Recently I wrote about the the Dutch Children's Book week (Kinderboekenweek 2012). The theme this year was "Hello World". It was all about travel, exploration, discovery and our multicultural society. It's important that children can identify with the stories they hear or read. In our multicultural society our children need to have multicultural books to read. On the InCultureParent's website there is a nice article: 10 Reasons Parents Should Read Multicultural Books to Kids. Here's a quote from the article:
"Ultimately, books that open up the world are essential for a child’s well-balanced reading diet. When children grow up exposed to diverse cultures, people and places, they become much more open to exploring broader possibilities in careers, relationships and decision-making as parents or leaders. Without ignorance and prejudices inhibiting them, they can be prepared for wherever life takes them and whatever life brings."
One initiative that is pushing for a wider range of books for our children wherein the multicultural society is present and where gender is presented in a progressive way, is that of Inclusive Works.
Here's the challenge: write a children's story. The subject of the children's story is "New gender roles in the multicultural society". It's a call to be creative and write an "out of the box" children's story. We all know the stereotype stories about the white little boy who becomes a doctor. It's time for new stories. In this global age there are so many possibilities open for our children, let's write new books full of possibilities.
The Prize: One winner will be chosen for each category. Both stories will be published by Clavis Publishers as illustrated children's book in English and in Dutch.
The competition is open to everyone! Anyone who likes to write stories can participate regardless of age, ability, background, education, language, nationality etc.
There are 2 categories:
- A children's story for children ages 1 - 3 years old. Maximum length of the story for children between 1-3 years: 600 words.
- A children's story for children ages 4 - 6 years old. Maximum length of the story for children between 4-6 years: 1000 words.
Deadline: submit your stories before the 31st of December 2012 email info@inclusiveworks.eu. For more information click here.
The organisers are Febe Support, Inclusive works and the British Council. Thank you for organizing this competition. I hope you receive many entries. I would say this is a great possibility for third culture kids, expats, immigrants, cross culture kids to write a story. We all have experiences that are out of the ordinary.
Some time ago I read this post The Secrets of Writing a Multicultural Children's Book. It's worth checking out the post. It's an interview with Tessa Strickland, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of one of the leading publishers of multicultural books, Barefoot Books.
Why wait any longer. Let's start writing. Do you have any tips more for me? Any advice? Please share it here. The winners of this competition have been announced on 18th March 2013. Congratulations!
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