Speakers

Dr. Aammton is a family physician and the author of thirty-three books of supernatural stories. He has won the Brunei Best-seller Award for Real Ghost Stories of Borneo 2. His Real Ghost Stories of Borneo book series is very popular and is the most sought-after book series in Brunei.

Abhi is the founder of Nool Monsters—a bilingual platform sharing contemporary stories, songs, and approaches for children to learn Tamil playfully. Through laughter, music, and utter silliness, she’s raising a generation of wee magical guardians who will protect and usher their mother tongue into the future.

Abirami is currently an Education Support Teacher at Presbyterian Preschool Services. She supports and guides children with special needs to integrate them into a mainstream classroom setting, alongside mainstream peers. She has been in the Preschool industry for the past 8 years. She started off as a Kindergarten teacher before switching over to Early Intervention. During her years as a Kindergarten teacher, she always had students with learning disabilities or special needs in every class she taught. Hence, she has always been involved in creating an inclusive setting for children with special needs.

Ain is a prolific writer from Malaysia who has authored 183 novels for children and young people to date. She also regularly conducts school visits to promote reading and writing among students. A previous columnist for Berita Harian and Majalah ASUH, her books have been optioned for film and television by Malaysian broadcaster ASTRO.

Ajia (阿甲) is a Chinese author and translator of children’s books, a promoter of reading, an enthusiastic storyteller and a 2022 Carle Honors Bridge Honoree. As an independent researcher, he has written several books including A Little History of Picture Books and Passion for Reading – A Handbook on Reading Promotion. Picture books authored by Ajia include Li Na: Be an Even Better You illustrated by Yu Rong and Drawing a horse illustrated by Dai Dunbang. He has also translated several reference books like Dear Genius by Leonard S. Marcus and more than 200 picture books from English to Chinese, such as the Peter Rabbit Series, Goodnight Moon, and Where the Wild Things Are. 

Alan is a journalist, writer, and newsroom trainer. He has written two children’s picture books with illustrator Quek Hong Shin - The One And Only Inuka (2018), which won a Popular Readers’ Choice Award, and Ubin Elephant (2021). Both were published by Straits Times Press. He has more ideas for children’s books about animals and hopes Hong Shin will illustrate them.

Alexandra is Director of Literature Across Frontiers, the European Platform for Literary Exchange, Translation and Policy Debate. A cultural manager, editor and translator of numerous books between her native Czech and English, she has served on the board of the advocacy network Culture Action Europe and Translators’ Association UK, and sits on the board of ENLIT, the European network of organisations supporting literary translation, of the European Civil Society Platform for Multilingualism and of Wales PEN Cymru, as well as representing LAF on the steering group organising the programme of the Literary Translation Centre at the London Book Fair.

Amelia has been mentoring professionals in the education industry in the area of language and literacy for the last 16 years. She is a lecturer at the National Institute of Early Childhood Development and teaches subjects like children’s literature, language and literacy, teaching literacy to diverse learners, and teaching techniques for preschool education. Amelia also trains in-service educators in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes and Continuing Education & Training (CET) courses, and conducts workshops for parents.

Andeasyand, creator of A Drip. A Drop. A Deluge: A Period Tragicomedy, discovered the world of illustration in an effort to use up old name cards. She finds ways to describe the beauty of the ordinary with doodles and scribbles, navigating difficult topics like menstruation, anxiety, marriage, weight, as well as silly daily musings. An acquaintance once described it as a risque tendency – she calls it an olive branch to a like-minded stranger.

Andina has been a children’s book illustrator since 2013, working along with multiple publishers and children organisations. She lives in Jakarta with her husband and her plastic cacti. She is bad at math, but excels in napping. One of the books she illustrates is Sirama-Rama, a Room to Read project. She is also the author and illustrator of Kejutan Kungkang and Gelinding.

Andrew presently resides in Tokyo and once spent more time reading with his children than watching them finish yet another title. Today, he continues to enjoy wandering in and out of bookstores and stories together with his family while pursuing his many passions, one of which includes sharing stories and picture books from Japan. He is a member of SCBWI Japan and translator of The World’s Poorest President Speaks Out.

Angela completed her Early Childhood qualifications in Singapore and Australia. She has been a teacher and leader for over 18 years. She had been a lead teacher at Mia Mia Child and Family Study Centre, an internationally renowned demonstration school in Macquarie University, Sydney and is currently the Manager for Curriculum and Research at Pre-School By-The-Park. Living and working in Singapore and Australia, she views her work with children, families and professionals through a bicultural lens. Through her publications and presentations, Angela continues to advocate for the Early Childhood sector and challenges perspectives of children and childhood.

Angeline was in the early childhood industry for eight years before joining the Education team at Mandai Wildlife Group. She continues her passion in engaging young children, educators and families by designing meaningful wildlife experiences for all ages.

Adj. A/Prof Angie is the Founder and CEO of Brahm Centre, a charity dedicated to promoting healthier and happier living. In recognition of her contributions in the mental health space, she was named “The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year 2019”. She is the first certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher in Singapore conferred by the Mindfulness Center at Brown University School of Public Health, in collaboration with UMASS Memorial Health Care’s Center for Mindfulness. Angie is also a certified Dot-b and Paws-b Mindfulness teacher from the Mindfulness in Schools Project (UK). In addition, she is a certified Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Course teacher trained by Oxford University Mindfulness Centre.

Thiam Poh started drawing comics since the 1990s, and has been contributing comics strips to Lian He Zao Bao, Friday Weekly, Thumbs Up and Zao Bao Zhou Kan comics’ column over the years; his The Class series has been published in the newspapers for more than 29 consecutive years. He has collated and published 15 comic books and a picture book during his three-decade long comics career, and his works are well received by parents and student alike. Apart from drawing comics, Thiam Poh has also conducted workshops related to comics, creativity and Chinese for schools, National Library Board and clan associations.

Arif is a comic artist, illustrator and pre-production artist. His work has been published in more than 20 books to date by MPH, Buku Fixi, Maple Comics, Difference Engine, and Marshall Cavendish. These include comics, content illustrations and cover illustrations. His most recent works include the illustration for the comic book series Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma.

Avery's translations of children’s literature from Japanese include the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award-winning novel Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Miho Satake, and the historical novel J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 by Shogo Oketani. Her short story translations have appeared in Kyoto Journal, Words Without Borders, Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories, The Best Asian Short Stories 2018, and A Tapestry of Colours 1: Stories from Asia. She serves as SCBWI and SCBWI Japan Translator Coordinator.

Avianti is a curator and writer. Her short story, Once Upon a Time There was Mother and Radian, was awarded the Kompas Best Short Story in 2009. Her collection of poems Women Whose Names were Erased won the Kusala Katulistiwa Award in 2011. She is a member of the Literary Committee of the Jakarta Arts Council and has published three illustrated children’s story books which help children deal with difficult situations.

When Bijal is not reading a children’s book, she’s editing or writing one. She’s the author of multiple planet-friendly books including A Cloud Called Bhura, Savi and the Memory Keeper, and Kitten Trouble. As a commissioning editor at Pratham Books, she dreams up picture books. She’s now a certified climate worrier.

A trailblazer in the global publishing scene, Bodour, International Publishers Association (IPA) President is creating a positive impact on the world by pushing IPA’s agenda on freedom to publish and intellectual property rights. In 2019, Bodour established PublisHer – an informal networking body that seeks to increase the number of women in leadership roles within the publishing industry. As the CEO and founder of Kalimat Publishing Group, she has been an avid advocate of the role of books and literacy to enlighten children. Bodour has a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeology and Anthropology from Cambridge University and a Master’s degree in Medical Anthropology from University College London.

Buveneswari is an educator who is dedicated to her craft of teaching as well as her pupils. She is a Tamil Language teacher, teaching in a local government school. As an artsy teacher with an inclination towards singing, dancing, storytelling and craftwork, she designs student-centric lessons, weaves values in her lessons, and leverages digital technology to enhance pupils’ learning and experience of the joy of learning the Tamil Language. She believes that learning Mother Tongue Languages should always be made fun and relatable.

Charis is an illustrator, comics editor, and programme designer based in Malaysia. Her illustrations and comics have appeared in books, magazines, games and sidewalks. As Comics Editor and Illustrations Editor at New Naratif, she worked with artists to tell engaging, impactful visual stories. She also co-edited SOUND: A Comics Anthology with Budjette Tan, featuring 13 stories by Southeast Asian creators. At various points in her life she went to school for biochemistry, education, and visual sociology, and has taught youth and adults both in and beyond the classroom. Her website: https://charisloke.com

Cheeno is an Assistant Professor of Communication, Research, and Children’s Literature at the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños, and a PhD communication candidate at UP Diliman. He has received the prestigious Carlos Palanca memorial awards for Literature and the Philippine Board on Books for Young People’s Salanga Prize (honorable mention) for his stories for children. He has published storybooks, various textbooks in communication, media, and related fields.

Cheewan empowers children through his innovative art, placing the reader into the story. Readers learn to cope with their worlds through illustrations tailored to each book, creating an immersive cinematic experience. His mission is to ensure all children can access quality books via reading initiatives, like Passport to Reading.

Shuai is an ex-teacher who has won various awards such as First Prize in the National Novel Competition and the Bing Xin Prize for Children’s Literature Works. Her book titled The Last Dinosaur of Bukit Timah launched in 2015. Her latest YA-fiction Mo Li was awarded the China Bronze Sunflower Prize in 2018.

Chetna is the founder of Rangbhumi: A Happy Playground, an applied theatre organisation. She is an image expression artist, an applied theatre practitioner, a drama based learning facilitator, a TO (Theatre of Oppressed) practitioner, Playback Theatre practitioner, and a Movement practitioner. She is also a Board member of the International Playback Theatre Network (IPTN) and Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed (PTO) and an Advisory Committee member India Drama and Arts Educators Alliance.

The head of Tusitala Books, a digital storytelling studio that reimagines the future of reading where art meets tech, Christine previously worked in academic publishing and arts management. She has a MA in English Literature from the National University of Singapore, and a certificate in Editing from the Graham School at the University of Chicago and attended the Summer Publishing Institute at New York University. She is in the executive committee of the Singapore Book Publishers Association.

Hong Koon is the Publishing Director at World Scientific Publishing Company. He has more than 40 years of publishing experience working with major publishers like Pearson and Oxford University Press. He is a board member of Singapore Book Council (SBC) and the Copyright Licensing and Administration Society of Singapore (CLASS).

Clio is an art educator who occasionally dabbles with making comics and writing about them. Debuted in Arena Fantasy Vol.0 (2009) and Our Months Together (2015), Clio currently has two titles, Kev!n and Libera Nos A Malos serialised online via TCZ Studio’s PuraComixmag. Clio also writes for SG Cartoon Resource Hub. 

Associate professor Dr Dahlan is the head of section for animation at Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Malaysian Institute of Information Technology (MIIT) City Campus. With 20 years of experience in teaching multimedia and animation subjects, Dr Dahlan has being involved in many research and innovation fields such as multimedia, game design, immersive application (augmented reality and virtual reality), comic and animation studies, short film (videography), creative advertising and many more.

Dandi is an Indonesian ukulele musical storyteller. He often composes his own children's songs and mixes them with fairy tales. Dandi is also a geographer, which is why he often tells stories and sings songs related to nature and earth.

Danny studied Creative Writing and Screenwriting at LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts, and his novel The Machine Boy was a winner of NAC's Beyond Words: Young and Younger Award. He wrote the graphic novels Lieutenant Adnan and The Last Regiment, and Elizabeth Choy: Her Story, which were illustrated by artist Zaki Ragman and published by Asiapac Books. His latest historical novel Enrique The Black, published by Penguin Random House SEA, is out now. He has spoken at the Singapore Writer's Festival and hosted for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, and conducts writing workshops in conjunction with Singlit Station. Connect with him on Instagram: @dannyjalil_writer 

Darran has always had the love for drawing and he spent his free time busy doodling and reading comics. Darran set up Chips and Toon in 2007 and the team created their first original content Stoneboy and it was acquired by Nickelodeon Asia in 2011. In 2015 Darran produced SharkDog a new animation series and it was acquired by the Nickelodeon U.S. and subsequently by Netflix in 2020. Darran is currently developing his new project, Fox Tales, an original content that focus on Asian culture and mythology.

Debby is a biologist, conservationist, and National Geographic Explorer. She grew up in one of Singapore’s last villages, where she fished with her father in wild streams and watched pythons sleep in her front yard. Debby aims to get the world excited about science and enhance our relationship with Nature through compelling stories. Debby is the Founder of the Hantu Blog, a volunteer organization that engages policy makers and enhances ocean-literacy through storytelling, citizen science and ecotourism to protect coral reefs in Singapore. She is a Duke University Global Fellow in Conservation Biology and Policy, and serves on the board of Mongabay, a nonprofit conservation and environmental science news platform that publishes original content in seven languages.

Debra taught English Language, Literature and General Paper in MOE schools for more than 14 years. She has been helming educational content development as The Straits Times Schools team’s teaching specialist, and working with Singapore schools on the professional development of teachers in news-in-education. Debra has published several award-winning educational resources, including Mastering English with The Straits Times, which won the Best Educational Title at the Singapore Book Publishers Awards 2018. She is also the author of a series of five illustrated books for children about the heritage food of Singapore’s main ethnic groups.

Dimity is award winning children’s author and loves filling every spare moment with words. She writes and reviews exclusively for children with over 30 published stories including This is My Dad, Oswald Messweather and the critically acclaimed The Fix-It Man. She is also the managing editor for Kids’ Book Review. Dimity is seasoned presenter and dedicated Books in Homes Australia Volunteer role model, Story City community mentor and G.A.T.E.WAYS presenter. Discover more at www.dimitypowell.com.

As an educator, Elaine believes in harnessing the power of the imagination, the pleasure of play and the wonder of stories. She has over a decade of experience teaching and working on early literacy projects. Elaine lectures at NIEC (NP) and teaches modules ranging from children’s literature to language and literacy. She is also currently serving as an advisor to the Ministry of Social and Family Development for Family Values Education projects targeted at preschools.

Elizabeth has been in the sector for seven years and holds a degree qualification in Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College. She journeyed professionally from a classroom teacher, a mentor teacher to centre leadership in the first child study centre in Singapore, The Caterpillar’s Cove Child Study and Development Centre. Elizabeth is currently a centre leader at Pre-School By-The-Park. She has presented locally, sharing insights from her classroom and leadership. She believes that instilling a passion for literature in young children is a pathway into education and an opportunity to be exposed to other worlds of meaning-making.

Emily was born in 1985 in Wisconsin and is now based in Tokyo. His published translations include Shaw Kuzki's Soul Lanterns, Eiko Kadono’s Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Takuji Ichikawa’s The Refugees’ Daughter. He has also translated fiction by Tomihiko Morimi, Ao Omae, Mikoto Mashita, Kugane Maruyama, Carlo Zen, and many others. He has also done the English subtitles for Takahide Hori’s film Junk Head and translated Cocosola’s mobile game The Witch’s Isle. Follow him on Twitter: @tiger.

Emily has authored over 40 children’s books and several essays for various publications. She is a three-time IPPY Award winner and the first Southeast Asian recipient of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Emily was named MediaCorp’s Singapore Woman Award Honoree for inspiring readers with her children’s books and memoir Finding My Voice, which chronicled her journey of losing her voice to a rare illness and finding a new voice in writing.

After studying business administration, Eric worked as a business broker and investor relations manager for several years, before becoming a self-employed consultant for start-ups and international expansion strategies. In August 2018 he joined Bookwire as Head of Business Development, supporting the Bookwire management in strategic projects and developing new digital services for publishing clients together with his team. This includes audiobook production and podcast services, smart speaker skills, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) projects as well as blockchain and NFT applications like www.creatokia.com.

Eva was born on a tropical island where a merlion spurts water. Eva has done many things in life, but writing remains her most favourite thing to do. She combines degrees in literature and art history and writes stories that explore identity, culture, and belonging by adding a dash of magic. Eva has written an award-winning middle-grade book and several picture books.

Evelyn is a children’s author. Her bilingual and multilingual stories have been performed in children’s theatre, at festivals and schools. Just a Little Mynah, the first in a series, was shortlisted for Best Picture Book in the 2021 Singapore Book Awards. As a researcher and educator, she advocated fair labour practices and sustainable development in Asia.

Farahdilla works at a game development company as a 2D artist. She is also a freelance content creator and she has worked with various artbook collaborations. Her hobby is drawing comics and experimenting with various visual media.

Fishball is a freelance artist based in Malaysia. She lives with her (literally) huge boyfriend, and really likes her banana leaf rice drowned in a pool of dahl. She is the creator behind popular webcomic My Giant Nerd Boyfriend, where she chronicles her adventures navigating the Malaysian life with her 199cm-tall, geeky boyfriend and all the minor inconveniences a 30-cm height difference might bring.

Jia Qi, whose ancestral hometown is Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province, was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1960. To date, she has published more than 400 children’s books in Taiwan. Many works have also been published in mainland China and other places. She is the holder of multiple awards, including the Golden Tripod Award and Best Children’s Book at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Her works have been translated into English, Japanese, German and Korean, and selected as teaching materials in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore. She frequently engages in reading and writing exchanges with students from primary and secondary schools, and is well-received.

Hafidz is an orthopaedic surgeon living in Brunei with his wife and three children. He is an avid reader of fantasy. In his mind, he has led great armies, slain dragons, dispatched hordes of enemies, and even toppled an evil god or two. He may not always win the heart of the princess, but with each heartbreak comes valuable life lessons. He is a firm believer that literacy is a valuable skill which is at risk of fading away. It is unknown whether his stories will rock the world, but even if one person gets inspired, he’ll call that a win.

Hamdan graduated from the Malaysia Institute of Art, majoring in graphic art. He loved drawing as a child and his drawing skills enabled him to earn some pocket money even as a child. After graduating, he worked in advertising before being offered a position in an animation company. He was the artist behind the animation movie, Usop Sontorian, aired by Radio Televisyen Malaysia in 1996. Hamdan currently illustrates and writes children’s books full-time and has worked with companies such as Blue-T, Creative Enterprise and Berita Publishing.

Hannah is 11 and has always been an avid reader. She enjoys going to school and writing short stories with her best friend. Steps to Heaven is her first book. She was inspired from witnessing how her godmother bravely fought cancer and gracefully lived her last days. She hopes that children will enjoy reading the book and parents can explain difficult concepts such as death to their children.

Hannah is an assistant professor in English studies at the faculty of arts and social sciences at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. She read her PhD in contemporary Asian diaspora literatures at the University of York. She was a postdoctoral fellow at King’s College London and University of California. Her research interests include contemporary anglophone Bruneian literature. Her scholarly work is published in international peer-reviewed journals like Global Society and Southeast Asian Review of English.

Harmony is an illustrator and author. Her work includes George Takei’s Eisner Award winning graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy and the graphic novel Himawari House, which received six starred trade reviews. She currently lives in Mexico City with her two cats.

Mdm Haslindah was a former Lead Specialist, Malay Language, Ministry of Education. She has more than 13 years of experience teaching Malay Language in secondary schools and 26 years experience in curriculum planning and development. In MOE, she planned and developed instructional materials for teaching and learning for preschool to junior college level. She was involved in the selection of resources for the recipients of the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism. She was also the editor for the popular and widely used Nabil dan Nabilah Reader Series for preschoolers and lower primary students.

Hendarto is a freelance translator who works from German and English into his native Bahasa Indonesia. He launched his career in the mid-1980s and to date has translated more than 100 titles, most of them books for children and young readers. Seeking to promote the profession in Indonesia, he joined Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia (the Association of Indonesian Translators) in 2004 and has since held a number of positions. He currently serves on the advisory board of the organisation. He lives with his family in Bogor near Jakarta and enjoys working from home in the tranquility of his semi-rural surroundings.

Hidayah is a Singapore-born, award-winning author. Her first short story The Funny Accident was published when she was 11 years old. When the Singapore government acquired her childhood home, Hidayah resumed writing and published Gedung Kuning: Memories of a Malay Childhood. Since then, she has written eight nonfiction books and eight children’s books. Her books The Mango Tree and Leluhur: Singapore’s Kampong Gelam have won literary awards.

Lee-Ling (Stephanie) is a Singapore historian and author. She is a partner of The History Workroom LLP, researching and creating history-related content for exhibitions, workshops and publications. Her books, Habibah: Story of an Island Girl, and Adventures of Admiral Zheng He are inspired by Southeast Asian history.

Hsiaochi Chang is an illustrator who is currently based in Taipei, Taiwan. She has written numerous children’s books such as Will Arrive Anyway (反正都可以到嘛!) and I Preferred Not to Open My Eyes (哪邊是哪邊). Her works have been selected for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrators’ Exhibition 2020, 2021, and she has received an Honorable Mention at the 3×3 Illustration Show, No.12. Her illustration style is whimsical and playful and she is often inspired by the humorous situations she encounters in daily life. What drives her to create is the desire to play and express emotions. She usually works with acrylic, watercolor, gouache, and Adobe Photoshop, but she is open to experimenting with all types of media.

Hu Wei (Francis Wong Hooe Wai) is an architect, a writer, and an illustrator who grew up in Chinatown, Singapore and studied architecture at Cambridge University, United Kingdom.  Since 2016, he has published five picture books, of which The Little Bear’s New Clothes, part of a Chinatown Trilogy, received the White Ravens 2020 label. This label is given to children and youth literature of international interest.

Xu Haina developed an interest in early childhood education after graduating with a Master’s degree from the City University of Hong Kong. She later obtained a Diploma in Special Education from the HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education. She served as an early childhood mentor and curriculum developer (Early Childhood Education), while serving as a special correspondent and long-term writer for magazines and newspapers. In 2017, she moved to Singapore and was involved in early childhood education, children’s books, and creation of drawings, as well as publication of commentaries related to education, reading and current affairs.
  

Iskandar is a professionally trained healthcare clown and the co-founder of Red Bubbles, a non-profit organisation. Apart from clowning around in the children's wards, he is also a children's book author and co-wrote the DR Bubbles picture book series in Bahasa Melayu along with his longtime clown partner, Latfy Anuar Latif. He is also a professional translator and has translated several non-fiction books into Bahasa Melayu.

Jai is Head of Content and Co-Founder at Beebly, an upcoming K-12 Edtech service. In past lives, Jai was Head of Content for Audible India, ran his own audiobook business, and was a banker. 

Jane has been a librarian with NLB since 1993. She started her career as a Librarian with the Public Libraries, joined the National Reference Library in 1998, and between 2012 to 2015, was the Region Head of Eastern Libraries comprising six branches in the Eastern part of Singapore. Currently the Head of Chinese Language, she is responsible for the overall strategic directions and implementation of nationwide reading programmes for the Chinese Language. Her team works on the development of the Chinese physical and digital collections in the entire public library network.

Janice is a former public servant turned full-time mum and freelance writer. Her first publication for children, Sing a Song of Hawker Food, combines nursery rhymes with a topic that is dear to her heart—hawker food. Having written a good number of papers on serious topics when she worked for large organisations, Janice finds that writing fiction for children is serious business too, but much more fun. She stays in Singapore with her family.

Jillian is an illustrator and comic artist living in Toronto, Canada. A professional artist since 2003, she has worked for publications around the world and has taught in New York City at the undergraduate and graduate level. She has created books for people of all ages, from picture books to webcomics and adult graphic novels. She is the co-creator of Skim and This One Summer, which won a Caldecott Honor and Printz Award.

Jill has been in the fields of journalism and editing for more than 25 years and has, at various times, been a newspaper reporter, a copyeditor, a sub-editor and a magazine editor. She became a book editor with Straits Times Press in 2017. As the mother of three daughters, the oldest of whom has autism, she was inspired to pen a children’s book on autism and family relationships. The result: My Colouring Book is Ruined!, published in March 2019. It was shortlisted for the Popular Readers’ Choice Awards in 2019. She has written three other children’s books, on pet ownership, which were published in 2021.

John is an award-winning author and translator who has written four books and translated over 150 children’s books. His passion for literature and language led to the founding of InterThaiMedia LLC to publish media that brings people together across languages and cultures. He has a decade of experience as an educator in Thailand and China. John is also pursuing a master’s degree in special educational needs, focusing on literacy.

Jo is the co-founder of Pixie B, an IP management and strategy agency specialising in publishing, film, and the creative sector in Asia. Specialists on the China market, Pixie B advises businesses, organisations, and individuals on commercial strategies, brand management, and market access. Clients include Harry Potter digital publisher Pottermore Publishing and US children’s franchise Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, as well as BBC Studios, The Financial Times, Macmillan Publishers, Tatler Asia,and individual author agency services. Jo was formerly the CEO of Penguin Random House North Asia.

Joyce graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in English, and has since worked as a lifestyle journalist, fashion editor, and freelance writer for various publications. She is the author of the young adult contemporary romance, Lambs for Dinner and a winner of the Beyond Words: Young and Younger competition. She publishes her short fiction on her short story blog Muse in Pocket, Pen in Hand while working on her next novel.

Julia is the founder and publisher of Gecko Press, a small-by-choice independent publisher based in New Zealand of curiously good books for children since 2005. Gecko Press publishes a curated list of books in translation from some of the best writers and illustrators in the world for ages 0 to 12 (sometimes infinity). Gecko Press books celebrate unsameness. They offer different—sometimes challenging, often funny, thoughtful, inquisitive—ways of seeing the world. Gecko Press books are sold in English-speaking countries worldwide. Julia also translates children's books from Swedish to English.

Photo by Johnny Hendrikus

Kamini is a pioneer in the field of oral storytelling in Asia. Through her work in Moonshadow Stories she is known for promoting storytelling for adult audiences. She founded The Storytelling Centre Limited to advance the art of storytelling through the Young Storytellers Mentorship Programme. She is also creative producer of StoryFest Singapore. A respected teaching artist, she is a specialist storytelling lecturer for tertiary level programmes in Communications Studies, Arts Management, Expressive Arts and Performing Arts. Known for her site-specific storytelling experiences, she enjoys working with museums, galleries and cultural institutions.

(Photo by Zane Lee)

Karen is responsible for the conceptualisation of workshops and resources for educators, school students and families at Mandai Wildlife Group. She possesses 15 years of experience in promoting family learning in wildlife parks and museums.

Kate has a teaching qualification and a Masters in children’s literature from the UK. She has lived in Germany, Spain and the UK for the last 10 years while working and studying in the field of education (Instituto de Empresa Business School, Spain and the University of Cambridge, UK). She is also an executive committee member of the International School Library Network in Singapore, which supports teacher-librarians and organises the annual Red Dot Book Awards for students.

Katie Day holds a Masters in children’s literature from the UK and a Masters in library science and secondary teaching qualification from Australia. She has worked as a teacher-librarian in Thailand (Dulwich Int’l College and NIST) and Singapore (United World College of Southeast Asia and Tanglin Trust School). Katie is an executive committee member of the International School Library Network in Singapore, which supports teacher-librarians and organises the annual Red Dot Book Awards for students.

Leslie W is Kayce’s pen name. She is the regional editor at The Smart Local. She graduated with an English literature degree from the National University of Singapore, and was one of six mentees selected for the Mentor Access Project’s Fiction category, an annual programme which develops emerging writers. The Night of Legends was written under the mentorship of prolific local writer, Dave Chua.

Sengmeng is the Senior Deputy Director for AI Innovation at  AI Singapore, a national programme launched by the National  Research Foundation (NRF) to anchor deep national  capabilities in AI, thereby creating social and economic  impacts, grow the local talent, build an AI ecosystem, and put  Singapore on the world map. Prior to AI Singapore, Sengmeng has over a decade of  experience in info-communication and media (ICM) industry  and was part of Singapore Public Service in 2012, where his  team shaped the billion-dollar Asia Pacific games industry for  Singapore and roll out industry-firsts programmes.  

Krisana, together with Vachirawan Tapsua, founded of Littleblackoz Studio, which explores art and storytelling techniques to develop quality, engaging children’s books. Their character designs are unique and intriguing, yet they have one thing in common—a good heart. Littleblackoz Studio aims to create children’s picture books that are fun to read and make children (and adults) happy. They spend time crafting each book to communicate with children and we are delighted everytime they hear our creations talk to children and touch their heart. Their outstanding books include Baba, Nana, and the Four Friends Series.

Lawrence lives in Madrid, Spain and writes in both Spanish and English. He has published over 120 books in a wide range of genres. He is also a prolific literary translator. His translations into Spanish include the graphic novel They Called Us Enemy by George Takei; his translations into English include the middle grade novels The Wild Book by Juan Villoro and The Treasure of Barracuda by Llanos Campos. He has sold his children's books Early One Morning and Bedtime, Not Playtime! illustrated by Elina Braslina in 35 editions in 27 languages so far.

Gee-eun is a Korean picture book writer whose books are loved by many and have been published in other countries outside of Korea. They have also been adapted into children’s musicals. Her work Iparapa Yamooyamoo was awarded the prestigious BolognaRagazzi Award in the Comics/Early Reader category in 2021.

Geum-yi is an author of children’s and young adult fiction. Since her debut in 1984, Geum-yi has published more than 50 titles that contributed to an explosive progress in South Korean Children’s Literature. Her Young Adult fictions have brought about the birth and the expansion of its genre in South Korea. Her work has also been adapted into a TV mini-series, a musical, and a webcomic. Her short stories and excerpts have appeared in various school textbooks, and many of her books have been selected for the One City One Book Campaign and the One Semester One Book Campaign.

Lianne is a Singaporean children’s author and freelance writer. She has published 14 children’s picture books, three of which have won prizes in the Samsung Kidstime Author’s Award. She is best known for her Stacey & the Museums series, a 5-title series about museums in Singapore, and a nonfiction resource on hawker food, Timmy & Tammy Discover: Singapore Hawker Food.

Che Chang is a graduate from the Graduate Institute of Children's Literature at National Taitung University. He has received the Reed Pipe Award, Cross-Straits Children’s Literature Award, Ministry of Education Literary Award, Good Books for Everyone Award and Chiuko Modern Children’s Literature Award. His publications include Pipi Chaoren (屁屁超人),  Yong Dianxin Xuexiao (用点心学校), Xiandao Xiaoxue (仙岛小学) Bu Toulan Xiaoxue (不偷懒小学) and  Chongwu Gongfu Xuexiao (宠物功夫学校).

Linda is managing director and publisher of Integra Creative Media Sdn Bhd (ICM). As one of the founders of ICM, she has grown the company to a leading children’s book publisher in Malaysia specialising in picture books. In 2021, the company established the Museum of Picture Book Art in downtown Kuala Lumpur. She is the President of the Children’s Picture Book Association of Malaysia and an executive committee member of the Malaysia Book Publishers Association.

Lisa is the President and Publisher of Canada’s leading children’s book publisher, Kids Can Press, part of the Corus Entertainment family, the recipient of the 2017 Bologna Prize for Best Children’s Publisher, North America, and a signatory of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publishing Compact.

At Kids Can Press, Lisa oversees all publishing operations and the stewardship of signature brands, including the award-winning CitizenKid global issues collection. In 2020, CitizenKid Television debuted as an acclaimed climate change documentary special with Lisa as an Executive Producer. Lisa has led the company’s diversification beyond traditional publishing into new revenue streams.

Lisa is a librarian who inspires and educates early readers. She believes that the seed of learning should be planted young to allow it to germinate to its fullest potential and involves herself in creating content for underprivileged children to develop early literacy. She loves storytelling and interacting with children when it comes to awakening their interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) concepts and everything scientific.

Ying Ping is the bestselling author of the Mount Emily novels, a middle grade/young adult fantasy series featuring time travel and friendship, as well as Prophecy of the Underworld, a quirky and full-filled middle grade adventure story. Her novels have won the Singapore Book Awards and have been shortlisted for other prizes such as the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award and the Popular Readers’ Choice Award.

Lyn translates children’s books from Portuguese and Spanish to English. Among her publications are The World in a Second; Lines, Squiggles, Letters, Words, a USBBY Outstanding International Book; The Queen of the Frogs; Three Balls of Wool (Can Change the World), a picture book co-sponsored by Amnesty International; Olive the Sheep Can’t Sleep; and The President of the Jungle. In addition, she is the author of the award-winning YA novels Gringolandia and the forthcoming Torch, and co-author with Zetta Elliott of the middle grade verse novel Moonwalking. For more information, visit lynmillerlachmann.com.

A librarian and a mother of two boys who are always keeping her on her toes, Mardhiah enjoys instilling the joys of reading to children. With more than a decade of experience as a librarian in NLB, Mardhiah is a firm believer that there is always an element of fun in imparting knowledge to children. Her love for Science has grown since her primary school days and to her, Science is a subject that can be introduced through reading with lots of fun and exploring.

Margarita is the Cuban-American author of many verse novels, memoirs, and picture books, including The Surrender Tree, Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, and Dancing Hands. Awards include a Newbery Honor, Pura Belpré, Golden Kite, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt, among others. Margarita served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate. She is a three-time U.S. nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Book Award. Her most recent books are Your Heart, Light for All, Rima’s Rebellion, and Singing With Elephants.

(Photo by Shevaun Williams)

Maria is an author, educator, lead content creator, consultant, publisher and co-founder of Ungu Pen, a Singapore-based independent publishing house, where she oversees the development of engaging and meaningful content in digital and non-digital formats. She has written and published extensively in both English and Malay. Her first bilingual (English-Malay) children’s book There Are Saga Seeds In Our Pockets! has been adapted to a digital online programme for the Esplanade and translated into Mandarin.

Mary, a child development specialist and psychologist, promotes ways in which teachers and parents can actively enable children to make sense of the world on their own terms. Dr George's therapeutic work includes helping challenged kids and teens to be better processors of what they read, hear, and see. Mary is also an editor and publisher of What's Up, a monthly children's newspaper in Singapore. 

Maureen is the author of The Great Singapore Poo Sale, Other Beastly Business and its sequel, Make Animals Great Again, and Other Creature Campaigns. These texts, and the talks she gives at schools and various organisations, aim to raise awareness about environmental conservation and politics in a humorous way.

May is an Associate Professor and an experienced occupational therapist. She has been working with children with developmental disabilities in Singapore and Australia. May serves as the director of Centre for Learning Environment and Assessment Development (CoLEAD) in the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and looks after the faculty’s development programmes in learning and teaching at the university level. She has won the SIT Teaching Excellence Award thrice.

Melanie is the author of the comic book series Amazing Ash & Superhero Ah Ma, as well the picture book series, The Adventures of Squirky the Alien, which picked up the Crystal Kite Award (Middle East/India/Asia division) in 2016. She has also published Imaginary Friends: 26 Whimsical Fables for Getting on in a Crazy World, a collection of illustrated short stories together with Arif Rafhan.

Mohini is a DPhil candidate at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. She was selected as the Charles Wallace India Trust Translator-Writer Fellow in 2017 for creative writing and translation. An alumna of SOAS University of London, she has been a Research Fellow at Sarai, CSDS; and a translator-in-residence at the Sangam House international writers’ residency in Bangalore. She has founded the digital collective 'Mother Tongue Twisters' and writes for publications such as Huffington Post, The Caravan Magazine, TheWire.in, Scroll.in and the WorldKidLit Blog. Her English-Hindi translations have been published by Tulika Publishers.

Neil is Singapore’s best-selling author, writing 26 books and entertaining millions of readers across the world. For younger readers, he is best known as the funny author of the Princess Incognito series and the Abbie Rose and the Magic Suitcase collection of children’s books. A popular writer across all media, Neil co-wrote the children’s TV series – Mind Blown! – for MediaCorp in 2021. A qualified public speaker, he also gives talks, lectures and workshops on reading, writing, journalism and risk-taking at kindergartens, schools and universities.

Nicky is based in the UK and translates fiction, and occasionally non-fiction and poetry by contemporary Chinese authors. She has translated two novels by children’s author Huang Beijia: I Want to be Good (New Classic Press, 2022) and Flight of the Bumblebee (forthcoming). She has won several awards, including the 2020 China Special Book Award, the Mao Tai Cup People's Literature Chinese-English translation prize 2015, and the 2013 China International Translation Contest. When not translating, she works for the registered non-profit Paper Republic, which promotes Chinese literature in translation. She also runs literary events, writes blogs, and gives talks. Her home page is here: https://paper-republic.org/pers/nicky-harman/

Photo by Alex Hofford

Nicolas is a lecturer and comic scholar at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand). He is the author of The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes. His research interests mainly focus on the history of Thai comics, comics as a language of psychic trauma, and experimental comics composition. He is the editor of the GAP comics zine series and the XeroXed interview-zine series, and an occasional panel moderator, exhibition curator and workshop organiser.

Nur Ilyana is a mother of four. Her third child, Alyssa, has Down’s Syndrome. Ilyana left her job as a primary school teacher when Alyssa was born to take care of Alyssa and her family. Ilyana’s interests include reading, writing, poetry, cooking and teaching. She is an advocate for children with Down’s Syndrome and hopes to do more for the Down’s Syndrome community and raise awareness of Down’s Syndrome.

Pauline is an award-winning author and a creative writing teacher. She has 30 years of writing experience and has published 12 adult non-fiction books, six young adult books and nine children’s storybooks. She was a runner-up for the Scholastic Asian Book Award and her books have been shortlisted for the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award, Singapore Book Awards and longlisted for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize.

Peeriya is the ThaiBBY (Thai Board of Books for Young People) Secretary-General, a co-founder of InterThaiMedia LLC, a translator, an author, and an English lecturer at Chulalongkorn University. Peeriya has written four bilingual children’s books and translated more than 150 books, mostly from Thai to English. She also designs and implements teaching techniques to encourage critical and creative thinking.

Peter is an Assistant Professor in Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, Singapore. He loves to travel with his laptop computer. He has swam in the Amazon river, saw the great migration in Safari, and trekked the Himalayas. One of his research interests is STEAM education, of which includes 3D printing, robots, interactive programming, and online learning. Peter is now writing a book for the youth in Online to Offline (O2O) format, aimed at sparking their interest in how technology can change the world and impact their future career.

Piers began his career in theatre and then television as a producer and writer. His first children’s book, The Last Wild, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Award and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His second book, The Dark Wild, won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. Piers completed an unfinished novel by his late father Paul (author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) and adapted The Box of Delights for stage.

Qiyun is a Singaporean environmentalist that uses illustrations to communicate climate issues where she's known for her Instagram account, The Weird and Wild (@theweirdandwild). Trained in environmental sciences,  she harnesses the power of social media and illustrations to break down the complexities behind one of the most existential issues of our time. She has partnered with local and international organizations to do science communications work, and with corporate partners to work on public projects. She's also currently building a creative studio, Climate Commons, where her interdisciplinary team aims to explore novel ways to communicate climate issues. 

Hong Shin is a Singaporean picture book author and illustrator. He has illustrated several picture books and his work has been shortlisted twice for The Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award. His book The Incredible Basket, published by Epigram Books, was the winner of Best Children's Book at the 2019 Singapore Book Awards.

Rachael has more than 30 years experience in publishing in Australia, in a variety of product, sales, marketing and senior management roles. She has worked with trade distributor Inbooks, as well as James Bennett/Nielsen Bookdata, Blackwell Book Services and Baker & Taylor. She now runs RM Marketing Services, providing outsourcing sales and marketing solutions for publishers. A common thread has been helping publishers present and market their books through better book metadata. She teaches book marketing and sales at the University of Sydney.

Radhika is the brain and spirit behind Tulika, a pioneering publishing house started in 1996 and recognized in India and internationally, for its outstanding range of multilingual children’s books. Inclusive and representative, the books in different languages reflect cultural diversity in every respect. Tulika won the 2022 International Excellence Award for Children’s and Young Adult’s Publishing at the London Book Fair. In 2019 it was awarded the International Excellence Award for Literary Translation Initiative, in recognition of its unique, “ambitious, energetic and inclusive publishing programme.” A hands-on publisher, she is deeply involved in the visualizing, editing, designing and marketing of Tulika books.

Razmiah is the co-founder of Chellamey Books. As a full-time working mum, venturing into the realm of children’s book publishing in her spare time was an unexpected but fulfilling career shift. Her interest in the Tamil language bloomed when she became a mother. Understanding the importance of raising her children to be kind, confident and proud of their mother tongue, she developed her passion, together with her best friend Usha, to bring good quality, interactive Tamil books to her own children and to Tamil families worldwide. Razmiah is also a communications professional with seven years’ experience in both private and public sector industries.

Reni is a Filipina writer, editor, and children’s book publisher. She worked eight years in American publishing houses in New York City before founding Tahanan Books in Manila in 1992. Named for the Filipino word for home, Tahanan publishes books that celebrate Philippine history and culture, and is a 14-time winner of the National Children’s Book Award. Its publist of over 150 titles is sold domestically and abroad. Reni is an award-winning author of two picture books Ay, Naku! and Méme: The Baby Book. She divides her time between Manila and Seattle.

Reynald is a Programme Officer at The Asia Foundation which manages the Books for Asia Programme and Let’s Read in the Philippines. He is a graduate of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. He also took up a Master of Business Administration at the Pamantasan ng Cabuyao, Laguna. Since joining the foundation, he has performed community development initiatives to sustain its programme growth and resources on literacy and cultural heritage such as Let’s Read through translation events. As a product of the public-school system, he has focused his commitment to support lifelong learning and the improvement of the lives of the younger generation through his work and ethics.

Rhaimie has more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media. His work, Mystery Investigators Five and The Case of The Missing Golden Bird Mask was awarded the First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative by the Media Development Authority (MDA). Besides writing, he also helps aspiring writers and new publishers realise their dream of publishing their own book by giving them advice and support in design, editing and illustrations.

A two-time winner of Anugerah Persuratan, Rilla is an educator, author, entrepreneur, TV presenter and pioneer of Malay speech and drama programmes in schools in Singapore. She builds creative content for the classroom and television and has written more than twenty-five Malay as well as bilingual children’s books. As the founder of the educational company Mini Monsters Ltd, she hopes to reignite the love for the Malay language through workshops, bilingual publications and cross-media educational materials that are relevant for today’s generation of children.

Rizal is a self-taught artist, a freelance illustrator, comic artist and animator who is comfortable with both the brush and digital pen. Some of his works include a graphic novel, Mystery Investigators Five and The Case of the Missing Golden Bird Mask; a children’s picture book, Which Kuih? and chapter books, Ekspedisi Nabil Nabilah 1 & 2. He has illustrated for publishers, corporations, schools and television productions. Rizal enjoys playing the guitar in his free time.

Roshan is an Artist and facilitator based in India. He has been a core member of Rangbhumi since 2016. He has been facilitating Applied Theatre medium Arts with schools, NGOs and Corporates. He has attended several Applied Theatre based workshops and talks, and has been part of various online performances depicting the challenges and conflicts in inter-personal, inter-generational and rural-urban relationships.  He has keen interest in teacher trainings and embodiment practices.

Sabine studied Ethnology and Malaiology at the University Cologne, as well as Indonesian at Gadjah Mada University Yogyakarta. She also completed a postgraduate course in German as a Foreign Language at the University Düsseldorf. After completing her studies, she lived for several years in Bandung and Jakarta, where she worked as an instructor and translator at a Polytechnical College, and as a project officer for the Language and Program Department at the Goethe-Institut.

Dr Sadie-Jane Nunis (Huff) is the current President of the Library Association of Singapore.

Dr Nunis also runs her own consultancy, Superlative She, as THE Wordsmith Extraordinaire where she dabbles in Editorials, Book-related work, and Content Creation. While she sits on various councils (only 12!) ranging from the Singapore Kindness Movement to the Federation of Business and Professional Women (Singapore) (FBWP (S)), she still manages to find time to read, build LEGO, play dungeons and dragons, and spread the love of books through her involvement in the Book Fairy Movement.

Sarah is a newly minted author of The River that Brings Us Life. She enjoys depicting life and experiences with watercolours and reading children’s books to her three children. She was born in Australia, presently resides in Singapore, and loves the outdoors as well as tending to her corridor garden.

Saridah is a native of Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur who started writing in 1990. She is the author of the Young Aishah series, which has been translated into Indonesian and marketed in Indonesia. Her books titled, Terima Kasih Nurul and Hapuskan Airmata Ana also won the National Book Award 2012.

Sawad is a translator from the Arabic whose work has been recognized by English PEN, the Anglo-Omani Society and the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, among others. A judge for the Palestine Book Awards and co-chair for the UK's Translator's Association, her recent translations include Passage to the Plaza and A Bed for the King’s Daughter. She has run workshops introducing translation to students and adults and is the 2022 translator in residence at the British Centre for Literary Translation. She tweets at @sawadhussain.

Shahida is a correspondent at Berita Harian. She started off as a lifestyle reporter and was concurrently the editor of Berita Harian’s student publication - i3 (pronounced I-Cube) / GenG (pronounced Gen G). Engaging the young continues to be her passion, and till today, she actively participates in Learning Journey and School Visits to get students excited about journalism and the Malay language. She is currently the co-producer and presenter of BH’s podcast, #NoTapis, and fronts many of BH’s online programmes including its discussions on current issues as well as the newspaper’s Sunday morning infotainment programme - The BM Show.

Shahril is an educator at PCF Sparkletots Preschool and teaches both the Malay and English language in his preschool. He is the founder of Pantunism, a Pantun (Malay Poetry) enthusiast, and hopes to impart to children the importance of the Malay language in understanding their culture and identity.

Sharanja is a librarian and author. The Magic Crystal and the Superheroes was created to allow Tamil children to see themselves as superheroes too, and was inspired by her own children. She is also mom to three energetic superheroes. Sharanja is also a librarian at Toronto Public Library. 

Shinsuke was born in Japan in 1973 and creates inventively humorous and lively illustrations. His unique and surprising take on everyday life has captured the imagination of readers everywhere. His debut work, It Might Be an Apple, has been translated into 10 languages. In addition to winning many awards in Japan, his picture book Still Stuck won the Bologna Ragazzi award 2017.

Shirley is an Associate Librarian from the Children & Teens team in the National Library Board (NLB), Singapore. She works with primary and secondary schools to build and sustain strong reading cultures through outreach programmes and literary packages for students. She is also in the project team responsible for the conceptualisation of children programmes and services for the new Punggol Regional Library. Shirley enjoys reading children’s realistic fiction.

Shoba is the author of Janggan Dragon Kite, which was longlisted for the Scholastic Picture Book Awards in 2015. Shoba has been a management consultant, a preschool owner/teacher, and an early childhood education consultant. She now writes and mentors storytellers and is one of the core team members of KPBA—The Society for the Advancement of Children’s Literature.

Ee Waun is the author of The Little Singapore Book, The House on Palmer Road, its sequel The House on Silat Road, and most recently, We Shall Remember: The Story of Singapore at War. A history buff, she is passionate about bringing tales from Singapore’s past to life for children, and hopes that they (and their parents) would discover that our past is full of amazing stories. Ee Waun was a food writer of 30 years before switching to historical creative non-fiction. She holds an MA in International Journalism. In between writing, she teaches public speaking at the National University of Singapore.

In 2018, Mdm Siti was invited to be a part of the team of preschool Malay Language educators to write a story for the Nabil dan Nabilah Reader Series for preschool children. She desired a storybook that would capture the interest of the children, spark their creativity, and excite their curiosity. In her book titled Ubi, she also wanted to weave traditional values and highlight the changing roles that grandparents play in this current time.

Aiwen is the principal at Star Learners@Thomson with over 10 years of experience in teaching toddlers and adolescents both abroad and in Singapore. She currently leads a team of 12 staff and occasionally volunteers in her free time. Aiwen holds an advanced diploma in leadership from Nanyang Polytechnic and a bachelor’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Sophia is passionate about upcycling materials into toys and art with her three children, a hobby she shares on Craftcycle for Kids. Her work has been featured in the media and an NEA video campaign. She enjoys introducing upcycling to children through school visits and hands-on craft and storytelling.

Vidhya is a primary school teacher who enjoys working with children to provide rich language experiences that will develop their love for the language while equipping them with social emotional skills. As a book lover, she particularly enjoys children's literature and believes that stories is an effective teaching tool that captivates children's attention, brings learning to life and creates platforms for teachable moments using books. She encourages the culture of reading to her students and introduces various books to them to build the interest for reading for the curious young minds.

Stephanie is the Senior Curriculum Specialist at Star Learners with more than 10 years of experience in the Early Childhood sector. She has worked with diverse student demographics across formal and informal class settings. Picture books hold a special place in her heart, as she believes that they can ignite a love for reading in both the young and old.

Swapnil is an Adjunct Mentor at SMU, bringing social finance to life through projects with undergraduate students. He is on a mission to help everyone gain access to financial wellness with the use of technology. His children’s book, Freddy the Eager Fundraiser was launched at the Singapore Writers Festival in 2018.

Sydney Smith is the award-winning author and illustrator of Small in the City as well as the illustrator of I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart, among others. Sydney has received multiple awards including four consecutive New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Awards, two Kate Greenaway Awards and is nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Sydney was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. Picture books have always been his full-time passion but Sydney started his illustration journey collaborating with musicians.

Photo by Steve Farmer

A renowned writer of children’s literature, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language Studies from Universiti Putra Malaysia. She developed a love for writing since young and began publishing works while she was still in university. In 2006, she published young adult books, and her famous works include Chun chun de shou hu shen (纯纯的守护神) , Ji Yi Tian Shi (记忆天使), Yue Liang Cheng (月亮城), Tai Yang Cheng (太阳城), Yi Feng Chi Lai de Xin (一封迟来的信) , Zai Jian, Tian Shi (再见，小天使) , Da Ge Tou yu Xiao Mei Tou (大哥头与小妹头), and Xing Fu Lai Qiao Men (幸福来敲门).

Tanya has worked on innovation campaigns for large multi-nationals like Netflix, Facebook, Nike, Coca-Cola and Heineken. She moved to Singapore in 2005 to work on Tiger Beer. She has since gone to run agencies, Kult gallery, connecting designers with brands, and now education. Tanya is a firm believer in the power of visual communication. EYEYAH! merges her expertise in storytelling with her passion for nurturing talent and innovation within education and business.

Taqarrabie/Bie was a writer and assistant producer for several TV series and feature-length films before starting her journey in the advertising industry as a copywriter. Now, Bie is a creative director for audiovisual and advertising projects which continuously creates various passion projects in oral storytelling, book writing, and filmmaking.

Trasvin founded Silkworm Books (1991) and the Mekong Press Foundation (2005). She launched the ASEAN Illustration Award and co-founded the International Children's Content Rights Fair (ICCRF) in 2017.  

Trasvin served in national, regional, and international publishing communities, including Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT; advisor, 2009–15 and 2019–21); the Bangkok UNESCO World Book Capital City, 2013 (a focal person); the 30th International Publishers Association (IPA) Congress, Bangkok, 2015 (chaired, the Organizing Committee); the IPA Executive Committee, 2012 to 2017; the ASEAN Book Publishers Association (ABPA), 2020–21 (Secretary-General); the IPA's Freedom to Publish Committee (2017-present).

Trina is the Director of Legal at IPOS.   She is involved in legal policy reform including spearheading the Copyright Review with the Ministry of Law. Trina was in private practice where she specialised in matters involving the protection, and management of intellectual property rights. During her time in legal practice, she was ranked annually since 2007 in the intellectual property industry and TMT industry by the Asia Pacific Legal 500.   She is also listed in the IAM Strategy 300 :The World’s Leading IP Strategists guide since 2020.

Usha, co-founder of Chellamey Books, is also a full-time practicing engineer. Having been a good Tamil student whose oral skills in the language were always sub-par, becoming a mother made her very determined to ensure that Tamil was as much lingua franca in her household as English was. This inspiration that she shared with her best friend Razmiah led them to the idea of Chellamey books as they felt that there was insufficient quality material in Tamil for young children such as theirs.

Uthe has learned to dance since four years old, inspired by her mom who was a dancer in her youth. Starting her interest in Balinese and Malay dances led her to participate in student exchange activities and goodwill walkouts outside Indonesia. Today, Uthe has deepened the elements of performing arts other than dance, and sought experience as a dancer, stage manager, instructor, facilitator, choreographer, costume designer, dance competition jury, and people development trainer.

Vachirawan, together with Krisana Kanjanapa, founded of Littleblackoz Studio, which explores art and storytelling techniques to develop quality, engaging children’s books. Their character designs are unique and intriguing, yet they have one thing in common—a good heart. Littleblackoz Studio aims to create children’s picture books that are fun to read and make children (and adults) happy. They spend time crafting each book to communicate with children and we are delighted everytime they hear our creations talk to children and touch their heart. Their outstanding books include Baba, Nana, and the Four Friends Series.

Vanessa is an Associate Librarian from the Children & Teens team in the National Library Board (NLB), Singapore. She works with primary and secondary schools to build and sustain strong reading cultures through outreach programmes and literary packages for students. She is also in the project team responsible for the conceptualisation of children programmes and services for the new Punggol Regional Library. Vanessa enjoys reading translated Asian literature.

Originally from Singapore, Vanitha lives in Sydney with her husband and two little children. Having worked as a Marketing Manager for over eight years, Vanitha holds a Masters’ degree in Business Administration. Unable to find good quality Tamil books for her own children, Vanitha turned to self-publishing and started Vaaranam Children's Books in 2017. The Vaaranam brand has now grown to eight Tamil books, including books with innovative elements such as lift-the-flaps, touch and feel textures and even an interactive clock! Vanitha is currently working on her next book project.

Piengpitch Sartsasi a.k.a VIC-MON is an illustrator and cartoonist from Thailand. After drawing the covers of more than 200 books,  she started to draw her own webcomic 3rd Time Kiss for COMICO and HOUR 25th for LINE WEBTOON. She still continues to draw book covers while working on her new webcomic project.

Blessed with the opportunity of having been through a bilingual education system, Shu Hung is passionate in both English and Chinese literature. She became a teacher after she graduated from NUS Chinese Studies, firmly believing that the two languages are not mutually exclusive. She went on to pursue Masters in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language in Taiwan, where she also took a certification course to become an EL/CL interpreter. She is currently still working as a teacher, hoping to instill the same love for languages and literature in her students as her teachers had.

Zubaidah’s career spans three decades of librarianship, managerial roles, and leading projects; heading the first RFID library, setting up the Children’s Services, seeding the Early READ programme and focusing on the professional development of Librarians and Job Redesign project for Library Officers. Zubaidah holds Master of Science Degrees in Information Studies and in Early Childhood Education. Presently Zubaidah oversees the Malay Language Services, responsible for the overall strategic directions and implementation of quality nationwide reading programmes for the Malay Language. Her team works on the development of the Malay physical and digital library collections in the public library network.