Singapore | Asian Festival of Children's Content 2019

The Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) is an annual festival that celebrates and aims to promote the creation, development and appreciation of quality Asian content for children and young adults. The 10th edition of AFCC takes place at the National Library, Singapore on 5-8 September 2019.

For its 10th edition, AFCC celebrates Myanmar as the Country of Focus for 2019. This year, AFCC celebrates Myanmar as the Country of Focus in our continuing jouney to connect with, and showcase the best of children's book writers and illustrators from South-East Asia. From 5 - 8 September, a delegation from Myanmar comprising writers, illustrators and publishers will take part in festival programmes that highlight Myanmar's literary heritage and offer insight on the country's industry developments. 

As part of this push to develop greater intercultural dialogue between our SEA neighbours, the Singapore Book Council launched a new programme in 2019 – Bridging Borders: The SEA Lit Project. This initiative aims to foster a greater understanding of the respective literatures and cultures of South-East Asian countries and sets out to deepen the engagement between writers and literary communities across SEA.

The inaugural Bridging Borders took place in Yangon, Myanmar from 3 to 6 April 2019. A delegation of writers, illustrators and publishers from Singapore met their counterparts from Myanmar and took part in various programmes over four days, including school workshops, public readings and a literary forum. As part of the exchange, writers from both countries were paired to work on a joint collaborative project. The writers will share on their experiences of participating in this cultural exchange and their collaborative projects at AFCC.  

Organised by the Singapore Book Council, the festival comprises presentations, panels, masterclasses, workshops, along with a festival bookstore showcasing a wide selection of books from local and international publishers. 

The AFCC is a unique event in Asia that provides an opportunity for academics, writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, distributors, parents, teachers, and librarians to meet, learn, hone their craft, and develop cross-cultural collaborations.

The Singapore Book Council (SBC) has been organising the Asian Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference (ACWIC) since 2000.