2 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

From the Editor-in-ChiefAsian/Pacific Book Development (ABD)is published quarterly by the Asia/PacificCultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU),Tokyo, with the cooperation of UNESCOand UNESCO Member States in Asiaand the Pacific. ABD serves as anewsletter for UNESCO’s networkingprogramme, Asia-Pacific CooperativeProgramme in Reading Promotion andBook Development (APPREB), for whichACCU is the regional coordinatingagency. News articles in the Asian/PacificPublishing Scenes of ABD (pp12-20) arecontributed by the national correspon-dents of 23 countries in Asia and thePacific. Articles and photos without indicationof copyright (© followed by owner’sname) may be reprinted for educationaland non-commercial purposes providedthat they be accompanied by a creditline “Reprinted from Asian/Pacific BookDevelopment, published by Asia/PacificCultural Centre for UNESCO” includingauthor’s name and volume/number.Three voucher copies should be sent tothe Editor-in-Chief. Opinions expressed in signed articlesand news of the correspondents arethose of the authors and do not neces-sarily represent the opinions of ACCU orthose of the Editorial Committee of ABD.

Editorial Committee Members

Amadio A. Arboleda Josai International UniversityShonosuke Kanehira Publishers Association for Cultural ExchangeYoshiyuki Kurihara Kodansha Ltd.Kazuhiko Machida Tokyo University of Foreign StudiesKanji Maeda Sanshusha Publishing Co., Ltd.Gow Michiyoshi Design DirectorTayo Shima International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)Masaaki Shindoh Shogakukan Inc.Muneharu Kusaba ACCU

Editor-in-ChiefMuneharu KusabaDirector-General, ACCUEditorial Office

Book Development and LiteracyDepartment, ACCU

Design

Gow MichiyoshiKazuyo Nakamura

Published in co-operation with UNESCO

All correspondence shouldbe addressed to:The Editor-in-Chief, ABDAsia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO(ACCU)6, Fukuromachi, Shinjuku-ku,Tokyo 162-8484, Japanphone: (81) 3 3269 4445, 4435fax: (81) 3 3269 4510e-mail: book@accu.or.jphttp://www.accu.or.jp,http://www.accu.or.jp/appreb

©Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre forUNESCO, Tokyo, March 2002Printed in Japan byKyodo Printing Co., Ltd.

Muneharu Kusaba

List of Correspondents (23 countries)

Australia—Stephen MatthewsPublisher, Ginninderra Press, PO Box 53, Charnwood,Act. 2615Bangladesh—Syed HusainProfessor, Department of History, University ofDhakaBhutan—Rinzin WangmoLibrarian & Youth Information Officer, YouthGuidance & Counseling Division, EducationDepartment, Ministry of Health & Education

Cambodia—Pech SavryAdministration Office, Non-Formal EducationDepartment, Ministry of Education, Youth and SportsChina—Wu XushengDirector, Theory Department, Press and PublishingJournalFiji and the South Pacific—Linda S. CrowlPublications Fellow, Institute of Pacific Studies,University of the South Pacific

India—S. C. SethiPresident, The Federation of Publishers’ & Booksell-ers’ Associations in India

Indonesia—Alfons TaryadiChairman, Advisory Board, Indonesian BookPublishers Association (IKAPI)

Iran—Mansoor KadivarDirector, International Affairs Department, Institutefor Intellectual Development of Children & YoungAdults

Japan—Yoshiaki KiyotaPresident, Shuppan News Co., Ltd.

Lao P.D.R.—Soubanh LuangrathDirector of Children’s Cultural Centre, Ministry ofInformation and CultureMongolia—Jambyn DashdondogDirector General, Mongolian Children’s CulturalFoundationMyanmar—Myo ThantAdviser, Sarpay Beikman Board, Printing andPublishing Enterprise, Ministry of Information

Nepal—Gokul Prasad PokhrelChairman, Nepal Press InstituteNew Zealand—Barbara ElseWriterPakistan—Ahmad FarazManaging Director, National Book Foundation

Papua New Guinea—Stephan B. WaineFestival Officer, National Cultural Commission

Philippines—Dominador BuhainPresident, Philippine Educational PublishersAssociation

Rep. of Korea—Jong-Jin JungSecretary General, Korean Publishers Association

Singapore—R. RamachandranChairman, National Book Development Council ofSingapore

Sri Lanka—Deepali TalagalaDirector, National Science Foundation

Thailand—Chintana BhaigasuyeeDirector, Book Translation Institute, Department ofInstruction and Curriculum Development, Ministryof EducationViet Nam—Phan Thanh HaoAssistant Editor-in-Chief, The Education and TheTimes

The beginning of 2002 has been quitebusy for ACCU. We have organized sixmeetings/workshops consecutively fromJanuary to March, including 2002Capacity Building Workshop for LRCs inBandung, Indonesia, 2002 InvitationProgramme for Korean Teachers, 2002APPREB Experts Meeting for Consulta-tion on the APPREB Internet Website inKuala Lumpur, two meetings held in Narain February and March, and nearly 50experts on culture from 28 counties and 3from UNESCO gathered in Tokyo in mid-March to participate in the 2002 RegionalWorkshop for Cultural Personnel in Asiaand the Pacific on Promotion of the“Proclamation of Masterpieces of Oraland Intangible Cultural Heritage ofHumanity”. I believe the success of themeetings owes much to the firm networkACCU has developed with our co-operating bodies and individuals in theregion in its 30 years of operation, and Iam deeply gratified with the support theyhave given us.

I was also happy to welcome delegatesfrom two Central Asian countries,Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, to theregional workshop. As the participationof this sub-region in ACCU activities isstill limited, I should like to furtherexpand our relationships with thecountries of Central Asia in our variousprogrammes. I am sure that with their

rich cultural heritage including literatureand publishing, sharing information withthem will greatly contribute to promotionof book development in all of Asia andthe Pacific. Incidentally, an article illus-trating the state of book development forchildren in Uzbekistan is carried in thisissue, which I hope will be of interest tothe readers.

On 5 March, Editorial Committeemembers gathered at ACCU and had anactive discussion on the evaluation andfuture plans of ABD. Topics on discussionincluded; 1) English in Asia, 2) RolesNGOs can Play in Reading Promotion,3) Libraries and their Archiving Role,4) the History and Future of Printing, and5) Translation on the Internet. Though thepages are very limited, I hope ourmagazine is capable of catering to theneeds and priorities of our readers as itcan now reach across to millions ofpeople worldwide through the help ofinformation communication technology.Please send us your comments andsuggestions on how to make ABD, bothin print and on-line, a worthwhilematerial.

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 3

What Is IBBY

IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) is aglobal network of people involved in the world of children’sbooks. People in many countries, representing a wide vari-ety of lifestyles, ages and positions in their societies reachacross their differences to work together in this organiza-tion, and one immediately recognizes the particular convic-tion all these people share. That conviction is that the bookswe read when we are children become an indispensablesource of personal, inner strength throughout our lives, andthat it is extremely important to the lives of children for themto be aware of and exposed to the treasures of human knowl-edge and insight available in books.

One finds, moreover, that people who are involved withbooks for children all over the world are those who have aclear recollection of their childhood. Not all these memoriesare of comfort, family warmth, and happiness; often theyinclude bitter, cruel experiences they could not escape. Somepeople distinctly remember the solace and salvation theyfound in books.

Five centuries have passed since the invention of the print-ing press, which made it possible to print and mechanicallyproduce large quantities of information that until then couldonly be passed down by word of mouth or by hand-copying.But books truly written for children, existing expressly forthem, did not really appear until after the beginning of thetwentieth century. Until then the books children read weremainly works about knowledge and manners, or religiousdoctrine conceived by and for adults.

In 1932, the French scholar Paul Hazard, in Books, Chil-dren and Men wrote memorably about how children, follow-ing their own instincts, had found among the many booksimposed upon them by adults, those that truly spoke to theirneeds, as follows:

“Give us books,” say the children; “give us wings. Youwho are powerful and strong, help us to escape into thefaraway. Build us azure palaces in the midst of enchant-ed gardens. Show us fairies strolling about in the moon-light. We are willing to learn everything that we are taughtat school, but, please, let us keep our dreams.”

Children took books that had not originally been writtenfor children and made them their own, books like RobinsonCrusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, and Don Quixote. The universali-ty of those outstanding books that children chose of theirown volition, in the limited time and space of their child-hood—stories that spun the tales of their own lives—formssomething that I believe sustains the coexistence of human-kind at its very foundations. From those children grew adultswho have tried to pass down the books that provided whatthey considered to be indispensable nourishment for thehuman spirit, and those adults are now devoted to puttinggood books in the hands of children.

Lepman and the Foundation of IBBY

Many of those people come together in IBBY, the world-linking network which will celebrate its fiftieth anniversaryin 2002. Founded by Jella Lepman in 1953 in the conviction

that the only hope for world peace lay in helping children tolearn about and understand other peoples and countriesthrough reading books, IBBY is devoted to putting good booksin the hands of children. One of its greatest challenges todayis the movement to eradicate illiteracy among the massivenumber of children in the world who still do not know howto read. It also engages in projects to promote good readinghabits and improvement of publications for children in Asia,Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Oceania.

Returning to her war-devastated homeland in Germanyafter the end of World War II, Lepman found starving childreneverywhere. A bare subsistence diet was provided for mostof them through aid from the Allied Forces and the Red Cross,but Lepman realized that perhaps their greatest need wasfor some source of spiritual support and sustenance. Herrallying cry to the world to “Give us books for the children!”was answered, and IBBY was founded in Zurich in 1953against this background of the ravages of war.

IBBY now has 63 National Sections and functions in thestatus of an NGO affiliated with UNESCO and UNICEF. Theconviction that children’s books are the key to peaceful co-existence for all humankind championed by the foundingmembers has spread over the past fifty years to countries allover the globe and spawned an important earth-girdling net-work of people working in diverse environments under verydisparate conditions.

Activities

IBBY’s activities revolve around the network of NationalSections whose projects unfold on both the international andnational levels. Its international vibrancy is fueled by activeinitiatives undertaken on the national levels—the regionalconferences they organize, the newsletters they publish, thespecial programmes they sponsor, and the selection com-mittees they form.

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards sponsored by IBBYare aimed at recognizing and encouraging the lifetime workof outstanding writers and illustrators of children’s books.The IBBY Honour List is a biennial catalogue and exhibitionof recent titles selected by IBBY National Sections for theiroutstanding quality of writing, illustration and translation.The IBBY Asahi Reading Promotion Award presents a 1 mil-lion yen award to an exemplary project promoting children’sreading. Examples are portable libraries started in Thailand,the bibliobuses that visit refugee camps in Palestine, and thebraille picture book gallery in Osaka, Japan. Each year onAndersen’s birthday, 2 April, IBBY celebrates InternationalChildren’s Day to call attention to children’s books. Since 1967a different National Section has had the opportunity to bethe international sponsor of the day and to choose a mottoinviting a prominent author to write a message to the childrenof the world and a well-known illustrator to design the com-memorative poster. The IBBY Documentation Center of Books

Global Network of Children’s Books

Tayo Shima

Ms. Tayo Shima at 27th IBBY Congress, September 2000,Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

4 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

for Disabled Young People is connected to the University ofOslo, Norway. Bookbird is a quarterly journal designed foreveryone with an interest in the children’s books of the world.It is edited in the United States and Europe and published inCanada. Regional cooperation and networking are the life-blood of IBBY, and these energies are brought together ev-ery two years at the IBBY Congresses, the recent ones inNew Delhi in 1998, Colombia’s Cartagena di Indias in 2000,and in the near future in Basel in 2002, Capetown in 2004,and Beijing in 2006.

Tasks

IBBY’s tasks seem somewhat overwhelming when we sur-vey all the challenges we face. How to compete with the forcesof the contemporary entertainment market that so enthrallthe children of today? How to undo the knots of ethnic andreligious intolerance? How to prevent war and violence?While we may not yet have answers to all these questions,we do know the tremendous power and nourishment thatcan be provided by books. We need to be ready when ourchildren seek new realms of experience, ask new (and old)questions, and turn to the kind of support and solace that

Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing winners

1956–2000

1956 Eleanor Farjeon (UK)1958 Astrid Lindgren (Sweden)1960 Erich Kastner (Germany)1962 Meindert DeJong (USA)1964 Rene Guillot (France)1966 Tove Jansson (Finland)1968 James Kruss (Germany) Jose Maria Sanchez-Silva (Spain)1970 Gianni Rodari (Italy)1972 Scott O’Dell (USA)1974 Maria Gripe (Sweden)1976 Cecil Bodker (Denmark)1978 Paula Fox (USA)1980 Bohumil Riha (Czechoslovakia)1982 Lygia Bojunga Nunes (Brazil)1984 Christine Noestlinger (Austria)1986 Patricia Wrightson (Australia)1988 Annie M. G. Schmidt (Netherlands)1990 Tormod Haugen (Norway)1992 Virginia Hamilton (USA)1994 Michio Mado (Japan)1996 Uri Orlev (Israel)1998 Katherine Paterson (USA)2000 Ana Maria Machado (Brazil)

only books can provide. IBBY is the network Lepman foundedto coordinate the endeavours of all those who know the im-portance of children’s books by providing a common plat-form to share ideas and experience and to combine theirstrength in the task of maintaining the priceless heritage ofbooks for children.

Tayo Shima

Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1937. After graduating from the University of theSacred Heart, she worked as an editor at a publishing company, and aconsultant at the Children’s Literature Center of the Library of Congressin Washington D.C. from 1983–1987. She is now IBBY President, Boardmember of Japanese Board on Books for Young People (JBBY), Boardmember of Tokyo Children’s Library, Lecturer at the Design Departmentof the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and Co-directorof Musee Imaginaire, a private reference library of historical picture books.Tayo ShimaPresident, IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), Mpmmemweg 12,Postfach, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland, e-mail: ibby@eye.ch, URL: http://www.ibby.org

Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration winners

1966–2000

1966 Alois Carigiet (Switzerland)1968 Jirí Trnka (Czechoslovakia)1970 Maurice Sendak (USA)1972 Ib Spang Olsen (Denmark)1974 Farshid Mesghali (Iran)1976 Tatjana Mawrina (USSR)1978 Svend Otto S. (Denmark)1980 Suekichi Akaba (Japan)1982 Zbigniew Rychlicki (Poland)1984 Mitsumasa Anno (Japan)1986 Robert Ingpen (Australia)1988 Dusan Kállay (Czechoslovakia)1990 Lisbeth Zwerger (Austria)1992 Kveta Pacovská (Czech Republic)1994 Jörg Müller (Switzerland)1996 Klaus Ensikat (Germany)1998 Tomi Ungerer (France)2000 Anthony Browne (UK)

The International Hans Christian Andersen Awards

Every other year IBBY presents the Hans Christian Andersen Awards to an author and an illustrator, living at the timeof the nomination, whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. Often called the“Little Nobel Prize”, the Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an authorand an illustrator of children’s books. Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is the Patron of the AndersenAwards. The nominations are made by the National Sections of IBBY and the recipients are selected by a distin-guished international jury of children’s literature specialists. The Author’s Award has been given since 1956 and theIllustrator’s Award since 1966.

Executive Committee Members at IBBY Congress in Colombia in 2000

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 5

Our Earliest Memories

What would your answer be if someone suddenly asked you,“What is your earliest memory and how old were you at thetime?”

Recently I posed this question to twenty-year-old univer-sity students and senior citizens in their eighties. The respons-es of the two age groups showed both an amazing similarityand a striking difference. The earliest memory of almosteveryone, regardless of their present age, dated back to thetime they were three. When it came to content, however, theanswers of the two groups were very different. The mostcommon first memory among twenty-year-olds was an inju-ry, followed by becoming lost, suffering from motion sick-ness, wetting the bed, and being laughed at by adults, inthat order. None of those over eighty, however, mentionedany of these things. The most common early memory ofpeople in this group was the death of a loved one, followedby sickness or some form of natural calamity. The content ofour first memories clearly differs depending upon the timesin which we live, yet the inability to recall memories earlierthan the age of three is common to everyone, regardless ofwhen they were born.

The Importance of “Storytelling”

In his autobiography, the famous Japanese author, YukioMishima, claimed to remember the grain of the wooden tubin which he was bathed just after birth. Such memories ofearly infancy, however, are impossible. Why is it that noth-ing from the first three years of our lives remains imprintedon our memories?

The reason is closely related to the fact that young chil-dren up to the age of three have not yet fully developed theability to manipulate language. Words play an indispensablerole in storing information about individual experiences. Overthe last few years, it has been shown that in order for chil-dren to remember things that they have seen or heard theymust first have acquired the ability to “tell a story.” A childwill listen to his mother say, “Today we went to the zoo, didn’twe” and, mimicking her, he will falteringly attempt to tellstories in the same way with newly learned words. Only thenis the content of an experience imprinted in his memory.

When a child can follow a story line and systemize andconnect what he has seen and heard, he is capable of stor-ing information for the first time. Let us imagine, for exam-ple, a child who has just started attending nursery school atthe age of three. The nursery school provides lunch for thechildren. If his mother asks him the next morning, “What didyou have for lunch at nursery school yesterday?” most likelyhe will be unable to answer.

What if, however, she asks him the same question on theevening of the same day? If the child had croquettes for lunch,he will probably be able to answer accurately, “Croquettes”because comparatively little time has passed since he atethat meal. It is quite usual for children of this age to forgetthe majority of what happened while they are sleeping atnight. If, however, someone asks a child even once on thesame day what he had for lunch and he answers, he will beable to respond correctly the next day as well. In fact, it wouldbe quite usual for him to remember even two or three days

later. Yet if you ask him what he had for lunch more recently,he will not be able to answer unless he has responded to thesame question on the day he ate it. This is a fascinating phe-nomenon.

Parents and educators of small children naturally hope thatthey will develop into special people who excel even if onlyin some small area. But if we look at their beliefs concerningthe best way to realize that aim, the content is, more oftenthan not, misdirected and ineffectual. Many start teachingtheir three and four-year-olds as many words and letters aspossible. Even if the child is capable of memorizing them atthe time, in the end he will forget them all because the par-ent or educator has neglected to nurture his ability to re-member. Making a child memorize various kinds ofinformation, such as words and letters, is not an effectiveway to develop his memory.

The key to memory development in children is encourag-ing them to weave a story by piecing together the limitedvocabulary they possess. The most important role adults playin this process is talking to their child about different things;a simple, mundane task. Our research has revealed that read-ing picture books together is one of the most effective meansof establishing the “storytelling” custom between adult andchild. Because I am involved in studying infants, I am fre-quently asked, “How should I play with my child?” When Isuggest reading picture books, the response is often, “Butwhat is the point when they understand so little?” Reality,however, is the exact opposite. Any person exposed to re-peated storytelling will learn to tell stories. If, on the otherhand, we sit idly by claiming that as infants lack understand-ing, there is no point in reading to them, we can expect noprogress at all.

The Capacity of Infants to Remember Words

My colleague Sachiyo Kajikawa recently concluded a suc-cessful experiment proving that infants of only nine-monthsalready remember the words of stories read to them. In thisexperiment, Thumbelina was read aloud by a woman andrecorded as the stimulus. The tape, which was six minutesand forty seconds in length, included fifteen target words;that is words identified as ones the child had never heardbefore.

Over a two-week period, the tape was played for the in-fant participants twice consecutively on a total of ten days.Each infant was thus exposed to the stimulus indicator a to-tal of twenty times. Their degree of familiarity with the tar-get words was then verified. First we prepared a story tapeof Beauty and the Beast read by the same woman that in-cluded fifteen words unknown to the child. We used this as acontrol stimulus, comparing the amount of interest evincedby the infant towards the novel words in this tape as op-posed to the target words in the Thumbelina tape.

The method of verification was extremely simple. Eachinfant was wrapped in a blanket when it was feeling bothhappy and attentive and set upon its mother’s knee facingoutwards in a soundproof room. The mother was sitting in achair. When the test began, a card resembling the checkeredflags used at the finish line in car races appeared in the par-titioning wall towards which the infant was facing. When theinfant noticed the visual stimulus and turned its head towards

The Importance of Reading Picture Books to Infants

Nobuo Masataka

6 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

control stimulus

target words

listening time seconds

it, the audio stimulus was projected into the room by a hid-den speaker located near the card. The sounds were eitherthe target words or the control words. The tape continued toplay while the infant’s attention remained focused on the cardand stopped when it looked elsewhere. Infants have veryshort attention spans, usually ten seconds at the most, afterwhich they will turn their heads away.

Known as the head-turn preference procedure, this is atypical experimental paradigm. Accumulative research hasalready demonstrated that infants are capable of understand-ing the association between audio and visual stimuli whenthe two are in close proximity and appear and disappear si-multaneously. In other words, they can learn that as longthey stare at the visual stimulus the sound will continue. Ac-cordingly, it can be assumed that if they are interested in aparticular melody when they hear it, their gaze will remainfixed on that spot. If an infant spends more time looking atthe visual stimulus when he hears a certain sound, that soundis of more interest to him.

The results of Kajikawa’s experiment are as shown in thegraph above, which compares the length of time nine-monthinfants spent listening to the target words and to the controlstimulus. The time for the former was 13.4 seconds as op-posed to only 10.8 seconds for the latter, and both exhibitedstatistical significance at the probability level of 5%. Whenthe results were examined for each individual to see if therewas a preference for one over the other, eleven of the four-teen were shown to exhibit greater interest in the targetwords. The experiment clearly showed that nine-month in-fants preferred listening to the target words included in therecitation they had listened to twenty times over the preced-ing two weeks than to novel words.

Finding Your Infant’s Favourite Picture Books

The general image of how infants acquire language is basedon several misconceptions. Whether for better or for worse,adults have no memories of their earliest years. For this rea-son, they tend to overlap language acquisition with theirmemories of learning a second language. The image mostJapanese have is of studying English in which the teacherfirst pronounces a phrase “This is a pen,” and the studentsrepeat it. In fact, however, the pattern for acquisition of one’smother tongue differs in many fundamental ways from ac-quisition of a second language.

As has already been described, one difference is the factthat infants and children first store words as sounds in theirmemory; only after that do they use this vocabulary to speak.When we talk about language learning, we may imagine thatit is a process of trial and error, but in fact infants never re-peat words that they have only heard a moment before. Forthis reason, this method of language learning falls withinthe category of “memory-based learning.” In contrast, par-roting a teacher’s pronunciation of such phrases as “This isa pen” is referred to as “action-based learning.”

Nine-month old infants are as yet unable to speak mean-ingful words, but they already remember the sounds of wordsthey have heard. As they only begin to use vocabulary aftermemorizing the sounds, they will never learn to speak if wedo not talk to them. This is also true after early development.A child’s language ability develops gradually within the show-er of words his caregivers direct at him and forms the foun-dation of his mental faculties.

I often hear people talking about the “three-year-old myth,”claiming that a person’s intellectual ability is determined bythe age of three. The grounds for this assertion, however,are extremely weak. When comparing the first three years ina child’s life to the next three years from the age of three tosix, there is no compelling explanation for why the first shouldbe more important than the second.

In the end, it comes down to the fact that we do not retainour memories up until the age of three. If someone insistedthat intellectual capacity is determined between the ages ofthree and six, it is highly likely that people would protest,“Well, that’s not true in my case.” When someone claims,however, that such capacity is determined by the age of three,we are unable to judge the truth of this statement for our-selves because we have no memory of this period. This maybe the sole reason for the persistence of this myth.

There is absolutely no reason to become obsessed withearly education. It is much more important to focus on waysto stimulate our infant’s enjoyment of being read to. I be-lieve there are two secrets to this. The first is to find booksthat the child loves. No matter how many different picturebooks a child is exposed to, he is bound to have a strongattachment to particular ones. Which books will depend onthe individual. In most cases, adults are unable to understandwhy their child likes a particular book. Often they pick booksthat we ourselves would never imagine them choosing. Youmust never grudge the time and effort it takes to find yourchild’s favourite books.

Once you have found a book he loves, the second secret isto stick patiently with him, reading the same book over andover again as many times as they want. Adults often attemptto redirect their children’s attention to something new or dif-ferent, suggesting, “Let’s try some other books, too,” but suchefforts are meaningless. If a child likes one book in particu-lar, it is much more effective to exploit this preference. Yourchild may end up memorizing the content from cover to cov-er. But when he has, I believe that those words will havebecome rooted in his mind and form the foundation for nur-turing his ability to speak by himself. Although testing a greatvariety of books until you find your child’s favorite may seemprohibitively expensive, the public library makes the task easyand inexpensive.

(translated by Cathy Hirano)

Nobuo Masataka

Born in 1954. After graduating from Graduate School of Human Sci-ence, Osaka University, he studied at several research institutes in USA,Germany as well as in Japan. His specialty is comparative behavioralscience and his main study theme is communication of primates in-cluding human beings. He has written and published many papers andbooks in his field.Nobuo MasatakaAssociate Professor, Cognition & Learning Section, Department of Behavioral and BrainSciences, Prime Research Institute (PRI), Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506,Japan, e-mail: masataka@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Comparison of the lengths of time of infants spentlistening to vocabulary

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 7

Reading and Writing Situation in Uzbekistan

Reading and writing culture is an important element in thegeneral development of society. Traditionally, books andother printed materials were a part of the household envi-ronment in Uzbekistan. This explains the high popular de-mand for books, and phenomena of the “home library”. Theaverage, “home library” consists of books on a variety ofsubjects; children’s stories and folktales, multi-volume col-lections of novels of famous Uzbek and foreign writers, spe-cialized literature and, of course, textbooks. From earlychildhood, children are exposed to books and other printedmaterials at home. Educational programmes within pre-school educational institutes also encourage children to readbooks and to take care of printed materials. Reading cam-paigns and various related programmes which provide broadpublic awareness and general appreciation of books andprinted materials became an integral component of educa-tion reforms. For example, during World Book and CopyrightDay nationwide festivities are held in Uzbekistan, includingbook exhibitions, meetings with famous writers and poets,etc.

The interdependence between educational publishing andgeneral publishing is institutionalized within the State PrintingCommittee. The Committee, which provides a common con-ceptual framework for book development in Uzbekistan,carries out the regular compilation and publication of a na-tional bibliography and other statistical data regarding thebook sector. Communication between different agents in thebook community, and especially between educators and pub-lishers is gradually developing. A national book policy cov-ers publication, distribution and utilization processes.Publishing industries are controlled by the state through com-pulsory licensing and legislation drawn up by respectiveministries. Ownership of intellectual property on textbookdevelopment is regulated by the State Committee for Copy-right.

The mandate and power for book production and distribu-tion are given to national institutions such as the State Print-ing Committee and respective publishing centres of theMinistry of Public Education, Ministry of Higher and Second-ary Specialized Education, and Ministry of Cultural Affairs ofUzbekistan, who are encouraging the development of thebook sector and provide co-ordination, direction and fundsfor various projects. The book sector receives both direct andindirect subsidies from the Government of Uzbekistan, sincetextbooks and other printed materials have an impact on whatis taught and how it is taught in educational institutions ofthe country. The Republican Education Centre is reviewingand controlling the quality of learning materials used in class-rooms with regard to relevance, content and educationalapproach as well as to ensure that the provision of learningmaterials reflects government policies.

Government Policy and Textbook Projects

The Government has established favourable policy withregard to textbooks projects. There is a clear governmentpolicy for the provision of learning materials for basic andvocational education. The need for policy-making, planningand management has been broadly recognized. Today, most

activities of the Government in the area of book develop-ment focus on textbook development for education. Forexample, the Republican Education Centre under the Ministryof Public Education of Uzbekistan is responsible for nationalcurriculum development for primary and secondary schools.International organizations, particularly UNESCO, AsianDevelopment Bank and UNICEF, have funded initiatives tosupport textbook provision. Textbook projects are also cov-ering the development of other learning materials, such asaudio-visual facilities, computer equipment, etc. However,despite the fact that many textbook and curriculum develop-ment projects have successfully met their objectives, it is stilldifficult to achieve a satisfactory level of quality, content andpresentation of learning materials. For example, the qualityof the binding—sometimes, the textbooks starts to fall apartdue to poor binding, its life expectancy is reduced. Anotherexample, educationally sound curriculum. The writing anddesign of educational materials require more than knowl-edge of a subject. Writing and designing successfully forchildren is not the same thing as writing for adults. Some-times the content of some subject in the textbook is very com-plicated and difficult for children to understand. Observationof textbook content for over the last 5 years shows us a posi-tive tendency to improve readability and presentation oflearning materials.

Newspapers and Journals

There are about 50 printing agencies and over 600 newspa-pers and journals in Uzbekistan. Since December 2001, a newweekly colour journal, The World of Books has been startedto be published in Uzbekistan. The journal covering informa-tion on new books, by main publishing houses in Uzbekistansuch as: Ouzbekiston, Ouzbekiston milliy enciklopediaysi, Uki-tuvchi, Mehnat, Yozuvchi, Choulpon, Gafur Gulom nomidagiAdabiyot va sanat nasriyoti, Abdulla Qodiriy nomidagi halqmerosi nasriyoti, Sharq, Manaviyat, Yangi asr avlodi, Fan,Toshkent Islom universiteti, Imom al-Bukhoryi jamgarmasinashriyoti. The main objective of the journal is promotion ofthe “reading habit” among the young generation.

Book Promotion for Children in Uzbekistan

Alisher Ikramov

Monthly National Journal “The World of Books”

8 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

Language Issue and Literacy

In order to meet the needs of major ethnic groups in Uzbeki-stan, learning materials (all textbooks) are published in sev-en languages: Uzbek (90%), Karakalpak, Russian, Kazakh,Kyrgyz, Tajik and Turkmen.

Due to the fact that imported paper is too expensive forefficient printing and people cannot afford to buy books, pri-vate sector publishers have not provided greater investmentin the book sector.

In order to keep a higher level of literacy among the popu-lation, the Government of Uzbekistan continues to makeinvestments in a wide variety of book productions. Forexample, textbooks for the first grade of primary schools aredistributed free of charge.

New Programme and Curriculum

Since adoption of the new governmental long-term programme(1996) on changing of the script of the Uzbek language, all text-books for children have gradually started to be published inLatin script. That is why, in short-term period, Uzbekistan hasa shortage of books and learning materials in Latin script forchildren. In order to overcome this problem, the Governmentof Uzbekistan is giving high priorities to improving libraryfacilities and capacities in all educational institutions of thecountry. National contests on “good practices” among schoollibraries have been initiated by the Ministry of Public Educa-tion of Uzbekistan. Another innovative approach for book pro-motion is regular meetings “Nafosat” (on community, district,region and national scales) of pupils and students, who havecreative aspiration to write original stories, tales, poems, etc.themselves.

Since September 2001, all educational institutions haveintroduced book rental schemes. Parents pay for the rentalscheme and the government subsidizes them to reduce coststo make them affordable. Schools with book rental schemesare storing the books between and during the school years.National specialized libraries have a strong exchange net-work.

With the introduction of new textbooks, in-service train-ing programmes for teachers in the use of new curriculummaterials are organized regularly. Textbook developmentprogramme includes the development of teacher’s manualsand additional teaching materials. New curricula and con-cept of textbooks correspond to the economic, social andcultural realities of Uzbekistan.

The local private publishing sector is not actively involvedin children’s book development and mostly focuses its activ-ities on selling imported books from abroad, mainly fromRussia. In order to encourage the private publishing sectorto produce books locally, the Government is creating favour-able conditions through legislation.

Alisher Ikramov

He has been the Secretary-General of the National Commission of theRepublic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO since 1994. Prior to that he taughtat the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent. He isclosely associated with the activities of UNESCO and ACCU and vari-ous other international agencies. He has published extensively on var-ious aspects of education, science and culture of Uzbekistan.Alisher Ikramov54, Buyuk Ipak yuli, Tashkent, 700077, Uzbekistan, phone: (99) 8 712 670561,fax: (99) 8 712 670538, e-mail: unesco@natcom.org.uz

Family reading(photos courtesy of the author)

Children at a bookshop in Tashkent

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 9

Background and Context

In 1997, a project entitled Science Education in Pacific Schools(SEPS) was initiated by New Zealand Official DevelopmentAssistance and the UNESCO Office for the Pacific States tohelp improve the quality of primary science in twelve coun-tries in the South Pacific region. All twelve countries weremembers of the University of the South Pacific (USP) andcomprise the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji from Melane-sia; Niue, the Cook Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Samoa, and Ton-ga from Polynesia; and Nauru, Kiribati and the MarshallIslands from Micronesia. Many of these nations are made upof large numbers of islands, making communications ex-tremely difficult between and within countries. For example,the nation of Tokelau can only be reached by a ship journeyof 36 hours from Samoa.

The island populations within the region vary consider-ably. Niue, a single island, has a population of well under2000 with a single primary school and one secondary school,while Fiji, which is made up of over 300 islands, has a popu-lation of around 800 000 with about 700 primary schools and140 secondary schools.

Science

Primary science has been somewhat neglected in the SouthPacific, with previous aid projects in science education fo-cusing mainly on upgrading secondary level science. Thishas meant that in many areas there are serious problemsassociated with primary science, and in some cases very lowlevels of science literacy exist amongst primary aged chil-dren. This has been having a consequent indirect effect inthe secondary sector and even into the tertiary sector, whereachievement in science has been poor.

The problems which exist in primary science in the SouthPacific include inadequate training of primary teachers, largeclass sizes and in the final year of primary schooling, perva-sive examination culture. These problems tend to result in avery didactic style of science teaching in the South Pacific.Acute difficulties also exist due to very poor resources insome countries. For example, Kiribati, Nauru, Vanuatu andthe Marshall Islands each have a curriculum outline for pri-mary science, but there are no special resources to help teach-ers deliver them. Since many primary teachers have a weakbackground in science, they often omit this subject entirelyfrom the curriculum, particularly in the early years of prima-ry schooling, and concentrate on those areas where they feelmore confident. Clearly, this is a very unfortunate as at asocietal level, primary science education has the potential toimprove living conditions through addressing local problemswith respect to such basic needs as clean water, sound nutri-tion, and personal health. Furthermore, there is evidence tosuggest that the time spent on primary science has had apositive correlation with economic growth rate for a varietyof nations.

Finally, a certain mystique appears to surround the sub-ject of science in the South Pacific, as it does in other re-gions. Teachers and pupils often fail to see the relevance ofwhat they are teaching or learning, and there is a sense thatto be good at science one has to be particularly intelligent.

Literacy

Levels of general literacy are also a cause for concern in theSouth Pacific. In 1993, as part of the UNDP-funded BasicEducation and Literacy Support Programme (BELS), a PacificIslands literacy level test was developed and administeredto sample groups of primary children in most of the SouthPacific Island countries. The findings of this large-scale sur-vey indicated that large numbers of children were under-achieving in general literacy across the region. Thisconclusion was based on literacy tests in English and in ver-nacular languages. Approximately 1/3 (English) and 1/5 (Ver-nacular) of the cohort were deemed to be ‘at risk’ of failingto benefit from further schooling.

As with science, many schools were found to suffer froman acute lack of literacy resources in both English and thelocal vernacular languages. Furthermore, it was noted thatthere was a need for teacher in-servicing on story book-basedapproaches and for curriculum development which includ-ed more books in primary literacy programmes, as well asappropriate methodology for their use.

Clearly, at the primary level in the South Pacific in bothscience and literacy, there has been a history of poor resourc-ing, which appears to impact adversely on levels of achieve-ment in both these curriculum areas. Consequently, underthe SEPS project, it was decided to fund the development ofa high-quality, yet low-cost, science reading series. The in-tention was to present science concepts in a series of shortreaders, many of which presented science ideas within a fic-tional context. This format aims to make science more rele-vant to children and also develop their curiosity andunderstanding of the subject. At the same time the serieswas designed to improve their general literacy skills.

Science and Literacy Links

Science and literacy are inextricably linked. Without person-al literacy, children find it difficult to engage with scienceand certainly the wider world of literature. Societies needliterate people who are also scientifically literate as the twotogether enable people, both individually and collectively, tocontribute to science directly and indirectly. Reading canenhance science learning, while science learning can extendthe range of materials that children read.

Although practical experience is often an important ele-ment in a science unit, it may not always be the best way tointroduce children to a new idea in science. Text-based ma-terials, both fiction and non-fiction, can be used as an alter-native. Many teachers already use stories as a stimulus forpractical investigations. However, most stories are not writ-ten with this in mind, and any science must be teased out bythe teacher.

Primary teachers in the South Pacific are expected to teachboth literacy and science, so developing links between thesetwo areas is economical in terms of cohesive planning andresourcing. There is plenty of scope for the use of stories inscience as they can be used not only as starting points forpupils’ scientific questions, but also for discussion about is-sues and to provide the context for further investigation.Furthermore, science can act as a useful stimulus for literacyactivities. Pupils can create stories based around their inves-

The Development of the Pacific Science Reading Series

Neil Taylor and Rupert Alchin

10 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

tigations and use them to explain their scientific ideas. Theseideas underpinned the development of the Pacific Scienceseries.

The Pacific Science Series

The idea of developing the Pacific Science series was to pro-vide some good quality materials for the many primary teach-ers who were struggling without adequate science resources.The project was completed within a short time period (lessthan 18 months). The series was not intended as a completescience course in itself, but simply as a resource to allowprimary teachers to deliver some science and generate en-thusiasm for the subject amongst their pupils. Once moresubstantial course materials are produced, it is envisagedthat the Pacific Science series will be used in a supplementa-ry role to link science and literacy.

Because many teachers feel more confident in teachingreading, the Pacific Science series aims to deliver scienceconcepts through high-interest stories, both fiction and non-fiction. This approach makes science less intimidating forteachers and pupils. Since lack of confidence in teaching sci-ence was cited by many teachers as a major problem, anyapproach which improved this situation and helped demys-tify science was seen as appropriate.

Funding from the SEPS project was provided for the de-velopment of a series of 10 science readers and an accom-panying teachers’ resource book with activities for bothscience and reading programmes. Since local ownership ofany project is of paramount importance, the series was de-veloped at a regional workshop held in July, 1999 at the Uni-versity of the South Pacific, at which participants from 12South Pacific Islands nations were represented. Prior to theworkshop an analysis of a number of the primary sciencecurricula in the Pacific region was conducted. This helpedensure that the topics for the series were similar to thosebeing taught across the region. Generally, primary sciencecourses are divided into themes. For example, the mainthemes in Vanuatu are Living Things, Matter and Energy. InFiji the themes are Life Science, Physical Science and EarthScience, while in Nauru they are Life, Energy, Earth Science,Matter and Time and Space. Thus there are strong similari-ties between these themes right across the Pacific region.Furthermore, many of the topics within these themes are verysimilar from one country to another. Consequently, the sub-ject matter in the readers reflects these common themes andtopics. This is an important issue in making the series equal-ly relevant to all countries.

Each participant was asked to arrive at the workshop withbrief outlines for three stories selected from a range of sug-gested topics. At the workshop the local participants initiallyreceived training in story-writing and editing from two edi-tors from Learning Media, a New Zealand government-ownededucational publishing company that does contract publish-

ing for a number of Pacific ministries of education. They thenproceeded to develop their drafts. In total, 70 drafts wereproduced and taken to Learning Media, where 10 were se-lected and edited. Pacific illustrators were then commissionedto illustrate the stories.

The readers were not modelled on traditional “informa-tion books” but took the form of high-interest stories andnon-fiction texts. Each centres around a science topic ortheme and is intended for use as a starting point to capturethe interest and imagination of pupils at lower primary lev-els. The readers were also edited to suit the early, emergentand early fluency stages of reading.

The teachers’ resource book to accompany the series wasprepared by two staff members of the University of the SouthPacific and a teachers’ resource book writer at Learning Me-dia. For each of the 42 readers this provided a reading focuslesson plan to help structure the pupils’ reading activities. Itis considered very important that pupils have full mastery ofthe reading and language elements of the text before theybegin to explore the underlying science concepts. Thus theteachers are provided with a brief overview of the story; in-formation about descriptive words; suggestions for settingthe scene before reading; things to stress during the first read-ing and when revisiting the text; and finally some follow-upactivities.

The reading focus section of each book was followed by ascience focus section that provides background informationon the topic along with suggestions for simple science activ-ities that can be undertaken using local materials. All of theactivities are designed to give children hands-on experienceof science without placing excessive demands on teacherswho are unconfident in science. Furthermore, the backgroundinformation provided to the teachers offers them support byproviding explanations for the outcomes of the activities.

The materials were trialed in primary schools in the CookIslands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, the Solomon Islands andVanuatu. In each case, the readers were trialed with differentyear groups to determine the most appropriate level for theiruse and to identify particularly difficult words. Teachers werealso asked to comment on the print size their classes pre-ferred. The trial gave teachers an opportunity to gauge theclarity of the instructions in the Teachers’ Resource Book.In general, the teachers reported that once the appropriatereading level had been established, the degree of interestshown by the children was very high. They also commentedfavourably on the general layout and quality of the illustra-tions used in the readers.

The trial, although relatively small-scale, did verify that thelanguage level in readers was appropriate for use at primarylevel across the South Pacific region. Furthermore, there wereindications that they will be effective in supporting teachersand getting children to think about science. One teacher inthe Solomon Islands returned, along with her evaluation, abig book which her class had produced based on one of the

From Pacific Science Series

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 11

readers, Hunting the Moon. The same teacher also returneda series of extension activities she had developed from thisstory to help improve her pupils’ vocabulary.Another reader, based on the ecology of mangrove swampsentitled Black Sock Swamp was trialed in three Samoanschools. One teacher commented, “The students understoodthe meaning of magic, but couldn’t see what was magicalabout the muddy and swampy places, until the text was ex-plored further…”

A second teacher remarked that using this story made herrealise that her class had very little knowledge of mangroveswamps and had no real understanding of their importance.These latter responses were quite encouraging as the man-grove swamp is an ecosystem under great pressure in theSouth Pacific, partly because few people are aware of its roleas a nursery for juvenile fish, which fishing communities ul-timately depend on. Clearly, if the Pacific Science series canhelp raise awareness of environmental issues such as thesewith young children, they may begin to develop positive at-titudes towards their environment.

Conclusion

The Pacific Science series is a considerable innovation in aregion where resources are scarce and often of poor quality.It is an attempt to provide good quality materials, written bylocal people, that link science and literacy. The trial indicatedthat teachers and pupils are receptive to these new materi-als, which is extremely promising. The principles behind theproject are clearly supported by other writers in primary ed-ucation, and it is hoped that the series will develop positivelinks between science and literacy so that they can help rein-force each other. The stories should act as a stimulus for sim-

ple, practical science investigations and help to demystifythe subject in the South Pacific.

The series has been subsidised through funding from theSEPS project to make it affordable to Pacific ministries ofeducation and schools. In addition, countries will receivefunds from the SEPS project to enable them to buy schoolmaterials. It is also hoped that this series, written by localeducators, will act as a model for others and that it willstimulate the production of science readers locally in each ofthe island states in English and their vernacular languages.Using the series may also encourage teachers to seek outfiction and non-fiction books to provide a stimulus for theirscience teaching.

note:The Institute of Education at the University of the South Pacific (PO Box 1168,Suva, Fiji) is offering teachers in-service training in how to use the Pacific ScienceSeries for both early literacy and early science teaching. The series itself is avail-able from Read Pacific (PO Box 15339, New Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand), awidely respected book distributor in the Pacific.

Neil Taylor

He is co-ordinator of Primary Science Education at the University of Le-icester. He also worked at the University of the South Pacific where hewas the Project Officer for the Science Education in Pacific Schools project.This was a UNESCO/NZODA funded initiative. In June 2002 he will betaking up a new position as Lecturer in Science and Technology Educa-tion at the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia.Neil TaylorCo-ordinator of Primary Science Education, University of Leicester, 21 University RoadLeicester LE1 7RF, UK, e-mail: NT21@leicester.ac.uk

Rupert Alchin

He is the children’s science editor for Learning Media Ltd., a New Zealandbased educational publishing company. His academic background in-cludes both sciences and modern languages. Combining literacy andscience is one of his particular professional interests.Rupert AlchinEditor, Learning Media Ltd., Box 3293, Wellington, New Zealand

Reading Promotion in Lao PDR

The National Library of Laos has been operating theNational Reading Promotion Project since 1990. Theproject aims at upgrading and providing literacy aware-ness to children and adults in municipal and rural areas.

The main activities include distributing mobile librarybookcases, story books, manuals, student textbooks andliterature boxes containing about 250 different titles, toprimary schools throughout Lao PDR.

In parallel with the distribution of mobile library book-case, the committee responsible for the National ReadingPromotion Project has also created a story-telling activityas an additional component of the project.

Vientiane Caravan Team is one popular activity of thisproject, which was established in 1997. Since its incep-tion the team has already performed in various part ofthe country. The Vientiane Caravan attaches great im-portance to introducing stories and puppet shows tochildren, distribution of picture books, and promotion

of reading and library activities to adults including par-ents, teachers, and staff working in the field related tochildren.

(by Soubanh Luangrath)

Reading promotion activity in a library

12 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

Australia

Self-publishing and the Growth in

Writing

In Australia over the last few years, therehas been a dramatic surge in the numberof people whose love of the printed wordis no longer confined to reading but isbeing expressed in writing. This surge isoccurring even as mainstream publishingopportunities shrink. The growth in thenumber of professional writing coursesand writers’ centre workshops, as well asthe spread in access to writer-friendlytechnology, is giving encouragement toauthors in all genres—fiction and poetry,as well as autobiography and other non-fiction.

Even the increasing numbers of smallpublishers, whether they still concentrateon producing printed books (like Gin-ninderra Press and a host of othersthroughout the country) or have chosento adopt new technologies and electronicforms of distribution, cannot provideenough opportunities for new writers.

Thus, usually without professionalassistance, more writers than ever areturning to self-publishing, enjoying thefreedom to ensure that the final form oftheir work is exactly how they want it—within the limits of their budget. TheAustralia Council has even changed itsgrant requirements. Writers who haveself-published are no longer excludedfrom applying for a grant to assist theirnext book—provided that their self-published work was nationally distribut-ed and was seriously reviewed in at leastone journal or newspaper.

curriculum textbooks in the NFE Sectionfor Children and Adults. So, to satisfythis need, the NFED is developing andediting such textbooks for children andadults.

An expert from Thailand gave apresentation on how to develop thecurriculum from 15 to 17 of January2002, citing experiences in developingthe NFE curriculum in Thailand .

There are 2 textbooks for NFE PrimaryEducation: Literacy and Numeracy books.And lower secondary textbooks are forcourses in Cambodian language (494hours), Mathematics (362 hours) SocialStudies (Geography, History and Morali-ty) (312 hours), Practical Science (Phys-ics, Chemistry and Biology) (290 hours)and Vocational Skills (108 hours).

China

Why Harlequin Publishing Dropped Out

Canada Harlequin Publishing Co., Ltd.,which is the biggest paperback publish-ing company in the world, dropped outof the China mainland market in Septem-ber 2001. Harlequin was the first over-seas publisher authorized by the GeneralAdministration of News and Publicationof P. R. C. to set up office and circulatefiction in a cooperative venture. Harle-quin entered the China market in 1995,but it had to withdraw its investment inChina because it didn’t make any profit inthe past 7 years. Why did Harlequin dropout of the Chinese market after China’saccession to the WTO?

From 1996, Harlequin’s second year inthe Chinese book market, discussionstarted as to whether Harlequin fictionsuited Chinese readers or not. Becausethe Chinese middle class who comprisethe core readership of Harlequin fictionare a minority, overseas Harlequin fictionhas no successful base in China. This isthe main reason for Harlequin fiction’slack of popularity there.

Moreover, there are great differencesin advantages, operating habits andsystems of the two cooperating publish-ing sides. Harlequin’s profit mode iseasier. As long as Harlequin fiction issold, they can get money. But this modeis difficult for the Chinese publishers.Harlequin fiction is mixed with otherpublications, so they can’t get sales profitfrom Harlequin fiction alone. For exam-ple, Harlequin carries out a global unitarymarketing strategy. The selling cycle ofHarlequin’s fiction is two months, butXinhua Bookstore’s selling cycle isbasically six months. The difference ofthe selling cycle is a great obstaclebetween Harlequin and China’s publish-ing industry.

In addition, many kinds of books arepublished every year, so it is difficult justto promote Harlequin fiction. Even ifmarketing promotion was successful,profit would be less than for other books.It would be a great strain on the enthusi-asm of the cooperating sides. Harlequin’sfailure can be attributed to three factors;unsuitable marketing strategy, culturaldifference of fiction and unsuitablemarket operation.

India

New Delhi World Book Fair 2002

Organised by the National Book Trust,India, in collaboration with Federation ofIndian Publishers, Federation of Publish-ers’ & Booksellers’ Association in India,Delhi State Booksellers’ & Publishers’Association, Federation of EducationalPublishers in India and CAPEXIL, theNew Delhi World Book Fair, the largestbook event in Asia, was held from 28January to 4 February 2002. It is not onlya showcase for the best of the uniquemultilingual Indian Publishing industrybut also a place where some of the finestpublishers around the globe interact withfellow publishers, readers, authors, andtranslators alike.

Unlike many international book fairs,the New Delhi World Book Fair permitsthe sale of books directly to hundreds ofthousands of booklovers who throng thefair every day. The fair also offers anopportunity for the exchange of transla-tion/co-publishing/reprint rights whichmay be negotiated during business hoursby the interested parties.

To be inaugurated by the HumanResource Development Minister, ShriMurali Manohar Joshi, the Fair wasspread over around 25,000 square metresaccommodating around 1,100 partici-pants including 50 international publish-ers. The increasing number of foreignparticipants from almost all parts of theworld is also a result of the participationby the National Book Trust, India, invarious international fairs and exhibitionsevoking genuine interest in the Indianpublishing scenario by the world publish-ing community.

The theme of the fair was “Globalisa-tion of the Word—Translating CreativeDiversity”. There was not only a ThemePavilion showcasing a wide range oftranslated works of literature in variousIndian as well as foreign languages, butalso an international seminar thatdelineated various aspects of the rolewhich translation plays in bringingtogether different societies and culturesacross the globe. Some of the importantspeakers on the occasion included

Cambodia

Primary and Lower Secondary

Curriculum and Textbook Writing and

Editing

Since 1979 until the present the Non-Formal Education Department (NFED)has had no primary and lower secondary

Self-published book(Australia)

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 13

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

Nirmal Verma, Jayant Mahapatra, U. R.Ananthamurthy, Erik Stinus, HiromuYamaguchi, Jose Punnamparambll, etc.

Buyer-Seller Meet

On 2 February 2002, during the 15thWorld Book Fair, CAPEXIL’s Book Divisiononce again found it expedient to organisethe Buyer-Seller Meet. Its importancewas underlined by Sukumar Das, Chair-man of CAPEXIL’s Books, Publicationsand Printing Panel in his opening re-marks. Such a Meet, organised byCAPEXIL’s Book Division during DelhiBook Fairs and World Book Fairs, hasenabled the importers and exporters tointeract and explore ways and means toincrease India’s export of books andpublications. Das told the audience thatIndia’s exports to the developed and thedeveloping countries are gradually rising.In the year 2000–2001 the provisionalfigures are Rs.3,235 million. and with thisthey have already crossed their target,though the final figure is yet to be arrivedat.

Representatives from six countriesparticipated in this Meet. They were:Oluronke O Orimalade from Nigeria,Hudson Unene from Zambia, Sean G.Mullen from Switzerland, Zhu Zhigangfrom China, Iqbal Cheema from Pakistanand Manikam Moodley from SouthAfrica. After each one of them explainedthe distinctive features of their respectivemarkets, there were questions from theparticipants. All this made the Buyer-Seller Meet quite an informative anduseful exercise.

Indonesia

Poets and Poetesses Awarded

Goenawan Mohamad with his workSajak-sajak Lengkap (Complete Poems)won the prestigious Khatulistiwa Award,of which the jury consists of 45 personsjudging in three phases. The award wasannounced by John B. Arnold from Ernst& Young on 11 November 2001, inJakarta. The award was received by AyuUtami on behalf of Goenawan Mohamad,who was abroad at that time. Thecollection of Goenawan’s poems got theaward, conceived by Richard Oh from theQB World Books, setting aside othernominated works, namely SetangkaiSayap Melati di Sayap Jibrail (A Stalk ofMelati on Gabriel’s Wings) by Danarto,

Hujan Menulis Ayam (Rain that WritesChickens) by Sutardji Calzoum Bachri,Sampah Bulan Desember (December’sGarbage) by Hamzad Rangkuti, Superno-va by Dewi Lestari, and Kill the Radio byDorothea Rosa Herliany.

Sapardi Djoko Damono is the initiatorof the award, and also the Chief Editor ofJurnal Puisi (Journal for Poems), wherethose awarded poems had been pub-lished. In the same event there was thelaunching of an anthology of poems,Mata Jendela (The Window’s Eyes) andan anthology of short-stories, SangPendeta and Kekasihnya (The Priest andHis Lover), respectively an original workand a work of translation by SapardiDjoko Damono.

Iran

Iran Donates 15,000 Books to Kabul

Schools

The Islamic Republic of Iran has donatedover 15,000 books to schools andmosques in Kabul. The Iranian Embassydistributed these books to almost 50institutions in Afghanistan’s capital city.They include social, educational, reli-gious, and poetic works. In the past fiveyears, the public library and otherlibraries in the city were closed, andmany handwritten books along withother examples of Afghanistan’s culturalheritage were destroyed. The Director ofKabul’s public library said that the booksthat have survived in Afghanistan are oldand outdated, and do not include anyinformation about modern technologyand science. He asked the IslamicRepublic of Iran and international culturalassociations to assist the restoration ofAfghanistan’s libraries.

5th Press Festival of Children and Young

Adults

The Institute for the Intellectual Develop-ment of Children and Young Adults(Kanoon) held the “5th Press Festival ofChildren and Young Adults” in its Centerof Cultural and Artistic Creativities from21 to 29 January 2002.

During the Festival various ceremonieswere performed which were open to thepublic. There was also a special sessionwith the subject “The Place of Address-ees in Children’s and Young Adults’Press”.

The main topic of the Festival was

selecting and introducing the best pressworks published in 1999/2000.

The 12 fields were: poem, story,literary & art essay, literary & art criti-cism, scientific essay, etc.

With regard to the above fields, therelevant juries selected the winners outof 6,000 press works received from 21different publications.

During this festival, there was a dailyprogramme by the name of “TheatricalNewspaper” in the form of street playwhich attracted many children. This kindof performance can be used in schoolsshowing that besides board newspapersthere are other ways to distribute news.

Japan

Sites Related to Publishing

There are many sites related to publish-ing in Japan in the Internet such as bookreviews, publishing news, online sellingof books themselves and digital contentsof books. About 2,200 publishing compa-nies out of a total of 4,300 in Japan havetheir own site, and the number is increas-ing.

There is an interesting site which is areview guide, Hon no Hyoban (URL: http://www.honn.co.jp). It carries “50 MostFrequently Cited Books” by totalling thenumber of times they are featured in67,008 articles from 20 newspapers and250 magazines. According to the list,from the top, Mohouhan: The Copy Catby Miyuki Miyabe (Shogakukan Inc.) wasfeatured in 96 articles, translations ofWho Moved My Cheese? by SpencerJohnson (Fuso Publishing Inc.) in 87, andRich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki& S. L. Lechter (Chikuma Shobo Publish-ing Co.) in 74, etc. Though the books ofits top rank are best sellers, they arelisted not in sales order, but according tohow much attention the book drew fromthe readers.

As for this kind of information, for thesender, though collecting much data ishard work, it is most important to letpeople know and utilize the site. It wouldbe useful if such site information wereprinted for its wide use. For users,though there is a lot of useful informa-tion on the Internet, the most difficultproblem is to find what they really needand want to have by proper searching. Inany case, it must be fun for book loversto go net surfing in such sites related tobooks.

A book review site (Japan)5th Press Festival of Children and Young Adults (Iran)

14 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

Mongolia

Book Illustrators Find Voice

B. Bolormaa and I. Ganbaatar, studentsof the Mongolian Fine Arts University,have founded the Golden AppleAssociation for Mongolian illustrators ofchildren’s books. The Association willorganize competitions of illustrators,mount exhibitions, and help them toparticipate in international competitions.Recently, their kickoff ceremony was heldat the Children’s Palace.

Traditional Book Fair

The traditional book fair opened at theCentral Palace of Culture. President N.Bagabandi, Education Minister A.Tsanjid, eminent Mongolian writer L.Tudev, poets D. Purevdorn, Sh. Surenjavand others attended the openingceremony of the 5-day event. A specialyellow silk certificate of the State PublicLibrary was handed over to ChristopherFinch for his notable contribution to bookdevelopment in Mongolia and thedirector of the Culture and ArtFoundation Byambajav.

Meetings, exchange of opinions andpractical conferences were held amongthe city and local libraries, an exhibitionof rare books was displayed and somerare books were sold at an auction.

Nepal

Drastic Changes in Nepalese Education

System

His Majesty’s Government has mademajor amendments in the Education Act,1971 streamlining the country’s educa-tion system to present day requirements.A shake-up in the education system wasprompted by the agitation of the Maoistextremists last year when they tried toenforce strong social codes on theschools in the countryside, challengingthe authority of the government.

Under the new law which came intoforce from 7 February 2002, the govern-ment has categorized the schools intotwo tiers. Public schools are thoseregistered by the government andreceive regular grants from it. The othercategory includes private schools that areregistered by the government but do notreceive regular grants. Such schools maybe founded as private companies/enterprises or non-profit endowment

trusts. It is mandatory for everybody toobtain the permission of the governmentin order to operate a school.

The new law provides that all theprivate schools presently in operation arerequired to clarify if they are to beregistered as non-profit endowmenttrusts or business companies. Butschools operating on government land orpremises, or on government-donatedland, or land donated by a person ororganization in the name of the school,are not permitted to operate as privatecompanies.

But the procedure of registration hasbeen relaxed in the case of pre-primaryschools. The law authorizes a villagedevelopment committee or a localmunicipality to grant permission to anyperson willing to operate a pre-primaryschool with his/her own resources.

Under special circumstances thegovernment may hand over the manage-ment of a public school to a private partyby specifying terms and conditions asappropriate.

New Zealand

2002 New Years Honours List

Two distinguished New Zealand authorsworking in widely different fields,Margaret Orbell and Lynley Dodd,received honours in New Zealand’s 2002New Years Honours List.

Margaret Orbell received the CNZM(Companion of the New Zealand Order ofMerit) for services to Maori and toliterature. She is the author of severalbooks on Maori literature, tradition andbelief, and has also edited collections ofsongs, poetry and stories. She is theeditor of the Illustrated Encyclopaedia ofMaori Myth and Legend, and is interna-tionally known as a leading interpreter ofMaori texts.

Lynley Dodd received the DCNZM(Distinguished Companion of the NewZealand Order of Merit) for services tochildren’s literature. Dodd is the authorand illustrator of many books for childrenand several times winner of NewZealand’s picture book of the year award.She is best known for creating theinternationally popular series of picturebooks about the escapades of a little dogwith an irrepressible personality, HairyMaclary from Donaldson’s Dairy.

Pakistan

Kamal-e-Fun: the Most Prestigious

Award for Literature

Ahmad Faraz, eminent poet of Pakistanhas been awarded “Kamal-e-Fun” Awardfor the year 2000 by Pakistan Academy ofLetters. Renowned humorist of Pakistan,Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi has also beengiven the award for the year 1999 by thePakistan Academy of Letters. The Awardis considered to be the most prestigiousaward given to the most eminent literarypersonalities in recognition of their lifetime services to literature. Ahmad Farazand Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi will receivePakistan Rupees five Lacs each, thehighest cash award in the country.

The Pakistan Academy of Letters alsoawarded the National Literacy Awardentitled “Allama Muhammad IqbalAward” to Ahmad Faraz for his bestpoetry book entitled Ghazal BhanaKaroon for the year 1999, equivalent toPakistan Rupees forty thousand. Thisaward, since its inception in 1981, hasbeen given for poetry in Urdu, Punjabi,Sindhi, Pushto, Siraiki, Baluchi andEnglish language.

Prizes for Academic Achievements

Federal Education Minister of Pakistan,Zobaida Jalal awarded prizes, medalsand commendation certificates to thestudents, teachers and educationalinstitutions on their academic perfor-mance.

While addressing the ceremonyorganized by the Federal Board ofIntermediate & Secondary Education, sheannounced scholarship schemes andother incentives for those showingextraordinary academic achievements.The steps taken by the Education Minis-ter would serve as a model for theprovinces to follow in order to bringvisible change to the existing educationalenvironment.

Papua New Guinea

Library Proposal under Way

A proposal is to be made to move thefunctions of the public libraries back tothe Office of Libraries and Archives. TheChairman of the Teaching ServicesCommission, Alan Jogioba said this atthe opening of a five-day seminar in PortMoresby for librarians throughout thecountry with the theme “Challenges toCurrent Practices in an Information Age”.He said the proposal was made at thePapua New Guinea Library AssociationConference in 2000 because the Office ofLibraries and Archives was convinced

Traditional book fair (Mongolia)The little dog in a popular series of picturebooks created by Lynley Dodd (New Zealand)

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 15

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

that most provincial governments do notconsider public libraries importantenough to warrant greater fundingsupport. The proposal was consistentwith various government policies thatstress the need to promote the develop-ment of national information resourcesand services and to facilitate greateraccess for all Papua New Guineans tosuch resources.

Newspapers for the Blind

The two biggest newspapers in the SouthPacific are to publish the region’s firstbraille newspaper for the blind people.The South Pacific Braille News as it willbe known is published jointly by the PostCourier and the Fiji Times Newspaper,both owned by News Limited. Queen-sland Newspaper’s Editorial TechnologyManager, Bob Howarth, who startedHong Kong’s first newspaper for theblind and later Australia’s only newspa-per for the blind, is currently spearhead-ing the publication of the South Pacific’sfirst braille newspaper. He said unless anenvironment is created that is moretolerant and informed, where people’srights are generally respected and wherepeople can start to understand andappreciate their similarities and differenc-es, the future does not look bright at all.

South Pacific Braille News will have aninitial circulation of 400 copies distribut-ed free of charge to blind people inPapua New Guinea and Fiji, but copiescan also be sent to blind people in otherPacific Island countries.

Philippines

Legislation Affecting Book Publishing

The Philippine Educational PublishersAssociation (PEPA) sent an inquiry toBureau of Internal Revenue Commission-er Rene G. Bañez and Department ofJustice Secretary Hernando Perezseeking clarification on the legality ofVAT on textbooks and teacher’s manualsfor public schools’ use based on para-graph “y” Section 109 of the NationalInternal Revenue Code which states:“Exempt Transactions—the followingshall be exempt from the value-addedtax: (y) sale, importation, printing orpublication of books and any newspaper,magazine, review or bulletin whichappears at regular intervals with fixedprices for subscription and sale andwhich is not devoted principally to thepublication of paid advertisements” aswell as Sec. 12 entitled Incentives toBook Publishing of RA 8047 or the BookPublishing Industry Development Actwhich provides without any qualification

that: “Books, magazines, periodicals,newspapers, including book publishingand printing, as well as its distributionand circulation shall be exempt from thecoverage of expanded value added taxlaw.”

Rep. of Korea

2002 National Funds for the Culture

Industry

In December 2001, the Ministry of Cultureand Tourism announced the nationalfunds for the culture industry for thefiscal year of 2002. Compared to theprevious year’s funds of 147.4 billion won(US$113.4 million), they were increasedby 28.5% to 189.5 billion won (US$145.8million). The number of project domainswithin this category also rose from 10 to13 with promotion for culture content,the set-up and operation of remoteeducation systems for games, and theimplementation of DOI (Digital ObjectsIdentifier) system as new additions.Regarding the publishing industry, 10.5billion won (US$8.08 million) is allocatedfor the promotion of the publishingindustry, with an increase of 32.6% fromthe previous year, 2.1 billion won (US$1.6million) for the implementation of theDOI system, and 1.1 billion won (US$0.85million) for the modernization of thepublishing distribution system.

Most remarkable about this year’sfunds for the culture industry is that abudget of 50 billion won (US$38.5million) was newly arranged for thepromotion of digital contents. Thisbudget will be injected into threeprojects. In particular, half of the budgetwill be used to develop applicationswhich could combine already developedtechnologies for production, storage,distribution and service of digital con-tents. It is hoped that games, animation,e-books, broadcasting videos, and otherindustries which have had currentdifficulties of further development due tolack of investment, will grow to have thecapability to compete in the global market.

Metro Book Messe 2002

The Korean Publishers Association andthe Committee for the Book SharingMovement are operating Metro BookMesse 2002 from March 15 to June 30,the last day of the World Cup Games, inassociation with the Seoul MetropolitanSubway Corporation. Since 2000, “culturetrains” with various themes have beenrunning in the Seoul subway system, alsoknown as “citizens’ feet”. In particular, theMetro Book Messe is a different kind ofevent from the other culture trains such

as the Christmas train, the movie train,the environment train, and the art train.While these trains feature simple festivi-ties, the former has the distinctive aim ofpromoting reading for the whole nation.

About 10,000 books will be displayedon specially manufactured bookshelvesin one running subway train. With thetheme of “Talking about the Culture withBooks”, 10 different exhibitions will beorganized in 10 cars, each with themeslike: “reading with children”, “sciencebooks”, “history of books”, “booksopening the 21st century”, “world ofmagazines”, “an important book in mylife”, “books, human beings and nature”,“libraries in my neighborhood”, and “thediscovery of Korean culture”. Both theSeoul International Book Fair 2002, whichwill kick off on June 7 for a 6-day run,and the Metro Book Messe 2002 areexpected to be meaningful culturalevents to commemorate the World CupGames of 2002.

South Pacific

Grace Mera Molisa Passes Away

Grace Mera Molisa, Pacific Islandspublisher and strong advocate forwomen’s rights, has passed away from aheart attack.

Grace came from the small island ofAmbae in what was then the NewHebrides, which was governed by theAnglo-French condominium.

She earned her Bachelor of Artsdegree from the University of the SouthPacific at its campus in Fiji. She returnedhome and helped in the transition to theindependent state of Vanuatu. Throughher work in the Vanua‘ake Party, sheeventually became personal secretary toPrime Minister Walter Lini. Grace with-drew from government a decade later asshe saw rising levels of corruption, butshe did not forsake the work of gover-nance.

She pursued women’s rights as leaderof the National Council of Women, andtravelled throughout the world represent-ing her people. Unlike many Pacificauthors, who blossomed at universitythen abandoned creative writing as theyrose in bureaucratic employment, Gracecontinued to write her poetry.

She also began her own publishinghouse, Blackstone Publications, andacted as consultant to groups wanting topublish about women’s issues in thePacific Islands. Her own work includes 6collections of poetry and 10 contributionsto books and journals. She also facilitat-ed, edited, or organized 11 other books.Grace’s passing is a loss to her family,her friends, Pacific publishing, women

16 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

Khamphun Buntawi(Thailand)

seeking equal rights, and our Pacificcommunity at large.

Sri Lanka

Godage Awards for the Best Novel of the

Year 2000

A new writer, Sepali Mayadunne, wonthe Godage Award for the best novelpublished in 2000. Her work entitled HathAdiyata Vina Kala Yaku was chosen forthe prize from among 12 novels short-listed by a special panel. This is the thirdconsecutive year that this event wasconducted. The awards do not carry cashprizes. The winners are presented withtrophies and certificates. All entries werebooks published by Godage publishersonly.

The organizer of the award ceremonyintends to extend this to the bookspublished by other publishers from nextyear. This award was primarily launchedto assist new authors, although veteranauthors are not barred from competing.

The Godage publishers also intend totranslate into English, the best Sinhalaclassics published in the past. They arenow being translated by a team ofscholars especially selected for theproject. Contact: S. Godage & Brothers,675, Maradana Road, Colombo 10,e-mail: godage@applesri.lk

Thailand

2001 National Artists Award

The Thai Government has declared 24February of every year as “National ArtistDay” to honour King Rama II (1767-1824)of the Rattanakosin period. The day washis birthday. He was excellent in thecreative arts especially in literature. TheNational Artists Programme waslaunched in 1985 by the Office of theNational Culture Commission, Ministry ofEducation, to promote artists who havecreated art works which are valuableheritage for the land.

Awarded book by Sepali Mayadunne (Sri Lanka)

Khamphun Buntawi, 74, has beenannounced by the National CultureCommission as 2001’s National Artist inthe literature field on 16 December 2001.He received the honourable award fromHis Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej on24 February 2002.

He was born on 26 June 1928 in afarming family in the northeasternregion. After finishing Mathayom 6(Grade 12), Khamphun tried his hands atdifferent jobs, from working as a bandleader of a Ramwong (traditional Thaifolk dance) troupe, to working as arickshaw driver and labourer in Bangkok,teaching at a state-run primary school inthe South and then becoming a prisonwarden.

In 1972, Khamphun Buntawi decidedto quit his job as a prison warden andbecame a full-time writer. His first shortstory Nithan Lukthung (The Tale from theCountryside) published in the Far MuangThai magazine made him successful as anew writer. He became a regular contrib-utor to that magazine and that launchedhis career in writing.

He used his life experiences in creatinghis literary works so they usually reflectthe lives of rural people and prisonersand are an in-depth expression of thelocal culture. He has pointed out theproblems of the northeast and theirinterventions through the harmoniouslyintegrated approach of ideas, knowledge,humanity, humour, and ethics as well asexperiences. In addition, he is one of thefirst groups of Thai writers to use localdialects in writing. His many creativeworks, more than 200 titles, are com-prised of short stories, novels and non-fiction. Luk Isan (People of theNortheast), Manut Roi Khuk (Livesbehind Prisons) and Nai Hoi Thamin (TheTough Cattle Trader) have brought agreat deal of fame to Khamphun Bun-tawi, especially, Luk Isan which won himThailand’s first SEA (Southeast Asia)Write Award in 1979.

In 2000, he successfully set up the firstKhamphun Buntawi Library providingbook reading and lending services aswell as other activities in promotion oflibrary service. Furthermore, he has beenpushing a project providing libraries toschools nationwide. Now he is workingon two books: Isan Folktales, and ADictionary of Isan Dialects.

Viet Nam

Publishing Scene: More to Be Improved

Wandering around the bookstores in VietNam at present, one can see abundancein various forms. To attract customers,not only are book covers beautifullydesigned, but also the bookstores arefancily decorated. Thanks to the econom-ic development, all the bookstores arecrowded, and more and more retailbookshops are being founded. But it iseasy to see that the customers are thewealthy ones; poor people often hesitateto enter these places.

So, to help poor readers in the remot-est areas, some kinds of books andmagazines were given away free ofcharge. In some places, secondhandbooks, magazines and newspapers werealso given to village libraries, where theyare much welcome, and these areconsidered good examples for otherareas in the country to follow.

According to some quick surveys, it istrue that books are made for rich peoplenow. For a one-thousand-page title, thecost is equivalent to US$10-14, while acollection might cost from US$40 to600—a price which, given the ordinaryworkers’ salaries, is impossible for themto pay. The reason is that books aremostly financed by private investorswho, after buying the publication rightfrom Publishing Houses, have to make aprofit. In general, the publishing scene israther open, if not to say a little messy.Prices are decided by individuals insteadof being fixed by certain rules, and theseindividual investors also decide who willbe their retailers. They also publishcollections of short stories using storieswhich have already appeared in maga-zines, or been published elsewhere,passing them off as theirs and sellingthem under other titles. Readers couldeasily be cheated into thinking they are anew collection. Cheap, bad-taste books,such as horoscopes, fortune-telling forthe year etc. are made illegally, and soldlegally by the street sellers, includingpirated ones, and nothing much has beenseriously done to stop this.

Certainly, some readers are forced tobuy books, mostly students or research-ers, and librarians. However, properpublishers have really been gettingannoyed and, though the policy makersare trying their best to rearrange thescene, so far, it has not been muchimproved. What a pity for poor people ina country where 80% of the populationare still farmers and they all need booksto improve their knowledge and to catchup with regionalization and globalization.

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 17

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

Our Favourite IndianStories (India)

A Guide to TraditionalIranian Games (Iran)

From Book to Book, Linked-up into One (Indonesia)

Australia

For the Forests—A History of Tasmanian

Forest Campaigns

More than three years in the making, thisrichly illustrated large-format hardcoverbook looks at the peaceful direct actionswhich have taken place over the last halfa century in protest against the destruc-tion of the unique forests of Tasmania.The struggle to preserve the remainingforest areas is not confined to Australia—it has even, says the editor, “stimulated acampaign in Japan to end oldgrowthlogging in Australia”. The book, whichincludes candid and heartfelt interviewswith over 70 activists, politicians, aca-demics, scientists and writers, deserves aplace on the shelves of any individual ororganisation seriously concerned withthe natural environment.

For the Forests—A History of TasmanianForest Campaigns, edited by Helen Gee, TheWilderness Society (130 Davey Street,Hobart, Tasmania), 378 pages, A$79 (approx.US$160), ISBN: 1-875768-09 2

China

China and the WTO: Changing China,

Changing World Trade

If you want to know the great effect onpolitics, economy and society thatChina’s accession to the WTO will cause,you need to know about both China’stransformation and its effect on worldtrade, WTO and East Asia. This bookparticularly explains these problems. It isfit for any reader—from ignoramus toexpert.

WTO Zong Gang Shi Jie Du Ru Shi by S.Panitchpakdi and M. L. Clifford, ChinaMachine Press (No.1, Nan Jie Bai WanZhuang, Beijing), 233 pages, RMB30.00(approx. US$3.60), ISBN: 7-111-09714-9/F.1191

Luxun in the Web

This book collects several hundredInternet articles about Mr. Luxun, fatherof modern Chinese literature. In them,many ordinary readers show theirdevotion and attention to Luxun. Theyfreely discuss Luxun’s excellence andexplain one hundred reasons that theylove Luxun. They also forecast when theywill forget Luxun. This book includesarticles by the compiler and plentifulinformation about websites, channelsand comments that relate to Luxun.

Wang Luo Luxun published by People’sLiterature Publishing House (No.166, ChaoNei Da Jie, Beijing 100705), 210 pages,

RMB10.00 (approx. US$1.20), ISBN: 7-02-003538-8/I.269111

India

Our Favourite Indian Stories

The New Delhi World Book Fair havebrought out a spurt of anthologies. Oneof the best attended functions at theBook Fair was the launching by DefenceMinister Sh. George Fernandez of OurFavourite Indian Stories by KhushwantSingh and Neelam Kumar published byJaico Publishing House, one of theleading publishing houses of the country.

The book is a rather fascinatingcollection of stories by authors from allover India, ranging from The Resignationby Premchand to Wings of A Silent Wishby Dinkar Ghosh to Birth by Mulk RajAnand.

The inspiration behind this anthologyhas been the concern that some of thefinest short stories of India have re-mained imprisoned within their geo-graphic and linguistic boundaries. In theabsence of translation they have beendeprived of a wider audience. Thisanthology is a viral canvas of emotions.Through these stories the reader will alsocatch a fleeting glimpse of some of themajestic highs and dramatic lows thathave shaped the Indian character overthe centuries.

Carefully selected by the authors, thestories reflect some of the myriadcultures and regional literary flavoursthat abound in the subcontinent. TheUrdu and Punjabi stories have beentranslated by Khushwant Singh. Storiesof other regional languages have beentranslated by other experts.

Our Favourite Indian Stories by KhushwantSingh and others, Jaico Publishing House,434 pages, Rs.225 (US$5.00)

Indonesia

A Journey through Books

Celebrating his 70th anniversary, P.Swantoro, a retiring old-timer and seniorexecutive of Kompas-Gramedia Group,launched his first book, Dari Buku KeBuku, Sambung-Menyambung MenjadiSatu (From Book to Book, Linked-up intoOne), on 1 February 2002, in Jakarta.Edited by P. T. Simbolon and G. PaxBenedanto, the book, illustrated with 52photos, was published by KepustakaanPopuler Gramedia.

Though having educational back-ground as an historian, Swantorocontends that he wrote his book, not as ascholar nor a researcher, but just as agrandpa strolling with a grandchildthrough a flower garden and explainingto him each flower there one by one asbest as he could. There is no internalconnection between each one of thestories told, except that all of them arisefrom his memory of all the books he readfrom childhood until now. So there is awide variety of stories, such as thoseabout authors known by him, scholarsin various disciplines, famous personali-ties of the Dutch colonization, and wel-known figures in Indonesian politics, aswell as study of languages, journals, theGreat Depression in the 1930s, theexplosion of Mount Merapi, and the workof his deceased father, namely, Geillus-treerde Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indie (Illustrated Encyclopedia of theDutch Indies), especially its colouredpictures of the municipal symbols of theDutch Indies.

Dari Buku ke Buku, Sambung MenyambungMenjadi Satu, by Swantoro P., KepustakaanPopuler Gramedia (Palmerah Selatan 21,Jakarta 10270), 140 x 210 mm, 436 pages,ISBN: 970-9023-68-8

Iran

A Guide to Traditional Iranian Games

This monumental work contains informa-tion concerning 2506 traditional Iraniangames from all over the country, distrib-uted by province. The games then followin alphabetical order. A concise and clearintroduction, playing methods, and theindex of game names and references,greatly facilitate the use of the informa-tion. Institutions, libraries, publishedworks and human resources are clearlyindicated.

The author, professor of children’sliterature at Tehran University wasinvited to present her work in the form oftwo papers, discussions, and demonstra-tions at The Japan Youth FriendshipAssociation, Tokyo, 2-7 November 2001.She is presently working with theChildren’s Book Council of Iran (CBCI),and other NGOs for the re-discovery oftraditional games, through new research,appropriate selection, new ways ofpresentation, compilation of simpleguides, and promotion among families,children and young people.

For the Forests (Australia)

18 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

(New Zealand)

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

A Guide to Traditional Iranian Games bySoraya Ghezelayagh, with the collaboration ofSh. Eftekhari, Supervised by A. Horri Tehran,Cultural Research Bureau and Iranian NationalCommission for UNESCO, 2000, 894 pages,approx. US$12.00, ISBN: 964-6269-96-6,contact the author, e-mail: anmo@kanoon.net

Japan

To Keep a Diary

A new paperback series, Iwanami ActiveShinsho, was published in January 2002.Among them is this book written by YoujiArakawa, a man who has publishedmany books as poet and literary critic.

He introduces many kinds of diaries inJapan such as a picture diary, a familydiary, a travel diary, a war diary, aparents’ diary for their children, etc., andshows how to keep a diary concretelywith items including date, time, place,weather. Then he discusses characteris-tics of diaries; handwriting, order, length,and style, introducing by writers andcritics. He says keeping a diary must havedeveloped into writing novels, poems,essays. He recommends readers to keepan original diary and gives them somehints. The writer says that he keeps adiary to come to terms with himselfcomfortably at the end of a day bychanging the day into a small volume ofwords.

This is a good practical book thatmotivates readers to keep a diary, whichis this series for practical use aims at.

Nikki wo Tukeru by Youji Arakawa, IwanamiShoten (Tokyo), 2002, 116 x 173 mm, 169pages, ¥700 (approx. US$5.30), ISBD: 4-00-700016-6

Lao PDR

The Travel of Two Rabbits

This is a picture book for environmentalpreservation. The story is about tworabbits’ lives, experience, and adventurein a forest preserve. Through the contentthe children will get to know about onnatural sciences and the relationshipamong man, animals and plants.

This is one of the favorite picturebooks among children which has beenpublished recently with the support ofthe Canada Development Fund.

Song Siew Tiew Pa (The Travel of TwoRabbits) by Amphone Khanthavilay andPhiphat Pramouang, Children’s Cultural

Centre (PO Box 6244, Vientiane), 2001, 190 x260 mm, 20 pages, free domestic distributionby the National Reading Promotion Project

Mongolia

Encyclopedia of Mongolians

This book sets out to be of interest notonly to Mongolians but to foreigners aswell. It covers thousands of biographiesof famous people, including rulers andheroes of great merit in Mongolia andthe wider world. It took four years towrite, and is being regarded as anEncyclopedia of Mongolians.

Encyclopedia of Mongolians by S. Jambaldorjand E. Sonintogos, Interpress Co., Ltd.(Ulaanbaatar), 2000, 200 x 290 mm, 316pages, US$15.00

Nepal

Poverty Reduction and Governance:

Nepal Human Development Report 2001

The recently released report on the stateof Nepal’s human development focuseson the progress made in reducingpoverty during the last 11 years since therestoration of democracy in 1990. Thereport asserts that “despite significantnation-wide gains in such indicators aslife expectancy, education and per capitaincome, approximately 40% of the peoplestill continue to live in abject poverty”.

The report vividly points out the twincauses responsible for failure in thedevelopment process, which are primarilyweak governance and an absence ofcitizen participation in the decision-making processes that shape their lives.

The contents of the Report are rami-fied into three parts and eight chaptersthat are profusely dressed up with acombination of case studies and findingsin boxes, tables containing importantdata, maps and figures.

Poverty Reduction and Governance: NepalHuman Development Report 2001 byNational Advisory Group of Researchers,United Nations Development Programme(UNDP, Kathmandu), 2002, 154 pages

New Zealand

Paradise Reforged, A History of the New

Zealanders from the 1880s to the Year

2000

Paradise Reforged, the companionvolume to Professor James Belich’s

Making Peoples, takes up the history ofNew Zealand where the first volume leftoff at the end of the nineteenth century.The book describes New Zealand’sattempts to homogenise internal differ-ences of race and class in the earlytwentieth century, and moves to discusssocial and cultural changes made by theyear 2000. Belich covers aspects oftension between Maori and EuropeanNew Zealanders, child-rearing practices,moral attitudes and issues of popularculture, as well as giving space to theimpact of world events on the smallisland nation. It is a comprehensive workby an original mind, enlivened byanecdote and an easy writing style.

Paradise Reforged, A History of the NewZealanders from the 1880s to the Year 2000by James Belich, Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd,(cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany,Auckland 1310), 160 x 240 mm, 606 pages,approx. US$25.00, ISBN: 0-7139-9172-0

Pakistan

Meeting of East and West

Goethe, a world-renowned scholar, wasborn in Germany. He was a scientist, anadministrator, a scholar, a philosopherand a poet. He was influenced by theliterature of eastern scholars during hiseducation, particularly while studyingHerder, a German scholar. Herder studiedSaadi, one of Iran’s famous intellectuals,and Wan Hammer who translated theworks of Hafiz, both world-renownedIranian scholars. Goethe studied thetranslated German versions of bothintellectuals and was highly influencedby their works. He was so emotionallyinfluenced that his poetry reflects thethoughts of both the Iranian scholars. Hispoetic work known as the Works of Eastand West was acknowledged by AllamaIqbal, a national poet of Pakistan.

Goethe sincerely tried to bring Eastand West closer through his thought-provoking poetry, which is evident fromthe title of his works named in Persian.He believed that the differentiation ofeast and west was unnatural hence theyshould be brought closer together for thewelfare of humanity.

Divan Sharq-o-Ghurb (originally DerWestoestliche Divan by Goethe) translatedinto Urdu by Mian Ghulam Qadir, NationalBook Foundation, 2001, 189 pages, Rs.100(approx. US$1.6)

To Keep a Diary (Japan) The Travel of Two Rabbits(Lao PDR)

Encyclopedia of Mongolians(Mongolia)

Poverty Reduction andGovernance (Nepal)

Paradise Reforged(New Zealand)

Meeting of East andWest (Pakistan)

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 19

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

Masterpieces of Thai MuralPaintings (Thailand)

Papua New Guinea

Unheard Voices

A book that gives an insight into the livesof Papua New Guinea children waslaunched at the Pacific Islands NewsAssociation (PINA) conference inMadang. This book features stories ofchildren growing up in Madang. Secondyear Communication Arts students of theuniversity made field trips to villages inBogia, Karkar and Manam Islands andinterviewed children and parents onsocial, education and health issues.

Unheard Voices by Divine Word University

Philippines

Mask: the Other Face of Humanity

The mask, as means of the dramatictransformation of one person intoanother identity, perhaps ranks amongthe oldest manifestations of humanculture. There is evidence of the use ofmasks long before people started tocultivate the soil, and certainly beforethey discovered about the extraction anduse of metals. Nothing is known ofcourse, about the purpose served by thismask, nor by whom it was used. However,the rounded holes, placed along its edgeat regular intervals, suggest that it waspart of a costume and was worn to coversomeone’s face. It may have symbolisedthe protection of its wearer against evilspirits, or the petrification of the face of aman buried in the earth in expectation ofeternal life, as occurred in some of thedeveloped cultures, of later ages, forexample ancient Egypt.

Mask: the Other Face of Humanity by REXBook Store, Inc. in a joint publication withthe Organizing Committee of the Internation-al Mask Festival (Yogyakarta, Indonesia,2001), 2002, 203 x 254 mm, 156 pages,approx. US$20.00, ISBN: 971-23-3356-6

Rep. of Korea

Song of the Sword

The Dong-In Literature Prize was estab-lished back in 1955 to commemorate KimDong-In, a pioneer of Korean modernliterature and to contribute to the devel-opment of Korean literature. Song of theSword won its 32nd prize last year.

This novel depicts life and death ofAdmiral Lee Sun Sin, the hero of theKorean-Japanese War from 1592 to 1598

as well as historical events of the war.The author attempts to trace the hero’sdeeds by means of historical evidenceand to visualize the inner conflicts of theadmiral who is the only perfect hero andremains a legend in Korean history. Thejury of the prize agreed that Kim Hun hadsucceeded in breaking the conventionalideas about Admiral Lee as well asclichés attached to him and in a totallynew interpretation of the hero’s personaldistress, “which is an attempt thatnobody has ever tried before.”

Kaleui norae (Song of the sword) by KimHun, Thinking Tree Publishing Co., Ltd., 2001,153 x 224 mm, two volumes, 240 pages each,US$5 each, ISBN: 8984980641

Sri Lanka

Natural Resources of Sri Lanka

This publication provides authoritativedata and analysis of available naturalresources, their current status and levelsof exploitation, their potential to contrib-ute to the wealth of the nation in thefuture, in a sustainable manner. This isexpected to become the expected sourcebook for the country on natural resourc-es. The book includes 14 chapters writtenby an invited author selected on the basisof expertise and command of relevantsubject matter and national stature.

The book deals extensively withalmost all natural resources: land; water;forest; coastal and marine; and inlandaquatic resources. There are also sec-tions on water pollution; biologicaldiversity; legal framework for naturalresource management; and on sustain-able development. This is an update ofthe 1991 version of “Natural Resourcesof Sri Lanka—conditions and trends”.

Natural Resources of Sri Lanka, NationalScience Foundation (Vidya Mawatha Colom-bo 07), 2001, 207 x 285 mm, 306 pages,SLR750.00 (US$40.00), ISBN: 955-590-027-2

Thailand

Masterpieces of Thai Mural Paintings

Mural Paintings reflect the culture,knowledge, customs and way of life ofpeople from kings to commoners as wellas the events in each period.

This is a picture book of Thai muralpaintings in temples throughout thecountry dating back to the Ayutthayaperiod, and combines with knowledge of

the method and the development of Thaipainting tradition which usually depichsthe life of Buddha and historical narra-tives.

The author, No Na Paknam (PrayoonUluchada) was both practitioner andhistorian of art using his knowledge ofarts to explore and conduct research intoancient sites of historical, cultural andartistic interest in different regions. Thisbook represents his personal selection ofphotographs of Thai mural paintingincluding his explanations that evocativeand illuminating, drawing out the beautyand the imagination of the artists embod-ied in the works of art.

Masterpieces of Thai Mural Paintings by NoNa Paknam, translated into English byAbhassara Charubh and Charturee Tingsa-badh, Muang Boran Publishing House (underthe Viriyah Business Co., Ltd., phone: (66) 2281 1988 9, fax: (66) 2 282 7504), 2001,2905215 mm, 180 pages, 390 Baht (approx.US$156.00), ISBN: 974-7381-69-9

Viet Nam

Being Lost in the Jungle

In 2001, one of the three national litera-ture prize-winners awarded by theVietnam Writers’ Association was TrungTrung Dinh, a veteran writer of manywell-known short stories. Lac Rung(Being Lost in the Jungle) is about one ofthe ethnic groups in the Central High-lands, Banar, their lives and their contri-bution toward national salvation duringthe Vietnam War. Using the excuse ofbeing lost in the jungle and falling intoBanar hands, the author skillfully depictsthe humanitarian attitude among thosehilltribe people towards the Viet, as wellas towards a captured American soldier.It has taken nearly 30 years since the warfor people to calmly look back and tellthe stories untold until now. The novelhas attracted readers not only by itscontent, but also by the author’s uniquestyle of writing with a quiet humour. It isa little melancholic and a sincere reminis-cence of a longtime passing event.

Lac Rung by Trung Trung Dinh, Women’sPublishing House, 130 x 190 mm, 23,000VND (approx. US$1.60)

Natural Resources of SriLanka (Sri Lanka)

Song of the Sword(Rep.of Korea)

Being Lost in the Jungle(Viet Nam)

Mask: The Other Face ofHumanity (Philippines)

20 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

Asian/Pacific Publishing Scenes

Children’s Book Festivalposter (New Zealand)

National Conference on Children’sRights (Nepal)

Newsletter of the 5th Story-telling Festival (Iran)

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ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 21

Asia-Pacific Co-operative Programme in Reading Promotion and Book Development

Participants of the Meeting

2002 APPREB Experts Meeting inKuala Lumpur Makes Proposals forFuture Development of APPREB

Book development experts from nine coun-tries gathered in Kuala Lumpur in Febru-ary to evaluate and discuss APPREBprogrammes and make proposals for itsfuture plans and priorities, especially fur-ther utilization of the APPREB Internet web-site. Organized jointly by Asia/PacificCultural Centre for UNESCO, Dewan Bahasadan Puskata Malaysia and UNESCO, the2002 APPREB Experts Meeting for Consul-tation on the APPREB Internet Website washeld from 19 to 21 February 2002 in KualaLumpur in co-operation with MalaysiaBook Publishers Association and MalaysiaNational Commission for UNESCO.

At this time of globalization and infor-mation communication technology, it isbecoming increasingly important to pro-mote publishing and book development ina region with such a wealth of linguisticdiversity. It is imperative that experts in thepublishing sector come together to discussways to stimulate the flow of informationand strengthen regional co-operation inorder to help ensure a pleasant readingenvironment for the most needy, especiallyin their mother tongues. The 2002 meetingaimed to 1) evaluate past APPREB activities,2) discuss needs and priorities, 3) exam-ine possibilities of utilizing today’s ad-vanced technology in reading promotion,4) suggest ways to strengthen APPREBNetwork, and 5) suggest action plans forthe next biennium.

Ms. Beatrice Kaldun of UNESCOBangkok delivered a speech on behalf ofMs. Milagros del Corral, Director, Divisionof Arts and Cultural Enterprise, UNESCO,and assured UNESCO’s continued supportto APPREB in the next biennium. Thesessions on the first day included reviewof the activities under APPREB, country re-port sharing, followed by discussion onAPPREB in the era of information technol-ogy. This session started with lectures bytwo resource persons, Mr. Kenji Muro and

List of Participants

China—Zhou MingtaoPresident, Beijing Hope Software Co. Ltd.,Deputy Director, Seminar of E-journal,Publishers Association of China

Fiji—Linda CrowlPublications Fellow, Institute of the PacificStudies, University of the South Pacific

India—Varsha DasChief Editor and Joint Director, NationalBook Trust, India

Indonesia—Kartini NurdinGeneral Manager, Yayasan Obor Indonesia,Secretary, Board Member of IKAPI (Indone-sian Publishers Association)

Iran—Lili Hayeri YazdiResearch Associate and Cultural AdvisorInstitute of the Intellectual Development ofChildren and Young Adults

Malaysia—Kow Ching ChuanSecretary, Malaysian Book PublishersAssociation

Malaysia—Hamdan YahyaDirector, Literature Department, DewanBahasa dan Pustaka Malaysia

Thailand—Porn-Anong Niyomka HorikawaVice-President for International AffairsThe Publishers and Booksellers Associationof Thailand

Resource PersonsKenji MuroEditor-in-Chief, On-line Journal The Book& The ComputerGraham PerkinsCreative Markets ManagerApple – South Asia

UNESCO—Beatrice KaldunConsultant for Culture, UNESCO BangkokOffice of the Regional Advisor for Culture inAsia and the Pacific

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Malaysia

Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO

APPREB 2002–2003 Programmes thatare Given Priority at the Meeting

Networking

• Regular update, improvement and addi-tion of pages in the APPREB Website

• Publication of ABD in both print and on-line

• Workshop on utilising the web to delivercontent

• Meeting-cum-workshop to utilize theAPPREB site for effective production anddissemination of ACP Materials on-line

• Introduce in APPREB site, a list of titles forchildren selected by each country

Training of Book Experts

• Regional training course for people inthe field of reading promotion in theSoutheast Asia.

Mr. Graham Perkins, who introduced someof the latest technology that could be uti-lized in promoting book development. ThePrint-on-Demand technology for instance,could become a major printing tool nowthat the cost has been greatly reduced,enabling small numbers of print-runs inrural areas or in minor languages at a rea-sonable cost with a printing machine nobigger than a copier with a binding ma-chine attached.

On the second day, the participants hadan active discussion on evaluation of thepresent APPREB website. Practical sugges-tions to improve the site, making it moreattractive and readable, as well as enrich-ing its contents and ways to promote it toa wider audience were proposed. The par-ticipants unanimously agreed to assistACCU in its regular update and promotethe site on returning to their countries.Other sessions included a discussion onutilization of both print and on-line versionsof ABD and how to make them comple-ment each other, and evaluation of thenewly published ACP title, Meet MyFriends!.

Upon conclusion, the Meeting broughtout recommendations to concerned orga-nizations and proposed a list of practicalaction plans to be implemented in the2002–2003 biennium based on each coun-try’s needs. The participants assured theireager co-operation in the programme in-cluding sharing of information through thenetwork established at the meeting, andfunding on their side, which is highly en-couraging to the UNESCO and APPREBsecretariat. ACCU will further support fu-ture programmes, assist realization of pro-posed action plans and strengthen ties andco-operation with related offices and orga-nizations. Also, the meeting agreed thatprogrammes in the next biennium shouldhave the co-operation and participation ofcountries that could not participate in thisMeeting. ACCU hope the findings will beeffectively actualized in the next bienniumwith the strong co-operation of UNESCOand the Member States in the region.

22 ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4

2002 Capacity Building Workshop forLRCs Held in Bandung, Indonesia

ACCU and Studio Driya Media (LRC Indo-nesia) jointly organised the sixth “Capaci-ty Building Workshop for Literacy ResourceCentres for Girls and Women (LRCs) in Asiaand the Pacific” in Bandung, Indonesia,from 22 January to 2 February 2002, as partof the “ACCU International Exchange Pro-gramme under the UNESCO/Japan Fund-in-Trust for the Promotion of InternationalCooperation and Mutual Understanding.”UNESCO, Indonesian and JapaneseNational Commissions for UNESCO, andDirectorate General of Out-of-SchoolEducation and Youth, Ministry of NationalEducation of Indonesia, supported theWorkshop as collaborating organisations.

The Workshop consisted of two parts.Phase 1 focused on development ofMANGO (Map-based Analysis for NFEGoals and Outcomes) and NFE-MIS (NonFormal Education-Management and Infor-mation Systems). MANGO is a computer-ised community database system beingjointly developed by ACCU and UNESCOAPPEAL (Asia-Pacific Programme of Edu-cation for All) to facilitate effective moni-toring and evaluation of NFE activities atgrassroots level. NFE-MIS is an internation-al methodological package for NFE moni-toring and evaluation, adaptable andcomplementary to national contexts, beingdeveloped by UNESCO headquarters incollaboration with UIS (UNESCO Institutefor Statistics). Based on 3 MANGO pilot-versions developed by the Bangladesh,Indonesia and Philippines LRCs, andhands-on sessions on NFE-MIS, partici-pants of the Workshop shared their ownexperiences of ICT utilisation in NFE mon-itoring and discussed development of ef-fective NFE monitoring and evaluationtools. As the result of active discussion, itwas decided that ACCU, UNESCO agenciesand LRC Indore would undertake a com-mon pilot project to combine MANGO andNFE-MIS in Madhya Pradesh, India.

In Phase 2, training on capacity buildingof CLC facilitators was provided to partici-pants through group work. Participantsconducted field surveys in 4 CLCs in Band-ung to identify the local learning needs, andprepared sample lesson plans, curriculumunits, learning materials and trainingcourses for CLC facilitators. During thegroup work, participants used “Handbookfor Non-formal Adult Education Facilita-tors” developed by UNESCO APPEAL andACCU’s “PALM (Package for developingAdult Learning Material)”, which contains“Handbook for Adult Learning MaterialsDevelopment at Community Levels”, “AJPkit” (exemplar materials) and “LiteracyClip-Art” (collection of illustrations). Asfollow-up activities to the Workshop, pro-

Recommendations

UNESCO should:

1. increase funds in order to fully support APPREB’s activities, especially at the re-gional and sub-regional levels.

2. assist Member States in establishing a national book policy.3. assist Member States in promoting understanding of copyright.4. support APPREB awareness programme on how to increase networking organ-

ised at regional and sub-regional levels.5. provide financial support to Member States in book development and reading

promotion activities.6. strengthen the role of UNESCO regional offices in the Asia/Pacific region to effec-

tively promote book development programmes.7. strengthen the role of Bangkok office to support and assist Member States in

training, networking and information sharing.8. support the production of promotional materials for reading programmes under

APPREB.9. support publication of Best Books for Children from the countries in Asia and the

Pacific Region.

ACCU should:

1. conduct more training courses at the regional and sub-regional levels and pro-vide regional and international experts.

2. fund the participation of experts in books and IT in sub-regional workshop onnational book policy.

3. continue publishing ABD in printed form as well as on-line version.4. strengthen communication network using IT.5. participate in book fairs organised by Member States.6. encourage the participation of the private sector and NGOs in the Member States

in APPREB activities.7. assist in organising study tour programmes in book publishing and reading pro-

motion activities.8. promote and encourage on-line cooperation in the region through the APPREB

Website.9. recommend the resource persons who attended APPREB 2002 Experts Meeting to

cooperate in strengthening utilization of APPREB Website based on local needs.10. pay high priority to supporting countries that urgently need training for book

personnel.

Member States should:

1. push UNESCO for financial assistance to carry out APPREB activities.2. set up a national agency for APPREB in each country to strengthen national level

network and to coordinate activities.3. participate actively in APPREB reading promotion and book development activi-

ties.4. fully utilize APPREB website for the sharing of information especially in book pro-

motion in rural areas.5. consider developing or strengthening national book policies to ensure that books

and reading are included in a strategy to promote cultural development.6. agree to pursue national book policies through governments in cooperation with

all aspects of the book chain—private sector, NGOs, GOs and computer compa-nies.

7. produce “who’s who” on book experts in various fields such as story writing (es-pecially for children), publishing, distribution, marketing, library, storytelling, etc.

8. provide information on time to APPREB Internet Website.

Legal Framework

• Sub-regional Training Workshop on Na-tional Book Policy in the Pacific Islandscountries and Iran, emphasizing the in-teractivity of books and IT to promote

literacy, to promote reading, to promoteincreasing knowledge, to promote appli-cation of knowledge to work

(Details of the Meeting available at http://www.accu.or.jp/appreb)

Mr. Hamdan and Ms. Kaldun at the venue

ABD 2002 Vol. 32 No. 4 23

Since the commencement of the ACCUInternational Exchange Programme in July2000, 210 professionals, teachers and stu-dents visited Japan from UNESCO mem-ber states in Asia and the Pacific through12 inbound programmes, and 143 Japa-nese counterparts were dispatched to thecountries in the same regions through 10outbound programmes. Altogether, 353personnel participated in the ACCU Inter-national Exchange Programme, which pro-vided them with opportunities to observeand understand different value systems,and to cultivate deep respect for differentcultures.

”The 2002 Invitation Programme forKorean Teachers” is one of the inboundprogrammes and the second in the seriesof invitation programmes conducted byACCU and the Korean National Commis-sion for UNESCO (KNCU). The programmewas intended to provide elementary andsecondary school teachers from Korea withopportunities to observe and understandthe Japanese educational system with aspecial focus on Environmental Education.Forty-six Korean teachers were invitedalong with four coordinators from KNCUand the Korean Ministry of Education andHuman Resources Development from 24January to 5 February 2002 for 13 days.

The programme started with an openingceremony in Tokyo, followed by lectures onthemes such as educational policies andreforms and Environmental Education inJapan. At the reception participants werewelcomed by Ms. Atsuko Toyama, Ministerof Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology. After the visits to schools andother educational institutions in Tokyo,they were divided into two groups andmoved to Mie and Hyogo, where they ob-served classes and exchanged opinions onvarious educational topics with Japanesecounterparts in elementary and secondaryschools, and were also hosted by localJapanese families. They together visitedthe National Museum of Ethnolog in Osaka,the Lake Biwa Museum in Shiga. After avisit to the UNESCO World Heritage inKyoto, the programme concluded in Narawith presentations of programme impres-sions by the group representatives.

2002 ACCU Photo Contest in Asiaand the Pacific—“The Joy of Sport”

Since 1976 the Asia/Pacific Cultural Cen-tre for UNESCO (ACCU) has organisedannual photo contests with the aim ofpromoting mutual understanding andfriendship among the participatingUNESCO Member States in Asia andthe Pacific.

ACCU invites entries for the 2002ACCU Photo Contest, from nationals of39 UNESCO Member States in Asia andthe Pacific (American Continents are notincluded). The theme of this year is “TheJoy of Sport”. ACCU would like to re-ceive photos vividly depicting not onlypeople who are doing “sports” but alsothose who are enjoying any kind ofgames involving body movement, irre-spective of age or sex.

The following is an outline of the con-test.

Theme: “The Joy of Sport”

Closing Date: 31 July 2002

Conditions of entry:• Limited to maximum of three prints

per entrant.• Independent prints in monochrome

and/or colour.• Size: max.10 x 12 inches (25 x 30 cm), min. 8 x 10 inches (20 x 25 cm)• Must be taken in the photographer’s

own country in past five years.• Entries should be accompanied by the

prescribed entry form.• Entries received by ACCU will not be

returned.

Details and prospectus/entry formavailable at: http://www.accu.or.jp

or contact:Secretariat of ACCU Photo Contest inAsia and the PacificAsia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO6 Fukuromachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8484, Japanphone: (81) 3 3269-4436,fax: (81) 3 3269-4510e-mail: culture@accu.or.jp

duction of local versions of those materi-als, training for CLC facilitators, and/orother activities related to CLC capacitybuilding, will be conducted by participat-ing LRCs in collaboration with governmentagencies.

Twenty-six participants from Bang-ladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia,Japan, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Paki-stan, Philippines and Viet Nam attendedthe Workshop, including the representa-tives of 12 LRCs and 1 Japanese organisa-tion. Five resource persons, 3 representativesfrom UNESCO and 4 observers from theIndonesian government provided useful in-put in the Workshop.

It is highly expected that participants’ ex-perience and skills gained through thisWorkshop will be passed down to educa-tional and development workers at grass-roots level through each LRC’s extensivelocal networks, and that LRCs will facilitateestablishment of dialogue between civilsociety and government organisationsthrough collaboration in implementing fol-low-up activities.

ACCU International Exchange Pro-gramme under the UNESCO/JapanFunds-in-Trust for the Promotion ofInternational Cooperation and MutualUnderstanding

The Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Pro-motion of International Cooperation andMutual Understanding was established byUNESCO in 2000 based on the contribu-tion of the Government of Japan in orderto “promote mutual understanding,through UNESCO, by means of an ex-change of students, teachers and other pro-fessionals”. In order to fulfil this objective,UNESCO entrusted ACCU to set up the“ACCU International Exchange Programmeunder the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trustfor the Promotion of International Cooper-ation and Mutual Understanding” and im-plement personnel exchange programmesunder the following four categories:1) Professionals in the fields of

UNESCO’s competence2) Elementary and secondary school

teachers3) University students4) Upper secondary school students

Participants and staff at the workshop (Indonesia)

A participant visiting an elementary school in Tokyo during the “2002Invitation Programme for Korean Teachers” of the “ACCU Internation-al Exchange Programme under the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust forthe Promotion of International Cooperation and Mutual Understand-ing”. (Japan)