction, non-fiction, biography, drama and cookery. Her list of international YA fiction, has been shortlisted for literary awards, and offers high quality fiction in translation from a wide range of cultures.

Chris Szekely

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Death and Despair, New Zealand: Small Nation, Big Writers

Chris Szekely’s first picture book, Rahui, won the New Zealand Post Best Picture Book Award and the Russell Clark Award in 2012. That The book was produced in bilingual editions by Huia Publishers, a leading New Zealand publisher specialising in Maori writing. His current picture book is Swim, a tale based on a traditional Maori legend, and is also published in both English and Maori. When not writing books, Mr Szekely works as a librarian.

Christina Lai

Educator

Teachers Congress, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Nurturing Language and Literacy Through Music, Nurturing Language and Literacy Through Music.

Christina Lai is a music teacher and an early childhood trainer/lecturer. Her teaching experiences span over thirty years. Her main professional objective is to inculcate in her students (both children and adults) a self-learning approach, be it playing the piano or responding to various forms of musical experiences. Christina graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor in Music and a Diploma in Education and from Wheelock College (Massachusetts, USA) with a Master of Science in Child Development and Early Childhood Education. She is married with two grown-up children and a grandson.

Cristy Burne

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Whatever Happened to Non-Fiction?, Are You Afraid of the Dark? Deconstructing Spooky Yarns and Scary Tales

Cristy Burne is a children’s author, science writer, editor and presenter. She has performed for Australia’s Questacon Science Circus, edited CSIRO’s Scientriffic magazine, and reported on the atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider from CERN in Switzerland. Cristy has a Master of Arts in Professional Communication, a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication and a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology.

Danny Loong

Timbre Music Academy


SESSION/S: Fun With Music, Music, Drama, Art are Integral to the Development of Literacy

Danny was bandleader of one of Singapore's most travelled bands, Ublues. The band performed in countries such as Australia, Spain, Italy and parts of Asia. Ublues received critical acclaim in USA at the "International Blues Challenge" in Memphis USA in 2003 and shared the same billing with James Brown, Bob Dylan, John Legend to name a few at international festivals. Danny with partner Edward Chia, started Timbre Group, a holding company with a diversified portfolio of music lifestyle brands. This ranges from food and beverage concepts such as the Timbre chain of live music restaurants and bars, as well as a music education arm, Timbre Music Academy. 

David Caddy

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Fun and Laughter

David Caddy’s novels for young readers include Whammy, Smash, Whacko, The Reef, and Pope Max. David is father to Ben, Meg, Dan and Joe, and husband to Liz — he likes people with three letter names. His workshops have been described (by people other than himself) as “brilliant”, “entertaining”, “humorous” and “inspirational”.

David Liew

Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Duelling Illustrators, Duelling Illustrators, Authors and Illustrators in the Classroom

David “Wolfe” Liew is an illustrator, cartoonist, sculptor, and model-maker. Besides illustrating books and magazines, he’s the main artist for the children’s series Ellie Belly written by Eliza Teoh. Once in a while, he exchanges the pencils for a pen, and works with words instead.

Deb Fitzpatrick

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Finding Ourselves Lost

Deb Fitzpatrick is a Western Australian writer and editor. Her books for young adults, 90 packets of instant noodles and Have you seen Ally Queen? were named Notable Books by the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Her book for middle readers, The Amazing Spencer Gray, was serialised in the West Australian newspaper in 2013.

Deepa Agarwal

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: The Child in Me: My Writings

Author, poet and translator, Deepa Agarwal writes for both children and adults and has over 50 books published. Born in the small town of Almora in Uttarakhand, Deepa taught English in a women’s college before becoming a full time writer. She has received awards like the N.C.E.R.T. National Award for Children’s Literature in 1993 for her picture book Ashok’s New Friends, which debunks gender stereotypes, while her historical fictionCaravan to Tibet was on the IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Honour List 2008. Her work has been translated into several Indian and foreign languages.

Denise Lai

Managing Director, Wee Care Group Singapore

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Challenges in Language Learning

Denise is currently working towards her doctorate in education. She has a Master of Education degree from the University of Sheffield; an Honours degree in Psychology; and a degree in English/Linguistics. She founded the Wee Care Group in 1996 and has helmed it as its Managing Director since. Denise‘s doctoral dissertation is entitled “A Critical Ethnography of Academic Acceleration in the Early Childhood Years in Singapore”. 

www.weecare.com.sg

Dr Divik Ramesh

Translator, Author, Poet

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Jungle Chat: Animals and Birds in Indian Children’s Literature

An eminent Hindi poet, translator and author for children, Dr Divik Ramesh has seminal contribution to literature for children in Hindi. He has written about 40 books for children. His works have been translated into several Indian languages including English and into foreign languages like Korean and Russian. 

Alyssa Reinoso

Crowdfunding Campaign Manager, Crowdonomic Media

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Alternative Funding: Platforms for Asia

Alyssa manages campaign management and marketing for Crowdonomic, a crowdfunding and crowdsourcing services company which aims to empower entrepreneurs and drive innovation in Asia. Crowdonomic works directly with start-ups and entrepreneurs as well as larger enterprises looking to tap into the power of the crowd.

Edmund Lim

Director (Special Projects), Educare

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Teachers Congress, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Effective Strategies to Develop Bilingual Competency, Perspectives on Literacy for Young Children

Edmund is currently serving as a director of Educare, a Singapore Teachers' Union Co-operative. He previously served as a principal and vice principal in primary and secondary schools. He taught and conducted research for four years as a teaching fellow at the National Institute of Education. He also taught under the Gifted Education Programme for both government and mission schools.

Edmund Wee

Publisher, Epigram Books

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Speed Pitching (Writers)

Edmund Wee is the founder of Epigram Books, a publisher best known for its bestselling Young Adult series by Adeline Foo, The Diary of Amos Lee. Among Epigram’s titles are the landmark translations of five novels and short-story collections by Cultural Medallion winners from Chinese, Malay and Tamil into English last year, and nine out-of-print novels re-published for a new generation of readers. He also published former Foreign Minister S Rajaratnam’s short stories and the English translations of children’s picture books from Europe and Asia.

www.epigrambooks.sg

Elaine Ng

Associate Professor, Wheelock College

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Music, Drama, Art are Integral to the Development of Literacy

Elaine Ng, an early childhood practitioner with more than 20 years of experience, strongly believes that exposing young children to the arts at an early age is crucial to every child’s development. She co-founded The Learning Connections (TLC), an arts integrated learning organization dedicated to bringing quality and authentic arts experiences to the lives of young people. Holding a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education from University of South Australia, Elaine is an associate lecturer for SEED Institute and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. In 2014, she will join the Wheelock faculty as an Associate Professor.

Emily Lim

Author

Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Talking About a Love of Books and Reading

Emily Lim is an author of numerous children’s picture books which have been published in Singapore, Malaysia, China and Korea and also turned into animation, theatre and used throughout schools in Singapore. She is the first author outside North America to win 3 medals in children’s books at the IPPY awards and first in Southeast Asia to win the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. She also won the Honourable Mention Award at Writer’s Digest 20th Self Publishing Awards and has been shortlisted for a few other awards. Emily was named Singapore Woman Award Honoree 2013 for inspiring readers through her children’s books and her memoir Finding My Voice, based on her journey of losing her voice to a disorder and finding it again through writing. 

Emily Lim

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S:

Emily Lim’s numerous children’s picture books have been published in Singapore, Malaysia, China and Korea, and also used in animation, theatre and schools. She is the first author outside North America to win 3 medals in children’s books at the IPPY Awards, and the first in Southeast Asia to win the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Emily was named Singapore Woman Award Honoree 2013 for her works, which include her inspirational memoir Finding My Voice.

Eric Huang

Development Director, Made in Me

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Media Summit, Swipe Right for Digital
SESSION/S: Involving the Audience: Making Interactive Narrative Work, Speed Pitching (Media), Pitch Incubator!, Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire: New Models of Publishing

Eric Huang is Development Director at Made in Me, an award-winning company in London specialising in children‘s digital entertainment. He was previously the Managing Editor at Penguin in Melbourne, a Publisher at Funtastic, and Head of Licensing at Parragon Books in the UK. He also worked for six years at Penguin in the UK as one of the children’s publishers, and looked after Penguin’s IP and co-production businesses.

Ervin Han

Managing Director, Robot Playground Media, Singapore

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Meet the Commissioners: Discovery & Disney, Speed Pitching (Media)

Ervin Han is the Managing Director of Robot Playground. Ervin has over 13 years’ experience in the telecoms and media sector, with stints at SingTel and the Media Development Authority before taking over as head of development at Scrawl Studios, one of Singapore’s pioneering animation companies. He has created and produced a range of award-winning content for broadcasters and corporate clients, including TV shows, web series, short films, print campaigns and educational learning apps.

Fatima Sharafeddine

Author

AFCC, Writers & Illustrators Conference, Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: The Role of Children’s Books in Early Childhood Classrooms, Writing About Different Cultures

Fatima Sharafeddine is a writer and translator of children’s books. She is an award winning author who has published over 100 books. She lives between Belgium and Lebanon, and participates in several international book fairs as well as offers workshops in writing for children. Most of her books are published in Arabic, and several have been translated to various European languages, among which are Dutch, Danish, Spanish, French, German, and English.

Fazeila Isa

Lecturer, Early Childhood and Special Education, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Malay Language Programmes
SESSION/S: Encouraging Higher Order Thinking Skills in Children, Celebrating Imperfection in Picture Books

Fazeila Isa is a graduate of Flinders University, Australia, majoring in Early Childhood and Special Education. She has worked with disabled children and her passion is to help each child maximize his or her potential and learning experience.Through collaboration with kursuspenulisan.com, she coaches new and aspiring writers for children’s picture books. She engages with parents in developing High Order Thinking skills (HOTs) among children through picture books and is writing a book on the subject.

Fran Lebowitz

Editor, Sub Agent

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: How to Pitch

Fran Lebowitz was a New York literary agent with Writers House for twelve years, including three years from a remote office in Singapore. During this time, she represented three New York Times bestsellers and two National Book Award finalists and a few pop stars. She also represented New Line and Fine Line, creating books to complement their products, ie, an Austin Powers guide to life book, a Freddy Krueger horror series, Hoop Dreams and a memoir about David Helfgott. When her husband’s job became permanently located in Singapore, Fran turned her attention to editing, subagenting and writing Tales From A Broad, An Unreliable Memoir.

Frances Plumpton

Literary Agent

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Speed Pitching (Writers), First Pages, New Zealand: Small Nation, Big Writers, It Takes Two: the Author-Agent Relationship

Frances Plumpton worked as a librarian for both the National Library New Zealand Services to Schools and as a public library children’s services specialist from 1960 until 2002 when she became a children’s literature consultant. In 2006 she joined Richards Literary Agency, New Zealand, responsible for their forty plus team of children’s and young adult clients. In June 2012 she established the Frances Plumpton Literary Agency. Frances is a founding management committee member and now trustee of Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded their Betty Gilderdale Award for services to children’s literature. Frances is the ARA for SCBWI Australia East/NZ.

Frané Lessac

Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Masterclass
SESSION/S: Creating Cross-Cultural Picture Books, Finding Your Illustrator’s Voice, Illustration and Book Design

Frané Lessac is an author, illustrator and artist of international renown having over forty award winning children’s books published throughout the world. She has exhibited her work in London, Paris, Sydney, Perth, New York, Los Angeles, and the West Indies.
 
She is the Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for Australia West. In 2010, Frané was awarded The Muriel Barwell Award for Distinguished Service to Children’s Literature. Frané joined the National Year of Reading 2012 initiative as a State Ambassador for Western Australia. She is also a member of the Children’s Book Council of West Australia and the International Board on Books for Young People. 

www.franelessac.com

Gabrielle Wang

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Writing About Different Cultures, An Appetite for Series: Feeding off the Readers Hunger, The Vast Spread of the Sea: Asian Diaspora Writers and the Works, Using Asian Myth, Magic, and Imagination in Children’s Fiction

Gabrielle Wang is an award winning Australian children’s author and illustrator with over 16 books published by Penguin and Walker. She has twice won the Aurealis Award for Best Children’s Long Fiction and her novels have been named Notables in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards. Two of her works were Highly Commended in the Prime Minister’s Awards and her first book, The Garden of Empress Cassia was listed on the USBBY Outstanding International Books Honour List. Gabrielle is also published internationally in USA, UK, China, Korea and South America.

www.gabriellewang.com

Galen Yeo

Creative Director, The Moving Visuals Co.

Media Summit
SESSION/S: What are Kids Watching on Local TV?, Speed Pitching (Media)

Galen Yeo is the co-founder of The Moving Visuals Co., a TV & Content production company that makes kids and youth programming. His credits include the Disney Channel and Kid’s Central / Okto; and judging for the Interactive Digital Emmys and Banff World Media Festival for Children’s shows.

www.tmvc.sg

Gerald Cai

Head of Learning & Reading, Media Solutions Centre, Southeast Asia & Oceania, Samsung Asia

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Discoverability in The Vast Kids’ App Universe

Learning technology has been an area close to Gerald’s heart for over a decade and he participated in the industry as an entrepreneur, corporate executive and adviser to startups. He is currently responsible for building the Learning/Reading content and services ecosystem for Samsung in the region. Prior to Samsung, Gerald was a Regional Director at Pearson APAC.

Gerald Cai

Head of Learning, Media Solutions & Product Planning, Southeast Asia, SAMSUNG Electronics

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Media Summit
SESSION/S:

Learning technology has been an area close to Gerald’s heart for over a decade and he participated in the industry as an entrepreneur, corporate executive and adviser to startups. He is currently responsible for building the Learning content and services ecosystem for Samsung in the region. Prior to Samsung, Gerald was a Regional Director at Pearson APAC.

Gillian Torckler

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: It Takes Two: the Author-Agent Relationship

Gillian Torckler is the author of 14 books (10 children’s books; 2 illustrated general non-fiction books; and 2 gift books). Her children’s books draw on the quirky side of nature and fictionalise real-life subjects to make them appealing to children. Gillian, along with her husband, photographer Darryl Torckler, has been scuba diving all over the world, but these days are enjoying taking their sons to their favourite snorkelling locations in New Zealand. As well as writing, she is a Professor and Associate Dean at Unitec Institute of Technology New Zealand. Gillian is regularly invited to speak at New Zealand primary schools about her writing and to share some of her adventures in nature. Gillian has a passion for the sea, and all that lives within it and she enthusiastically conveys this through her interesting and dynamic books and presentations. 

Ho Lee Ling

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Authors and Illustrators in the Classroom, Making the Most Out of a School Visit

Ho Lee-Ling is a Singapore writer and researcher. As former teacher and museum educator, she is passionate about researching and writing books about the Singapore experience especially for children. Her first book, Samsui Girl, was awarded a First-Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing grant in 2006. She has since written many other titles including picture books such as MJ’s classroom series.

holeeling.blogspot.com

Huang Ling Ya

Teacher, Creative O Preschoolers' Bay

Teachers Congress, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Enhancing the Home Environment for Bilingual Literacy

Huang Ling Ya, obtained her degree in Fu Jen Catholic University, Department of Child and Family Studies, Taiwan. She provides the Chinese language aspects and is partnering with Lindawati in taking the Kindergarten One children.

Il Sung Na

Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: The Vast Spread of the Sea: Asian Diaspora Writers and the Works, Korean Children’s Books: The Power of Picture

Il Sung was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1979, but studied Illustration in London. He has been writing and illustrating picture books since 2006. He worked in London, Seoul and now lives and works in Baltimore in US. His illustration work is mixed media and digital.

Jacqueline Chung

Senior Principal & Academic Director, St James Kindergarten

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Perspectives on Literacy for Young Children

Jacqueline Chung is the Senior Principal & Academic Director of St. James’ Church Kindergarten. She holds a PhD in early childhood education and is an ECDA Fellow. Jacqueline conducts workshops and talks on a variety of topics surrounding the visual arts, music, language & literacy, learning environments, mentoring and leadership.

sjck.org.sg

Jacqueline Chan

General Manager, Southern Star Singapore

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Pitch Incubator!

Jacqueline is the General Manager of Southern Star Singapore’s production studio, a leading player in the industry. Jacqueline’s projects include documentaries, live action drama, lifestyle, animation and pre-school programming, predominantly in the children’s and tweens’ markets. Apart from working closely with some of Australia’s most creative children’s programme production talents, Jacqueline has put together several acclaimed and award-winning international co-productions with partners in Singapore, China, Europe and North America.

James Mayhew

Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Duelling Illustrators, Critiquing a Picture Book, First Look, Every Picture Tells a Story: Visual Literacy in Picture Books

Author, illustrator, storyteller and educator; James Mayhew has been sharing his passion for art and music through books for children for over 25 years. Best known for the “Katie” series, he has also collaborated with the Orchestra of the Music Makers from Singapore, illustrating to classical music live on stage.

Javier Zabala

Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Finding Your Illustrator’s Voice, Oil Paints and Pixel Art: The Influence of Past Masters on Illustration Today, First Look

Javier Zabala is one of the most outstanding illustrators in Europe. He has illustrated more than 80 books of poetry and fiction for adults and children, some written by himself. His books have been translated into 17 languages and received many international recognitions, including two Honourable Mentions in the Bologna Ragazzi Awards. He was shortlisted in the Andersen Award 2012 and is the current Spanish Candidate for the Andersen Award 2014. His work has been exhibited around the world.

www.javierzabala.com

Jean Yeo

CEO & Creative Director, Ochre Pictures

Media Summit
SESSION/S: What are Kids Watching on Local TV?

Jean has created and produced more than 500 hours of television programs since the inception of Ochre Pictures in 2000. Among them first and many locally produced English children drama & infotainment series for OKTO. One of Jean’s latest docudrama creations just won two World Bronze Awards at the New York Festivals.

Jen Storer

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Creating Quirky Characters, An Appetite for Series: Feeding off the Readers Hunger

Jen Storer is the author of the hugely successful Truly Tan series published by HarperCollins Australia. The Truly Tan books have charmed thousands of children and continue to go from strength to strength. Jen’s gothic novel, Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children, Penguin Books, was shortlisted for a string of awards.

John McKenzie

Educator

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Introducing Singapore Stories in Preschool and Primary Schools

A leading academic in the field of children's literature in New Zealand, John McKenzie was a founding member of the Australasian Children's Literature Association for Research and has numerous conference papers, publications and consultancies to his credit. He reviews for the Australian Children’s Book Council’s journal Reading Time. In 2005, he was awarded the Betty Gilderdale Award for Services to NZ Children’s Literature.

John R. Gunnarson

Early Childhood Consultant

Teachers Congress, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Strategies for Supporting Preschoolers’ Early Literacy Skills, Teaching Strategies That Develop Children’s Creativity

John R. Gunnarson teaches early childhood education at Napa Valley College in the United States. He also works as an independent consultant, providing training and technical assistance to early childhood programs. His areas of specialization include dual language learners, early literacy, project work, environments, and Reggio-inspired practices.

Jumaini Ariff

Malay Language Programmes
SESSION/S: Reviving the LOVE for Malay Children’s Storybooks—Back to Basics

Jumaini Ariff has teaching experiences in preschool and special needs. However, she is also very passionate about the Malay language and went on to create the ‘Siri Ariff Ingin Tahu’ Malay story books. The series are available in eBooks, audio books and in the English language named the ‘Ariff Discovers’ Series. Currently Jumaini facilitates story scribbling sessions for upper primary students to introduce them to story writing.

Junko Yokota

Professor of Reading and Language, National College of Education, National-Louis University, Chicago, USA

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Illustration and Book Design, What’s Inside the Wizard’s iPad?: Picture Book Magic in eBooks and Apps, First Look, Fine Lines & Happy Mediums: The Universal Appeal of Award Winning Illustrations

Dr. Junko Yokota is Professor Emeritus of Reading and Language at National Louis University (Chicago) and Director of the Center for Teaching through Children’s Books. She was an elementary classroom teacher and school librarian for the first ten years of her career. Her research focuses on digital literature for children, multicultural and international literature, and literacy instruction through quality literature. Her publications include five editions of a coauthored college textbook, Children’s Books in Children’s Hands, two children’s literature review columns, numerous journal articles as well as chapters in edited books.

Kamini Ramachandran

Storyteller, Moonshadow Stories

Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Effective Strategies to Develop Bilingual Competency

Kamini Ramachandran is a mother of two teenage sons who have learnt to write and speak Mandarin fluently. As a full-time practising storytelling artist, Kamini helms MoonShadow Stories, is Artistic Director for the Singapore International Storytelling Festival and lectures The Storytelling Intensive course at tertiary level. Passionate and talented, she is one of today’s most unique voices in storytelling.

moonshadowstories.com

Kathleen Ahrens

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: How to Pitch, Developing Characters Through Figurative Language, First Look, First Pages

Kathleen Ahrens is Professor and Head of the Language Center at Hong Kong Baptist University, where she teaches courses in children’s literature and creative writing. She serves on the Board of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and is the SCBWI International Regional Advisor Chairperson.

www.kathleenahrens.com

Kenny Gee

Filmmaker, Singapore

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Alternative Funding: The Body (Case Study)

Kenny Gee is a rising Singaporean filmmaker and recent graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Asia. His short film "Meat At Block 320" was screened at the 22nd Singapore International Film Festival, and won the Audience Award at the 5th Singapore Short Film Festival. His most recent short film "The Body", was the object of one of Singapore's most successful crowdfunding campaigns, making headlines at home and abroad for its innovative pitch video. Currently, he is in post-production on 'The Body' and developing his next short film.

Lara Morgan

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: The Future of Fantastic (YA) Fiction

Lara Morgan is the author of The Rosie Black Chronicles, a YA dystopian trilogy set in a future Australia, and also writes epic fantasy for adults. Before becoming a full time writer she was a project manager in the Arts and editor of a community newspaper. She lives in Western Australia.

Leila Seth


SESSION/S: What Girls Are Doing in Our Stories: Gender in Indian Children’s Literature

The first female judge of the Delhi High Court and the first woman to become Chief Justice of a state High Court in India, Leila Seth embodies the intellectual leadership provided by women in post-independent India. Justice Seth is the author of We, The Children Of India, a book on the Constitution of India for children. She is the mother of author Vikram Seth and her autobiography, On Balance, was published in 2003.

Leonard Marcus

Historian, Writer, Book Critic, Exhibition Curator

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Teachers Congress, Masterclass
SESSION/S: Talking Books: Book Reviews, Critiquing a Picture Book, First Look, From the Golden Age to Librarian’s Nightmare: Illustrated Books Over the Years

Leonard Marcus is one of the world’s leading writers about children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author or editor of more than 25 award-winning books and writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review. Leonard teaches at New York University and the School of Visual Arts.

Leslie Lee

Executive Director, Programming, Branded Media and Content, Walt Disney Company

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Meet the Commissioners: Discovery & Disney

As the Executive Director of Programming, Branded Media and Content at the Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia), Leslie Lee is responsible for the on-air content – programming and acquisitions of Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD across the region. Having been with Disney Channels for over 8 years, Leslie has been at the forefront of key channel initiatives including the rebranding of Playhouse Disney to Disney Junior, the successful launch of Disney XD in Southeast Asia and the roll out of the branded Disney kids apps in Singapore and the Philippines.

Linda Tan Lingard

Literary Agent, Publisher

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Speed Pitching (Writers)

Linda Tan Lingard is the managing partner of the Yusof Gajah Lingard Literary Agency in Malaysia. The agency represents local writers and illustrators as well as foreign publishers. She has over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry and has worked around the region. She is a Frankfurt Fellow and a member of the Asian Publishers Fellowship, Korea.

Lindawati Armaya

Teacher, Creative O Preschoolers' Bay

Teachers Congress, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Enhancing the Home Environment for Bilingual Literacy

Lindawati Armaya obtained her Masters in English Language Education and Masters of Education (Early Childhood), both with the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. She has 10 years of experience in working with young children, aged 4 to 6 in Creative O Preschoolers’ Bay. She is also an associate lecturer with SEED Institute. Currently, she is with Kindergarten One. 

Linn Shekinah

Author

Linn Shekinah received the “First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative” Award from the Media Development Authority in 2008 for her book The Watchtower Warrior. In 2012, she was commissioned by the Preservation of Monuments Board to write the picture book The Fearless Twins and The Magical Kaleido: A Narrow Escape. She has developed and publishes a series of bilingual picture books in English, Chinese and Malay, using Asian themes for pre-school children. 

M. Raihan Halim

Creative Director, Papahan Films

Media Summit
SESSION/S: What are Kids Watching on Local TV?

Often calling himself a “part-time scriptwriter, fulltime storyteller”, M. Raihan Halim’s career in television began after winning two Golden Pen Awards at the MDA: National Scriptwriting Competition in the years 2005 and 2007. He’s the only local writer/director whose television works transcends cultural lines and are featured in all four main channels in the country. 

Best known for his award-winning television dramas, his telemovies Yazid Wears Diapers garnered the Best Special Drama award in a local television award show and Big Time In Little Street was nominated in 2010 Asian Television Awards. His latest telemovie, the romantic comedy Mr Perfect won Best Special Drama and Best Actor in this year’s Pesta Perdana. His work in children’s programming includes the mystery comedy The Private Bengs, the sic-fi adventure Nick Of Time and the innovative series, What?! I’m On A Game Show!.

In 2013, he started work on the cloning children’s comedy, Me, Myself & Isaac, two telemovies commemorating the 10-Year Anniversary of Sars and is currently working on his feature film, Banting. 

Mahtab Narsimhan

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: The Importance of Myths and Magic for Imagination and Creativity, Canadian Books: Canadian Asian Writers, Are You Afraid of the Dark? Deconstructing Spooky Yarns and Scary Tales

Mahtab was born in Mumbai and immigrated to Canada in 1997. Her debut novel in the Tara Trilogy, The Third Eye (Dundurn, 2007), won the Silver Birch Fiction Award in 2009. The Tiffin (DCB, 2011), is a gritty, middle-grade novel based in the Bombay of her childhood. It has received critical acclaim, was shortlisted for many awards, and named one of the five best books for Young People in 2011 by the Quill & Quire. Mahtab lives in Toronto with her husband, son, and golden retriever. She continues to write, inspired by life, love and the desire to make sense of the world through stories.

Malavika PC

Writer, Illustrator (மாளவிகா (எழுத்தாளர், படங்கள் வரைபவர்)

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Tamil Language Programmes
SESSION/S: கதை உருவாக்குவது (Story Building), பட அட்டைகள் கொண்டு ஒரு கதை சொல்லுங்கள் (Tell a Story with Picture Cards), Taking a Line for a Walk

Malavika PC has been illustrating books and creating content for and with children for over 8 years now. She likes Tamil and finds it very interesting to think and create in this language. She has also been a theatre actor since the age of 5. She enjoys working with children and people who have a bit of dream in their eyes. Twenty points to anyone who can find 10 similarities between her and her drawings you will find on www.theredsketchbook.blogspot.com.


மாளவிகா PC கடந்த எட்டு ஆண்டுகளாக குழந்தைகள் புத்தகங்களுக்கு வரைதல், எழுதுதல், உள்ளடக்கம் உருவாக்குதல் போன்றவற்றை செய்து வருகிறார். தமிழை விரும்பும் இவர், தமிழ் படைப்புகளை பற்றி நினைக்கவும் உருவாக்கவும் ஆர்வமாக இருக்கிறார். மாளவிகா ஐந்து வயது முதல் மேடை நடிகையாக இருந்து வருகிறார். அவர் குழந்தைகளுடன் வேலை செய்வதை விரும்புகிறார். மாளவிகா பற்றி மேலும் அறிய இந்த வலைத்தளத்திற்கு செல்லுங்கள்: www.theredsketchbook.blogspot.com.

Manas Mohan

Chief Operating Officer, ACK Media

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: India in Pictures: Comics and Graphic Novels

Manas Mohan has over 17 years of experience in marketing, communications, media, branding, advertising, promotions and sales. At ACK Media, he is the Chief Operating Officer and oversees the Direct Marketing and Ecommerce business, The National Geographic Business, Licensing and Merchandising, Advertising Sales as well as the strategic marketing leadership of the Brand. Prior to this he was the Director & Head (Marketing) at Reader’s Digest.

Manjula Padmanabhan

Author, Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: A Brush with Creativity: My Colourful Story

Best known for the comic strip character Suki appeared in Indian newspapers, Manjula Padmanabhan is a writer, cartoonist, illustrator and playwright. She has illustrated 25 books for children, eight of them as author-illustrator. Manjula’s science fiction novel The Island of Lost Girls will be published soon by Hachette India.

Marc Checkley

Producer, Writer, Consultant

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Speed Pitching (Media), Pitch Incubator!

Previously the Group Editor of Television & Entertainment at Ten Alps Asia, Marc is an expert in various media fields, including children’s TV and theatre. Having worked with the China Daily to produce the Olympic Channel, Marc is now an advisor to Singapore’s Workforce Development Authority’s Creative Industries training framework.

His independent project – A documentary celebrating Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five series – is expected to debut this year.

Mariko Nagai

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Poetry for Children in Asia: A Lifelong Love for Reading

Born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in Europe and America, Mariko Nagai has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for the Arts, Akademie Schloss Solitude, among others for her writing. Mariko has written two books for adults, Histories of Bodies: Poems , and Georgic: Stories. Her debut novel for middle grade readers, Dust of Eden, explores a Japanese American girl's experience in internment camps during WWII. Mariko Nagai is an Associate Professor at Temple University Japan.

Mariko Takagi

Designer, Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: From Cover to Cover: Designing a Book in One Day, Illustration and Book Design

Mariko Takagi is an author and designer of books, a researcher, and a teacher. Having lived and worked as a German-Japanese in Germany and Hong Kong, her artwork is about cultural diversity. Her special interest lies in the area of multilingual typography with a strong focus on Latin, Japanese and Chinese.

Marjorie Coughlan

Reviewer

Masterclass
SESSION/S: Talking Books: Book Reviews

Marjorie Coughlan is the Editor of Mirrors Windows Doors, a new e-zine celebrating diversity through multicultural children’s and YA books from around the world. From 2005-2013 she was Associate Editor then Editor of the award-winning website PaperTigers.org, and last year she also completed a PhD in Art History. She lives in North Yorkshire, UK.

papertigers.org

Mark Greenwood

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Breathing Life into History

Mark is an author with a passion for history. His award winning books have published and honoured internationally. His titles include The Legend of Moondyne Joe, Lasseter’s Reef, Ned Kelly and the Green Sash, and Jandamarra. In 2014 Mark will celebrate the publication of two new books – Midnight and The Mayflower.

www.markgreenwood.com.au

Matt Costello

Content Creator, Author, Consultant, USA

Media Summit, Masterclass
SESSION/S: Techniques and Practices for Building a Multiplatform Universe, Involving the Audience: Making Interactive Narrative Work, Making a Multiplatform Universe - Inside the Process

Matt Costello’s award-winning work, across all media, has meshed story, gameplay and technology.

He has written and designed dozens of award-winning and best-selling games including The 7th Guest, Doom 3, G-Force and Pirates of the Caribbean. He scripted and created the game world for Id’s major release on all platforms, Rage, and also wrote the Random House novel based on his game.

His novel Beneath Still Waters was filmed and released by Lionsgate. His recent novel, Vacation, was a major 2011 release from St. Martin’s Press, and the sequel, Home, was published this past October. St. Martin’s/Macmillan will also release his SF epic novel, Star Road, in 2014.

Matt's children's books include the series The Kids of Einstein Elementary (Scholastic) and Magic Everywhere (Random House). His games for children include the award-winning Aladdin’s Mathquest and Hercules, both for Disney, as well as major games for Scholastic and PBS.

Matt has written episodes and created TV formats for PBS, Disney, SyFy, and the BBC. He consults on story, games and multiplatform projects around the world, and has also created interactive installations for The British Museum, Disney and, with Neil Richards, for Buckingham Palace.

Maureen McHugh

Founder/Creative Content Strategist, No Mimes Media, Author, USA

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Speculative Futures: Re-imagining the world, Involving the Audience: Making Interactive Narrative Work, Writing for Transmedia

Maureen McHugh has been working in interactive storytelling since 2003 when she was a writer and managing editor for the ARG ilovebees. She worked on several major interactive projects including Year Zero for Nine Inch Nails. was part of the team that developed the Emmy winning multiscreen multiscreen series Dirty Work. She wrote several multiscreen experiences including the original short, Whispers, and branded content for Discovery ID, Redrum.

She teaches Storytelling for Interactive at University of Southern California in the graduate program in Interactive. She heads Transmedia U, an organization teaching interactive storytelling to professionals, by professionals. Her most recent collection of short stories, After the Apocalypse, was one of Publishers Weekly’s Ten Best Books of 2011.  

Maurice Wheeler

Founder and Strategy Partner, The Little Big Partnership, UK

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Involving the Audience: Making Interactive Narrative Work, Story & Marketing: Two Separate Entities?

As Founder and Strategy Partner at The Little Big Partnership, Maurice Wheeler has developed audience-led strategies that have solved problems such as: how do you get more families playing Xbox; how do you get more kids engaging with Premiership football clubs; how do you create advocates for kids TV and publishing classics and how can Disney use social media to sell more DVDs.

He has more than 15 years of marketing experience starting out in the classic agency environment of Leo Burnett before starting his own agency Doco (formerly Digital Outlook) in 1998, and then The Little Big Partnership in 2012. Wheeler has helped many clients including the BBC, Nickelodeon, Disney, Microsoft, Tesco, Universal Music, Unilever and Lego.

He has written a number of papers on how to effectively engage with different audience types from kids to fathers to the family unit as a whole. You will mostly find him reading or writing research papers, preparing presentations, running or playing with his two boys.

Michiko Matsukata

Curator, Chihiro Art Museum


SESSION/S: Rice and Picture Books

Born in Tokyo, Michiko Matsukata has worked at the Chihiro Art Museum, Azumino since 2003. The exhibitions she has curated include Yuri Norstein’s Picture Book Making, Korean Contemporary Picture Book Artists, and Polish Picture Book Artists.

Mily Hu 胡隽宓

Deputy Director, Chief Editor’s Office, Hunan Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House (China)

Chinese Programmes
SESSION/S: 学会表达想象 (Learn to express the imagination)

Mily Hu holds a Master of Sociology from the University of York, United Kingdom, and she runs the Teaching Materials Editorial Department of Hunan Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House. She was formerly a copyright manager and editor for many years, and has introduced and edited numerous books which have won national awards.

胡隽宓, 英国约克大学社会学硕士,现任中国湖南少年儿童出版社教材编辑室主任。曾任版权经理和编辑多年,引进和编辑的图书多次荣获国家级大奖。

Mitali Perkins

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Writing About Different Cultures, The Vast Spread of the Sea: Asian Diaspora Writers and the Works, YA – Books as Windows and Mirrors

Mitali Perkins was born in Kolkata, India and immigrated at age seven to the United States with her family. Her award-winning books for young adults include Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices (Candlewick), Bamboo People (Charlesbridge), and Secret Keeper (Random House). Mitali lives and writes in California’s San Francisco Bay Area.

mitaliperkins.com

Myra Garces-Bacsal

Educator, Reviewer, Blogger

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Fine Lines & Happy Mediums: The Universal Appeal of Award Winning Illustrations

Dr Myra Garces-Bacsal is an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education at Nanyang Technological University. She is the Programme Leader of the Master's and Bachelor’s Programme in High Ability Studies and Gifted Education. Dr Myra is also the founder of GatheringBooks.org, where she shares her passion for reading, children’s literature, poetry, and MG/YA fiction.

gatheringbooks.org

Nida An Khafiyya

Co-Founder, Fish Book Co.

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Telling Your Story: Transmedia Marketing and the Collaborative Process

Nida is the co-founder of Fish Book Co., a publishing company based in Singapore that creates exciting children’s transmedia content based on the book “Today I Am” by Mies van Hout. She aims to pave new ways for creators and makers to develop exciting, good quality content on tradition and new media platforms. A former analyst, Nida previously worked for McKinsey & Company specializing in telecommunications and digital media for Indonesia. She co-founded and managed a few niche online collectives in Southeast Asia such as HeyDiaspora and SekolahSG. Nida lives in Singapore and is always on the lookout for exciting creative partnerships.  

Nina Sabnani

Author, Illustrator, Filmmaker

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: India in Pictures: Comics and Graphic Novels

Nina Sabnani is an artist and storyteller who works in film, illustration and writing. She graduated in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Vadodara and thereafter received a master’s degree in film from Syracuse University, NY as a Fulbright Fellow in 1997. Currently, she is Associate Professor at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. 

Dr Noel K H Chia

Assistant Professor, Early Childhood and Special Education, National Institute of Education

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Challenges in Language Learning, Using Books with Children with Special Needs: The CSI Way

Dr Noel KH Chia, an assistant professor of early childhood and special education at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, has published stories and poems for children and authored two children’s books in addition to his papers published in academic journals and scholarly book chapters.

Norman K N Kee

Lecturer, Early Childhood & Special Education, National Institute of Education

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Using Books with Children with Special Needs: The CSI Way

Norman KN Kee, a lecturer of early childhood and special education at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, has published papers on numeracy literacy challenges and digital literacy in special education in addition to his papers published in academic journals and scholarly book chapters.

Otto Fong

Comic Artist

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Duelling Illustrators

Otto Fong is a cartoonist and former Raffles Institution science teacher. He has drawn the bestselling comic books called Sir Fong's Adventures in Science, authored a sci-fi series for young people, Black Peony, and a critically-acclaimed adult horror Bitter Suites. He has also penned the first of two R(A)-rated Mandarin plays in 1992, and two Arts Festival productions. He was the Outreach Fellow for Centre of Quantum Technologies in NUS.

Payal Dhar

Author, Editor

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: The Future of Fantastic (YA) Fiction

Payal Dhar has written five books for children and young adults, and numerous short stories for both big and little people. She’s also a freelance editor and writer, and writes on computers and technology, books and reading, games and anything else that catches her interest.

writeside.net

Peggy McNamara

Chair, General Teacher Education Department, Bankstreet College of Education

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: The Teacher - Parent Relationship: Developing Your Child’s Literacy, What Works: An Exploration of Current Practice and Leading Edge Pedagogy

Dr. Peggy McNamara is the Chair of the General Teacher Education Department at Bank Street College of Education in New York City where she teaches literacy courses. Peggy began her career in prekindergarten where she learned about the critical role that families and teachers play in the literacy development of young children. Recently, she trained Early Childhood pedagogical coaches in Brazil.

Peggy Zee

Early Childhood Consultant

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Walk to Talk

Peggy’s quest is to share her teaching strategies, knowledge and experiences in Movement Based Learning with early educators and parents. With the surge in research on the correlation of movement to learning, Peggy feels tasked to share her knowledge of the positive correlation between movement/physical activities, learning and academic achievement. In the last 30 years, Peggy has shared her knowledge and experience on child development and learning with educators and parents.

peggyzee.com

Raewyn Caisley

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Finding Ourselves Lost

Raewyn Caisley has been writing, teaching and performing for 20 years. She has lived in some remarkable places including a roadhouse in the Australian outback. Last year she spent 12 months on a journey through Middle Earth! These days Raewyn is exploring how people shape places and how places, in turn, shape them.

Rina Singh

Author, Illustrator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Picture Books: How Words and Images Conspire to Capture Imagination

Rina Singh is an internationally published children’s author, photographer, and a full time educator in Canada. She is the author of numerous books for children including A Forest of Stories, which has been translated in several languages, including Spanish and Korean. Her most recent publications are Guru Nanak: The First Sikh Guru and Hindi for Heart, in collaboration with the renowned Indian poet, Gulzar.

Roger Jenkins

Storyteller

Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Using Storytelling as a Strategy for Bonding and Developing Literacy

Roger Jenkins is a Singaporean, an international award-winning professional storyteller. He is a popular performer/storytelling trainer in schools, libraries and at community events thanks to his spontaneous, comedic, and often actively participatory, style of telling. In 2013 he conducted workshops at Festivals in KL, Penang, Hong Kong and Tabriz (Iran)

www.rogerjenkins.com.sg

Saad Chinoy

Chief Geek, Tusitala (RLS) Pte Ltd

Media Summit, Swipe Right for Digital
SESSION/S: Telling Your Story: Transmedia Marketing and the Collaborative Process

Saad Chinoy is a professional geek with a passion for technology and OpenSource philosophy, Saad conceptualizes tech solutions. Charged with Technology for Tusitala, he’s been developing a digital publishing platform that leverages mobile devices to create unique user experiences.

Sally Gardner

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Mastering the Art of Dyslexia: An Author’s Journey, Magical Children: The Key to Story, The Future of Fantastic (YA) Fiction

Sally Gardner is an award-winning novelist who has sold over two million books in the UK and whose work has been translated into more than twenty-two languages. Her novel Maggot Moon won both the Costa Children's Book Prize and the Carnegie Medal 2013. She has also published The Double Shadow, The Red Necklace, I, Coriander, and a series for younger readers, Wings & Co

Sampurna Chattarji

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Past, Present, Future: Reinventing Indian Publishing for Children, YA – Books as Windows and Mirrors

Sampurna Chattarji is a poet, novelist, translator and children’s author. Her 12 published books include Three Brothers and the Flower of Gold; the much-loved Fried Frog and other Funny Freaky Foodie Feisty Poems; and her dark YA novel Ela, all from Scholastic.

sampurnachattarji.wordpress.com/

Sandhya Prabhat

Illustrator, Animator

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Duelling Illustrators, Taking a Line for a Walk, Connecting With Preteens: The Awesome MRT Diaries

Sandhya is an independent animator and illustrator from India. She was one of the animators of ‘The Diary of Amos Lee’ TV series that aired on Okto, and has worked on projects based in India, Switzerland, Singapore and the U.S.A. Her short film ‘Deadline’ was the semi-finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards 2012.

Sayoni Basu

Publisher, Duckbill Books

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Speed Pitching (Writers), The Death of Dystopia: Trends in YA, First Pages

Sayoni Basu is an editor and publisher of books for children and young adults. She currently runs Duckbill, a publishing house she cofounded with Anushka Ravishankar. She has earlier worked for Penguin and Scholastic.

Shaireen Selamat

Early Childhood Consultant

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Using Digital Video to Improve Literacy

Shaireen Selamat (MECh, BA, Cert TESOL, PG Cert ALPD) has a wide range of practical experience as a lecturer, principal, curriculum developer and preschool teacher with over 17 years in the early childhood industry. She is currently an associate lecturer with several tertiary institutions and has a keen interest in using technology to enhance curriculum and teacher development.

Dr Shanmugam K

Head of Tamil Programme, School of Arts & Social Sciences, UniSIM

Teachers Congress, Parents Forum, Tamil Language Programmes
SESSION/S: Effective Strategies to Develop Bilingual Competency

Dr Shanmugam is the Head of Tamil Programme at the School of Arts & Social Sciences at UniSIM. Previously he was a Special Inspector (Tamil) and later, Senior Curriculum Specialist (Tamil) at the Ministry of Education. With twenty years of teaching experience, Dr Shanmugam oversees the academic coordination of the Tamil programme at UniSIM. He has research interest in socio-linguistics, and an interest in teaching history and pedagogy.

Sharon Ismail

Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Talking About a Love of Books and Reading

Sharon’s passion has always to do with words, whether spoken or written. In 2007, Sharon won the First Time Writers & Illustrators Grant (under MDA & NBDCS) and published her first children’s book based on her mother’s childhood called What Sallamah Didn’t Know. The book is in its third print and has been adopted as a Primary 6 English text under the Ministry of Education’s STELLAR syllabus. In 2013, Sharon co-authored two bilingual (English/Malay) picture books with Rilla Melati Bahri called Makan Time! and Ati’s Baju Melayu under the Lee Kuan Yew Bilingualism Fund. These pre-schooler books come with an audio CD of these stories narrated by both authors, possibly a first for and English/Malay picture book written in Singapore. She hopes to publish sequels to her books in the near future.

Candy Yen Shu-Nu

Assistant Professor, Author (Taiwan)

Chinese Programmes
SESSION/S: 如何和孩子一起游戏阅读 (How to Make Reading Fun for Both Parent and Child), 图画书在教学上的应用 (The Use of Picture Books in Teaching)

Shu-Nu Candy Yen, author; assistant professor, National Taitung University; and Regional Adviser of Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in Taiwan; has published more than 40 books on children’s literature. Shu-Nu Candy Yen is known to be one of the top authors in Taiwan. Her children’s book has won numerous notable literary awards. She has been invited by Gabungan Persatuan Guru-Guru Sekolah Cina Malaysia (The United Chinese School Teacher's Association of Malaysia) to Malaysia to do several workshops for parent and child in 2013.

Her most famous picture book is The Forest Where Spring Fairy Dances, which was selected in 2001 for the Bolognaragazzi Award. The book has been published in Japan, Korea and Greece and adapted to a 3D animation. 

 

严淑女,儿童文学博士,童书作家,童书作家与插画家协会台湾分会 会长(SCBWI-Taiwan)。台东大学幼儿教育系兼任助理教授。在大学教创作、儿童文学、幼儿文学、图画书设计、童话创作、故事脚本设计等。2013年她曾应马来西亚华校教育会总会之邀,到马西亚进行绘本教学及亲职教育培训等活动。

童书作品获意大利波隆那国际儿童书插画奖、丰子恺儿童图画书奖入选、国家文化艺术基金会创作奖、金鼎奖最佳图画书奖、漫画金像奖最佳图文绘本、中国时报开卷好书奖最佳童书、好书大家读最佳少年儿童读物奖等。

作品售出日本、巴西、韩国、马来西亚、希腊等多国版权,收录在国小课文,改编成动画、儿童音乐剧。

www.facebook.com/candyyenstory

Stacy Whitman

Editor, Tu Books

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Speed Pitching (Writers), Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire: New Models of Publishing, Riceballs & Meatballs: Cultural Diversity in the American Market, The Death of Dystopia: Trends in YA, First Pages, Go West: Translations for North American and European Markets

Stacy Whitman is the founder and publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books that publishes fantasy, science fiction, and mystery for children and young adults. She holds a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons College.

leeandlow.com/p/tu.mhtml

Subir Shukla

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Past, Present, Future: Reinventing Indian Publishing for Children

Subir Shukla is both a developer and innovator of quality-oriented primary education in India. He has written a number of books for children. He writes two regular blogs on education. He also served as Editor (Training and Promotion) with National Book Trust, India at its National Centre for Children’s Literature.

Susanna Goho Quek

Author, Illustrator, Artist

AFCC

Susanna is an author, illustrator and artist. She provided the illustrations for The Ice Ball Man edited by Angelia Poon, A Single Tear written by KK Seet and Water written by Christopher Cheng. Susanna has also authored two books: God is Hu? a story of how God painted the world into existence and Fun at the Opera, based on her own childhood. Since 2011, Susanna has served as the curator of the AFCC Book Illustrators Gallery.

afcc.com.sg/home/big

Tan Beng Luan

Principal, Creative O Preschoolers’ Bay

Teachers Congress
SESSION/S: Perspectives on Literacy for Young Children

Tan Beng Luan, founder, principal and teacher of Creative O Preschoolers’ Bay, has 15 years of experience working with children. Her previous portfolio includes being the Principal of Practice Performing Arts School, founding manager of the Substation - A Home for the Arts and Deputy Director II of the National Archives. 

汤素兰 Tang Sulan

Author

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Chinese Programmes
SESSION/S: 创造关于家族树的故事 (Creating Stories on the Family Tree)

Tang Sulan, author; professor, Hunan Normal University; and Vice Chairman of Hunan Writers Association; has published more than 40 books on children’s literature. She has won numerous notable literary awards, and is coming to AFCC to share her insights on the trends in Chinese children’s literature. Tang Sulan is known to be one of the top authors in China.

汤素兰,国家一级作家,湖南师范大学文学院教授,湖南省作家协会副主席。已创作出版儿童文学作品四十多部。曾获全国优秀儿童文学奖、宋庆龄儿童文学奖、冰心儿童文学新作奖大奖、陈伯吹儿童文学奖、张天翼儿童文学奖、湖南省青年文学奖、毛泽东文学奖等奖项。被评为湖南省德艺双馨青年文艺家,荣立省政府一等功。代表作有长篇童话《笨狼的故事》《小朵朵和大魔法师》《阁楼精灵》《奇迹花园》《小巫婆真美丽》等。并有作品入选小学语文教材、幼儿园教材和“新语文”“快乐语文”等极具影响力的课外语文读本。

Teri Tan

Journalist, Publishers Weekly

Writers & Illustrators Conference, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Digital Printing: Value Proposition For Children’s Books, Rethinking E-Learning for Kids

Teri Tan is an international correspondent for New York-based Publishers Weekly magazine, reporting on current issues of interest to the international publishing and book-selling community since 2001. At the same time, she is engaged in creative communications projects as well as print- and publishing-related consulting assignments. She was recently appointed the deputy secretary-general of the Asia Pacific Publishers Association.

Tony Lambino

Head of Communication, International Rice Research Institute

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Rice: Science, Art, and Magic

Tony Lambino is Head of Communication of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), an international, non-profit research organisation based in the Philippines, dedicated to food security and improved livelihoods of around 3.5 billion people in the rice producing and consuming world. He has over 15 years of experience in international development, media, and governance.

Usha Venkatraman

Storyteller

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Jungle Chat: Animals and Birds in Indian Children’s Literature

A storyteller, classical vocalist and a self taught puppeteer, Usha Venkatraman is a performance storytelling artiste. Her repertoire includes a range of Indian folk-tales, stories from Indian mythology, folktales from around the world and true-life incidents. Besides performing and conducting workshops in various educational institutions, she has been an active participant in international storytelling festivals in India and abroad.

V. Geetha

Editor

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: What Girls Are Doing in Our Stories: Gender in Indian Children’s Literature

A writer, translator, social historian and activist, V. Geetha is a freelance editor with a number of small research journals. A votary of women’s emancipation, V. Geetha has written widely, both in Tamil and English, on gender, popular culture, caste and politics of Tamil Nadu. 

Vikram Channa

VP of Production and Development, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, Singapore

Media Summit
SESSION/S: Meet the Commissioners: Discovery & Disney, Speed Pitching (Media)

Based out of DNAP’s Singapore office, Vikram Channa works closely with Discovery Networks Asia Pacific’s (DNAP) country heads to provide editorial direction on matters. Channa and his team produce approximately 100 hours of programming every year across DNAP’s portfolio of brands. Channa first joined Discovery in 1995. He has taken on various roles within the company from on-air promotions to programming and production. Together with his team, he executive produced over 500 documentaries, several of which garnered accolades at events such as the Asia Television Awards, New York Festival, Omni Intermedia, and the Academy Awards. Channa began his working career in India as an independent producer of short films. He has a Masters in both History and Film and Television Production from New Delhi, India, and also holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, USA.

Wong Seet Fun

Educator, Founder of Art Loft

Teachers Congress, Parents Forum
SESSION/S: Music, Drama, Art are Integral to the Development of Literacy

Wong Seet Fun is an artist and an early childhood educator. The founder of Art Loft, she is also an Adjunct Lecturer with SEED Institute, Nanyang Management, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and co-teaches “The Creative Arts” module. The objective of Art Loft is to help the child develop an awareness of the environment, nurture creativity and provide for an all rounded education.

Yuko Takesako

Vice Director, Chihiro Art Museum Azumino

Writers & Illustrators Conference
SESSION/S: Chihiro Art Museum – The Role of A Picture Book Museum

The Vice Director of the Chihiro Art Museum (Azumino), Yuko Takesako is also the Secretary General and member of the board of directors of Chihiro Iwasaki Memorial Foundation. She has introduced and promoted the life and works of Chihiro Iwasaki as well as supported the picture book culture in Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Europe, the USA and other countries. She is the author of 100 Picture Books for Children and Parents Selected by the Chihiro Art Museum (co-author), Shigeru Hatsuyama, and Chihiro’s Showa.