The Raven Silvers blog » launch

The Proper Care of Foxes

Raven — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:48:12 +0000

This morning I was at The Arts House again, this time at Earshot cafe for the launch of Wena Poon’s The Proper Care of Foxes, her latest collection of short stories. I was joined by Sarah.

The Proper Care of Foxes has been out in stores for a bit now, but today was like the official launch with Wena and her publisher, Ethos Books. Ethos might be a familiar name, because they’re quite well known for publishing local poetry.

There wasn’t much of a crowd, but intimate book launches are always nice. Wena read from the story Justin & the Cenotaph, which was actually quite funny in some bits. One of the characters totally sounds like someone I know, which was interesting to say the least.

After the reading, there was a short dialogue with her publisher from Ethos. I wasn’t able to catch his name, so if you know it please let me know and I’ll add it on.

It was interesting to hear from a local publisher about what they wanted. Ethos is looking to publish more full-length novels in the genre of literary fiction, so if you have a manuscript it might be worth it to approach them. The discussion ranged from a recent encounter with a cab driver that inspired Wena to what Singapore publishers look for in the work that is submitted to them.

Afterwards we kind of hung about for a while; we managed to speak to Wena for a bit about Biophilia before she had to go another panel.

I’m looking forward to reading more of Wena’s work. She’s got a unique voice among Singaporean writers and can be genuinely funny, even though I’m generally not a fan of diaspora as a genre.

[NaNoWriMo] Kick-Off and Book Launch

Raven — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:22:45 +0000

It’s that time of year again! This year, we’ll be merging the NaNoWriMo kickoff party with a book launch. :D

Happiness at the End of the World is a collection of short stories written by a few people who did NaNoWriMo last year, and will be on sale at the party-launch.

There will be cake for everyone! :D

Book Launch: Map of the Invisible World

Raven — Sat, 23 May 2009 08:38:16 +0000

Map of the Invisible World, a new novel by Tash Aw, will be launched on Monday, June 1, at The Pod!

Time: Monday, June 1, 7pm
Venue: The Pod on level 16 at the National Library (100 Victoria Street)
Admission is free

To RSVP, please email Zariena at zariena@horizonbooks.com.sg or call 6483 5953. But I think you can also go without RSVPing.

Click through for more information on the book and author.

About the book
In Map of the Invisible World, Johan kept a constant vigil over his little brother Adam during their years together in the orphanage. When they are placed in different adoptive homes, they lost all contact. Johan is taken to Kuala Lumpur by a wealthy Malaysian couple whilst Adam is adopted by a Dutch painter, Karl and grows up in a simple coastal town in Indonesia.

However in the summer of 1964, there was disorder as post-colonial Indonesia slid towards civil war. Foreigners and especially the Dutch are treated with hostility and when Karl is arrested, 16-year-old Adam resolves to do all that he can to find him. He seeks help from an old friend of Karl’s in Jakarta, but in the volatile atmosphere and lured by a promise to find his brother, Adam quickly falls in with a dangerous crowd and is swept up in events beyond his understanding.

About Tash Aw
Tash Aw, a Malaysian-born writer is now living in London. His highly-acclaimed novel, The Harmony Silk Factory won the Whitbread Best First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Best First Novel Award and was also long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. Map of the Invisible World is his second novel and is a touching tale of love and loss, friendships and belonging, and the indissoluble ties of family.

Little Lit

Raven — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:00:45 +0000

Little Lit: Enriching Minds & Igniting A Writer’s Spark is a series of talks for children’s books writers and illustrators.

Time: 2.15pm to 6pm (it’s long, but there are five talks in total)
Place: Play Den, The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane)
Admission is free

The talks for that day are:

The Diary of Amos Lee – I Sit, I Write, I Flush! by Adeline Foo and Stephanie Wong (book launch)
Poetry Demystified by Amos Lee
Terrorism and Tweens by Felix Cheong
Monsters in the Mind – A Look at Asian Influence in Picture Books by Joshua Chiang, Christine Lim Simpson & Lee Kowling
Meet the authors, book-signing and browse at fringe activities organised by Monsters Under The Bed

To register for the talks, sign up at www.mutb.com.sg, email info@mutb.com.sg or call 6100 4363.

Click through for more details on the talks.

Join us for an engaging afternoon of Enriching Minds & Igniting A Writer’s Spark for authors and illustrators young and old, or those with a story to tell. Meet seven speakers, all friends who are getting together to share their stories from concept to print, in a first of a series of programmes reaching out to writing for children.

2.15pm – 2.45 pm
The Diary of Amos Lee – I Sit, I Write, I Flush!
by Adeline Foo & Stephanie Wong

An invitation to a book launch by two recipients of the inaugural 2006 First-Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Initiative Award. Adeline Foo and Stephanie Wong will share their musings from the toilet… on school, relationships and secret desires.

2.45pm – 3.15 pm
Poetry Demystified
by Aaron Lee

A finalist of the Singapore Literature Prize 2008 and author of the poetry collections A Visitation of Sunlight (1998) and Five Right Angles (2007), Aaron Lee will speak on enjoying poetry from 8 to 80.

3.15pm – 3.45 pm
Terrorism and Tweens
by Felix Cheong
Hear from award-winning poet and author Felix Cheong on how he spun tales of intrigue in The Call from Crying House, and its sequel, The Woman in the Last Carriage. The first book, targeted at 9 to 14 years old, is now being used as an English Literature text in secondary schools.

4pm – 5 pm
Monsters in the Mind – A Look at Asian Influence in Picture Books
by Joshua Chiang, Christine Lim Simpson & Lee Kowling
Three of Singapore’s emerging illustrators – self-taught, free-spirited and deeply passionate about Asian art and children’s books. Meet Joshua, Christine and Kowling and understand what moves an artist and touch the hearts of children in a picture book.

5pm – 6 pm
Meet the authors, book-signing and browse at fringe activities organised by Monsters Under The Bed, School of Literacy, at the Blue Room.

Speaker 1: Dyanna Goh. She will be talking about sourcing out vintage books and selecting books that are interesting yet obscure.

Speaker 2: Shao Han. He’ll be talking about the effects of role-playing on creative writing.

Speaker 3: Jerry Hinds. Comics, Graphic Novels and the importance of having an open mind.

Speaker 4: Ryan Ong. He’ll be talking about classic books and canons in comparison to the books that kids are reading today.

Info taken from the Singapore Writers Festival website.

Book Launch: The Long Walk Home

Raven — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:16:04 +0000

The Long Walk Home, a novel by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, will be launched on Monday, April 27, 7:30pm at the Earshot Cafe at The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane) by the nice folks at Jacaranda!

Click through for more information on the book and author.

About the book
Set against the backdrop of twentieth-century India, The Long Walk Home illuminates history — partition, two Indo-Pak wars, the rise of religious fundamentalism — through the life of one man.

A story of faith and fundamentalism, misguided passions and accidental heroism, it is woven through a narrative of love, murder, vendetta, and greed. In the gathering extremism — the city is put under curfew; Hit Lists are drawn; his wife subscribes to a rabid preacher; his Hindu friend flees — the protagonist makes a terrible error. As he nears the end of his life, he wonders: will there be a chance for redemption?

About Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
An award-winning writer (Commonwealth Broadcasting Association), Manreet is a book critic for the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, and writes a regular column for DNA, a leading Indian newspaper. An engineer and management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, she has worked in marketing, advertising and consulting. Her debut novel, Earning the Laundry Stripes, was released in 2006 to critical acclaim with India Today, South Asia’s larget-selling weekly, calling it “an enjoyable tale of a sassy girl’s headlong race up the corporate ladder…” She was featured at the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival 2008. More info on Manreet can be found at www.manreetsodhisomeshwar.com