Chinese Department Alumna Ching Yeung Russell Wins 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award

HKBU Chinese Department Alumna, Ching Yeung Russell received the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award. Her manuscript, Bungee Cord Hair, was the winner of the Award, which is sponsored by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and Scholastic Press of Singapore which is the biggest children’s Book publisher in the world.

The objectives of the Award are to recognise excellence in fiction in Asian stories for children, to showcase the diversity of literary talent within Asia, and to encourage and inspire more Asian-themed books and stories. This year, the entries were from eight countries. The five judges were from Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, India and the United Kingdom, and they all gave Bungee Cord Hair the highest score. The awardee got a cash prize, travel expenses paid, two nights’ accommodations, and a book deal with Scholastic of Singapore.

Bungee Cord Hair is the sequel of Ching Yeung Russell’s free verse novel Tofu Quilt, which was published in October 2009 in the USA. This novel has received many honors and nominations in the USA, and was nominated for the Red Dot Children’s Book Award 2010 in Singapore and Sakura Medal of Japan 2011-2012. The target readers of Tofu Quilt are children from Grade 3 to 6, reflecting Ching Yeung Russell’s early writing journey; whereas, Bungee Cord Hair is mainly targeted for junior high students, reflecting author’s writing journey from age 12 to 15. Bungee Cord Hair will be published next year. For details, please visit http://chingyeung.homestead.com.