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Your Link to Real Relationships

- 04/16/12

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March/April 2012

C O N T E N T S :

< Your Link to Real Relationships: An interview with Filipina author Marlene Legaspi-Munar
< LittWorld 2012
< National Anthem Books Point African Readers to God
< It's ALL About Family
< Connect with Us

Hi, Friend!

Facebook has changed the meaning of "friend" around the world. In this issue, we talk with Filipina author Marlene Legaspi-Munar about her new book on friendship for teens. Also, we introduce a book idea that's catching on across Africa, thanks to award-winning author Lawrence Darmani.

Don't forget to enter the LittWorld 2012 writing contest and check out entries submitted from around the globe!

-Dawn Herzog Jewell, Editor

Your Link to Real Relationships: an interview with Filipina author Marlene Legaspi-Munar

Author Marlene Legaspi-Munar’s newest release flew off bookstore shelves last December in the Philippines and sold out its first print run within a few months. Add Mo ‘Ko as Friend: Your Link to Real Relationships by OMF Literature is a book for teens about developing online and offline friendships. MAI interviewed Marlene about her own friendships and the power of social networking.

Q: Congratulations on the book’s success! Why do you think it’s resonating among readers?

Teens are particularly interested in friendship. I wrote as
if I’m having a conversation with a good friend. I tell stories and share true-to-life experiences. One reader said, “It tells exactly about what I’m going through with my classmate and sister.”

I think the language endeared the book to readers. This is the first time I’ve published in Taglish, a mix of Tagalog and English. Taglish is very conversational, appeals to general readers and is the language of Filipino young people.

>>Read the full interview

LittWorld 2012: Nairobi, Kenya
October 28 to November 2, 2012

<<Enter the LittWorld 2012 writing contest

<<Get your brochure: download the new brochure pdf

<<Check out www.littworldonline.org, our new blogging forum for global Christian publishing

<<Register online

<<Learn more details

Join more than 150 publishers, editors and writers from nearly 40 nations for LittWorld 2012, MAI’s unique global publishing conference. Gain intensive training on strategic, publishing-related topics from the world's best in Christian publishing.

Photo above courtesy Michael Collie, with help from Lucy Collie and Prospero Sebafundi

National Anthem Books Point African Readers to God

This year schoolchildren across Ghana are reading The Heritage, a story centered on the national anthem by award-winning author and publisher Lawrence Darmani, MAI's regional trainer for Africa. The title became a bestseller when the Ministry of Education purchased more than 100,000 copies for schools nationwide.

Lawrence hit upon the idea for The Heritage after learning that books on everyday issues were needed for adult literacy classes. A book about the Ghana National Anthem, written from a Christian worldview would inspire all Ghanaians, he believed. “Even more striking was that…the lyrics of the anthem pointed to God as the source of life,” he said.

>>Read the full article

It's ALL About Family

We live in a competitive world. The person sitting next to us is not our collaborator, but a threat. He may get the promotion we deserve. He may steal our ideas and become rich and famous. In the publishing world things are similar. We suspect the publishing house that suddenly wants to be close to us. We check the bestseller lists and wonder why some authors earn the praise we long for.

However, deep down inside we know we are not in this for the money or the glory. We edit, write, design and publish because that is our mission. We have chosen this way to communicate a life-changing message. We believe in what we do because it is what God has given us to do. But it’s not easy to go against the tide.

>>Read the full article by Keila Ochoa Harris

Connect with Us

>>Twitter- @maimaust
>>YouTube- MAIlittWorld

>>Facebook- MAIfanpage

>>Blog- Inside MAI: Thoughts on global publishing
>>Blog- LittWorld Online: your blogging forum for global Christian publishing
>>Pray- Download the MAI Prayer Guide