And no, I don't mean Hari Raya Haji and Deepavali. I'm talking about the
Singapore Writers Festival and the
Georgetown Literary Festival!
Just bussed back from the SWF opening, in fact, where Math Paper Press did a
twin launch of Alfian Sa'at's
The Invisible Manuscript and Cyril Wong's
Straw, Sticks, Brick.
My book,
Diary of a Stone Monkey, was supposed to come out too, but alas, there were printing problems. Seems like this is my year of stymied book launches. One of my stories is featured in the Sunday launch of
Fish Eats Lion, though. Come, come!
Launch of Fish Eats Lion: New Singaporean Speculative Fiction
Sunday 4 November
4pm-5pm
ilovebooks.com Pavilion, Campus Green, SMU (Singapore Management University)
FREE ADMISSION
Quite a few prominent names are featured in the fest, including Michael Cunningham, Monique Truong, and the author of
my Korea book, Shin Kyun-Sook. Will see if I can get interviews and autographs. :)
But, more importantly, I've been invited to Penang!
See that upper left hand corner portrait? That's me! I'm actually being featured in the opening ceremony, where I'll be performing my poetry right next to
A. Samad Said and
Omar Musa. Can you believe it?
These are the events I'm involved in:
Poetry Workshop with PELLTA and Arts
Friday 23 November
8-9pm
Sekeping Victoria
Writers: Ng Yi-Sheng, Omar Musa and Nii Ayikwey Parkes
FREE ADMISSION
Official Opening Ceremony by Chief Minister of Penang, Y.A.B. Lim Guan Eng
8-9pm
Friday 23 November and Nii Ayikwey Parkes
Sekeping Victoria
Readings and performances by A. Samad Said, Ng Yi-Sheng and Omar Musa
BY INVITATION ONLY
Poetry Rant: Mad As Hell!
Sunday 25 November
12:30-1:30pm
Sekeping Victoria
Five poets get angry. Watch them get mad - and bad!
Writers: Ng Yi-Sheng, Omar Musa, Alfian Sa'at, Shivani Sivagurunathan and Nii Ayikwey Parkes
Host: Jasmine Low
FREE ADMISSION - seating on first come, first served basis
Reading and Panel Discussion: Taboos or Travesties
Sunday 25 November
2-3pm
Sekeping Victoria
How do writers go about saying the unsayable? How do they deal with issues and themes that may cause scandal and uproar? See how these writers deal with challenging issues that simply need to be said.
Writers: Ng Yi-Sheng, Reggie Baay, Dina Zaman, Linda Christanty and David Van Reybrouck
Moderator: Bernice Chauly
FREE ADMISSION - seating on first come, first served basis
... and then from 3 to 20 December I'll be in Stockholm for the ILGA Conference. More about that later. :)
