AFCC: Exploring YA Fiction, Book Reviewing and Blogging to Connect

Remember that sekrit project I was hinting about a few months ago? Well, the time has come to unveil it.

I'm proud to present to you the AFCC 2013 Seminars!

The AFCC Seminars offer specialised sessions that focus on specific aspects of the literary community. This year’s Seminars will cover Young Adult literature, translation of children’s books, and blogging.

- AFCC website

How did this come about?

If there's one thing I've learned since joining the book blogging community, it's that blogging plays a huge part in real, offline, life: internships, job opportunities and blogger meet ups. The community has grown to encompass other players in the publishing and literary industries, and this is most apparent during industry events such as BEA and ALA.

Being an undergraduate with student loans, and not being in the USA where the such events were mostly held, it wasn't probable for me to attend them. Such events also highlighted the geographical gap that the internet has managed to narrow.

This was not a unique situation. There were other bloggers in similar situations: those who wanted to, but couldn't, go to industry events such as BEA and mingle with other bloggers, publishers, authors and more.

And I thought, why not plan a bloggers conference here in Singapore? While I couldn't reach out to the rest of the world, it could be an alternative for bloggers in Asia who wanted a similar experience.

I approached Tarie, a Filipino YA and children's book blogger who's been to the past few AFCC, and broached the subject. We came up with a rough draft of the conference and sent a formal proposal to the Singapore Book Council, the organizers of the AFCC. They were very welcoming, and coincidentally was planning to focus on Young Adult literature for the upcoming 2013 festival. After months of discussions, here we are!

Why the AFCC?

The AFCC is primarily known as an industry event, one that is very supportive of Asian and Southeast Asian literature. Aside from industry professionals, there are several Asian book bloggers who have attended the event for years in a row.

The AFCC has also just introduced an all new track focused purely on Young Adult, which is happening on the same day of the Seminars (27 May 2013), which is great because that means you can just get a one-day pass for both tracks! Aside from that, they've also planned a great lineup of conferences, workshops, masterclasses and seminars for this year, reaching out to teachers, parents, writers, illustrators and more.

Why should I go to the AFCC?

Aside from the fact that there's a seminar or conference for anyone and everyone who's interested in getting to know more about the publishing industry?

Intriguing seminars and conferences such as

• Editing Stories in Translation,
• Asian Spice, Hot Genres: Writing and Marketing New YA Fiction,
• The Page on Stage: Writing Plays for Teens,
• The Present and Future for Multicultural Graphic Novels,
• Novels Set in Asia: Selling Them Overseas, and
• How Creators Can Leverage on the Skills of the Literary Agent.

The diverse range of speakers! Examples would be: (all around fabulous) blogger Steph Su, reviewer Marjorie Coughlan, authors Ken Spillman, Holly Thompson, Adeline Foo, Candy Gourlay. Check out the full line-up here.

How about the fact that there's a whole segment dedicated for bloggers (and potential bloggers) to mingle? It won't just be a group of people listening to a panel of speaker; it'll be a group of people discussing all things blogging.

I'll be there, and I hope to see you there! Tickets are on sale now. Prices may be steep for the full five day pass; luckily you can choose to buy a full day or half day event pass. Early bird prices last until 31 March 2013.