How to Create New Readers: Reading Promotions in Asia

Gigo Alampay is a writer, editor, lawyer, and developmental worker. Advocating for human rights, democracy, and the environment, he is the founder and executive director of CANVAS (Center for Art, New Ventures & Sustainable Development), established in 2005. Under their flagship program One Million Books for One Million Filipino Children, he authored Safe Space and YouThink, both of which received the National Children’s Book Award in 2022. In 2024, his book How to Raise Your Child won the Gintong Aklat Award for Inspiration. To date, CANVAS has donated more than 500,000 copies of its award-winning books directly to children in disadvantaged communities throughout the Philippines.

Dina Ocampo is a Professor at the University of the Philippines College of Education where she teaches courses on literacy development, difficulties and research. Presently, she is co-convenor of the Education Research Program at the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies. She is also the current editor-in-chief of the Philippine Journal on Education Studies. She was Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Education from 2010 to 2013, and from 2013 to 2017 served as Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction at the Department of Education. She continues to collaborate with local and international peers in the academe, government and nongovernmental organizations on shared advocacies. Presently, she is a member of the technical committee on teacher education of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II).