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es and present them to the international market.Kota Buku has also taken necessary steps to collect and consolidate this content to create a centralised repository of Malaysiana, and will be promoting it to major book fairsaround the world.Razin Abd Rahman, senior manager in the trade department, on the Kota Buku Academy:What are the objectives of the AKB?AKB stands for Akademi Kota Buku. Our function is to provide relevant training courses with a focus on books of the future to publishers, content creators, students and the public.As advocators for future books, Kota Buku has taken the responsibility to provide training relevant for the book industry and content creators, in order to help them compete globally. AKB provides training in intellectual property and copyrights, technology, publishing economy and content creation.How did AKB come about?I have participated in many international book fairs, and it still astounds me to see so many publishers engaging in the rights trade, and illustrators as well. There is so much potential! It could be said that the e-book revolution and mobile technology sparked new trends in digital convergence and transmedia.The awareness among publishers regarding digital convergence was still low. The idea to create an academy that caters to the industry, content creators and the public was officially established in 2014.What are your hopes for the future?We have been aggressively expanding our offerings of courses and seminars. The training AKB provides for the participants is to not only sharpen their skills but also20 Elite+expand their perspectives. The end goal is for them to produce high quality content and add it to the Malaysiana repository.There are already plans to expand AKB on a more international scale, starting with the ASEAN countries. Kota Buku has ambitions to become the content hub for Asia Pacific, then AKB will follow as a training hub.Norhayati Razali, manager in the social business venture department, on the development of children’s literature:How do you define ‘children’s literature’?I would say the most general definition is books and literary works that are not only enjoyed by children, but also by people of all ages. It encompasses any type of creative and imaginative works with the purpose of being read by children.In the Malaysian context, any literature aimed at children should reflect good moral values and Malaysia’s harmonious culture, its people living in a multiracial society with diverse cultural and religious practices.How did children’s literature in Malaysia evolve?In the olden days, literature was more of an oral tradition. Storytelling sessions about myth, fantasy and legends held by the village elders were great sources of entertainment for children. Most likely the only books available were religious texts, becoming more prominent after Islam spread throughout the Malay archipelago.During the colonial era, the British took over the education system and introduced exercise books to standardize reading and writing lessons in schools. At the end of the 19th century, Malay authors published many books and translations from Arabic on topics ranging from fiction, history and science for schools, as well as magazines and newspapers. It was considered the golden era of Malay authorship.