A booth displaying Vietnamese books at the 14th Asian Festival of Children’s Content. Source: Women's Publishing House

Kim Dong Publishing House and 10 other publishing houses in Vietnam have joined the 14th Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC), which is being held in Singapore from May 25-28.

AFCC is an annual festival that promotes and advocates the creation, development, and appreciation of quality Asian stories for children and young people. It provides opportunities for writers, illustrators, translators, editors, publishers, academics, teachers, librarians, and parents to meet, learn about each other and develop cross-cultural collaborations.

With over 70 programs featuring more than 100 writers and speakers from Singapore and around the world, AFCC 2023 explores the different dimensions of “Play” through books, stories, and performances.

Vietnam is the country of focus at the event on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Singapore (1973-2023). It is expected to highlight the history of children’s literature in Vietnam and publishing opportunities as well as showcase the best picture book illustrations.

A representative of Ho Chi Minh City General Publishing House said, to prepare for the festival, the unit has designed catalogs to introduce the publishing house as well as publications in English along with bilingual and multilingual books.

It will also actively collaborate with foreign partners at the event to explore children's books that meet its criteria and target audiences to publish them in Vietnam, the representative added.

According to Nguyen Nguyen, director of the Authority of Publication, Printing and Distribution under the Ministry of Information and Communication, and vice chairman of the Vietnam Publishing Association, other countries do not know much about Vietnamese publishing, so we need to try to clearly show the appearance and development of Vietnamese books.

During the festival, the Vietnam pavilion opened throughout, ready to introduce the special publications to visitors and partners in the host country.

Le Hoang, vice chairman of the Vietnam Publishing Association shared that Vietnamese publishing in general and the Vietnamese children's book market in particular are opening great opportunities for Vietnamese publishers. at the same time, it is also an opportunity for regional publishers to collaborate with Vietnamese publishers in all aspects, especially copyright transactions.

The image of the Cricket by artist Ta Huy Long is used as a representative image for the whole event, including a QR image for electronic check-in. Photo: Kim Dong Publishing House

Diary Of a Cricket by To Hoai is regarded as a classic children's novel through many decades. It describes the adventures of a cricket who leaves his nest and travels to different places. He grows up and learns by overcoming difficult situations with the help of many different people and animals. Despite numerous difficulties on the road, the cricket with his friends is determined to fight against injustice in life.

The whole literature work is an innovative invention of the author through a process of meticulous observation and careful study of cricket life. To Hoai has used the stories of animals to debate the raison d’etre of human being and convey a message for young people - to walk new paths, try new works, and build a happy life, rather than staying in a sullen society.

Over the past 82 years, the story has been translated into Russian, English, French, Japanese, Swedish, Korean, and Khmer, and is popular in 40 countries.

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