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Asian Festival of Children’s Content
23–26 May 2024

Hailed by the School Library Journal as "a powerful story sure to awaken empathy and curiosity", Andrea Wang's Watercress tells a semi-autobiographical story exploring the importance and role of memory, traditions and family history. In this lecture, Andrea will share about how her life experiences have inspired her multi-award winning book and how "writing what you feel" instead of "writing what you know" has served as the heartbeat behind her work as an acclaimed children's author.

writing picture book cultural identity storytelling

Andrea Wang

Andrea Wang (USA)

Andrea Wang is an acclaimed author of children’s books. Her picture book Watercress was awarded the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, among other accolades. Her other books, Summer at Squee, The Many Meanings of Meilan, Luli and the Language of Tea, Magic Ramen, and The Nian Monster, have also received awards and starred reviews. Her work explores culture, creative thinking, and identity. She lives in Colorado with her family. For more information about Andrea and her books, please visit www.andreaywang.com.

Melanie Lee

Moderator Melanie Lee (Singapore)

Melanie is an award-winning author of the graphic novel series Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma, the picture book series, The Adventures of Squirky the Alien, and the travel guide series Out & About in Singapore. In addition, she has edited children’s books such as Hurry, Murry! and the How to be Human picture book series. She is also a part-time communications lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. 

Programme dates and times are subject to change.

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