Category: The Literary

Being literary and other stuff.

Mitch Albom in Singapore!

Newsflash: Apparently not everyone got the eflyer etc about this but anyway, catch Mitch Albom, the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet In Heaven and more on 26th February (day of this post):

Location: {prologue} Ion Orchard level 4

Time: 1pm

Also, if you’re the first 50 people from 12pm, you get a complementary {prologue} welcome pack (ONLY with proof of purchase of his books from any Popular/Harris/{prologue} store). Also enjoy 20% discount of his books OR get a 2 for 1 for these titles: The Five People You Mean In Heaven, Tuesdays With Morrie and For One More Day. ONLY on the 26th Feb.

Can’t come in the afternoon due to work? IT’S OK.

Catch him at:

Location: Kinokuniya Ngee Ann City

Time: 7pm

EDIT: TOUGH LUCK! The sources said it was yesterday and they sent out the wrong info. SO, just 1pm today only!

That’s it for the 26th. If he has any other appearances after this date, well it’s probably for private events or something around here.

Science Chronicles: Sci-Fi writing competition

Hullo, hullo indeed! Science Chronicles 2010 is a science fiction writing competition! Only thing is that it’s not for everyone but more for students. Nonetheless, if you’re 18 and under and currently in Singapore, check it out! Oh, currently it says nothing about poly students but we’ll see since I hit them up with a question on that. Deadline is 11 April 2010.

There’s 2 categories for students to be exact. They are:

Category A:

  • Secondary 3 and 4 students
  • IP schools year 3 and 4 students
  • 15-16 years of age international students studying in Singapore

Category B:

  • Junior College 1 and 2 students
  • IP schools year 5 and 6 students
  • 17-18 years of age international students studying in Singapore

Here’s the brief rules/outlines. For more details check their website here.

EDIT: Polytechnic students are qualified to enter this! They replied to me via email so just make sure which age category you’re in.

Continue reading Science Chronicles: Sci-Fi writing competition

Books I’ve read so far

This is pretty much a list of books I’ve read so far. At least from what I remember since I figured I might as well see what books I read in a year. There’s a meme going on back then in my friends list in another online blog about reading 100 books in a year but I definitely went over that.

Too many books to hotlink to their amazon/author pages so just check it out on your own if you think it looks interesting. This is just a list, not a review but if you want to know more, you can always comment to ask about any of the specific titles.

Continue reading Books I’ve read so far

In which I wanted some redbush tea!

Location: The Multipurpose Room of the National Library.

Equipment: A digital camera, 2 books from the library itself, 1 book by Alexander McCall Smith and a ukulele.

No, I wasn’t planning on performing a song for him nor that I was going to borrow books but hey, I was early for the session and found myself borrowing some fantasy books there. After all, it is the library. And oh, the ukulele was cause I had gone to the music store at Bras Basah, next door to it.

So as it so happens, I ended up with the ukulele and the 2 extra books besides my original intent in bringing only the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency book by him. The session was organized by the Penguin Books people and thus, they were quickly setting up things when it was just around 6pm when the actually session started at about 7pm.

Continue reading In which I wanted some redbush tea!

Alexander McCall Smith in Singapore!

Meet the best-selling author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and catch an exclusive private screening of the adapted HBO TV series (premiering in August on StarHub Channel 60).

7pm: Book talk and Q&A
7.30pm: Autograph session
8pm: Private screening of the first episode of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency HBO TV series
(Note: Attendees to sign in and be seated by 6.50pm.)

Date: Monday, February 8
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Venue: Multipurpose Room, National Library Building, Victoria Street
Admission: Free (To register, email marketing@penguinbooks.com.sg with the subject heading “AMS RSVP”. Your reservation is confirmed unless otherwise notified.)

IS THAT COOL OR WHAT? (The answer is “cool” not “what”.) RSVP them by giving your name and contact number!

Continue reading Alexander McCall Smith in Singapore!

Happiness at the End of the World!!

YEAH, YEAH! Finally! Our book is in stores! Or rather, I finally saw it in Kinokuniya Orchard with Mintea! It’s Happiness at the End of the World (HatEotW)! Amusingly, if you want to read our previous 2007 anthology, “So You Think You Can Write A Novel?”, it’s there too.

Don’t know what HatEotW is about? It’s a science fiction anthology of 8 short stories (by 8 writers) based around the theme of the end of the world!

Except that it has happy endings because we wanted something not depressing when you look at the local shelf here. (The writers in the book do write other things with semi-depressing endings if you like but just for this book, we wanted happiness!)

Even if we were given the same theme (yes, I’m one of the writers in the book!), all of the stories vary from each other and we noticed that amongst those who bought the book during the book launch last year, everyone had a different favourite story out of the lot.

As for So You Think You Can Write A Novel?, it’s not a self help book but more an anthology of 18 stories by 18 writers of different genres and said stories are from their own novels. BUT ENOUGH ON THAT, let’s focus on the latest book first!

Oh, here’s a book trailer if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s simple but to the point.

Continue reading Happiness at the End of the World!!

Young Writers Seminar and a submission!

Righto! The first is on All In! Young Writers Seminar co-organized by the National Book Development Council of Singapore, The Arts House and NUS Literary Society! The second is a submission for science-fiction/fantasy with an Eastern overtone!

Continue reading Young Writers Seminar and a submission!

Morris Takes A Chance and Rochee the Friendliest Roach!

I got these two children’s books during the Singapore Writer’s Festival months ago. Yeah, I did say I have a backlog of book reviews to post up. Morris Takes A Chance is written and illustrated by Amanda Teow while Rochee the Friendliest Roach is written and also illustrated by Gavin Goo! Heh, these two books had their authors writing and drawing the pictures for the books. Just so you know, I got these two books during their book launch as they were part of the First Time Writers and Illustrators initiative by the MDA. There were other books but I got these two then and they’re both published by the Straits Times Press.

Continue reading Morris Takes A Chance and Rochee the Friendliest Roach!

The Bookfest and of Howl by James Lee

A brief announcement first!

Bookfest

The Bookfest is up at Suntec convention hall this 11 to 20 December from 10 am to 10pm. For those that are Popular, Watson or Maybank card members have an exclusive members’ only night on 10 December from 8.30pm till 11pm. Heh, they’d get a free tote bag and some surprise gift with a minimum of $50 of purchase though and as usual, while stocks last.

Besides the book buying, there’ll be storytelling, book signings, celebrity appearances and such. Just check the exhibition highlights on their official website here.

And now back to your regularly scheduled book review.

howlbook

I had a double take when I saw this book on the local shelves. For those who don’t know, James Lee is the writer of Mr Midnight. It’s something like a local version of the Goosebumps series.

What made me have another look at it was the tagline.

Love can be deadly

Oh my heck.

Continue reading The Bookfest and of Howl by James Lee