programme download - Singapore Writers Festival

AUTHORS & SPEAKERS
Women’s Affairs in January 2011. She has
been hailed as one of the 100 Most Powerful
Arab Women of 2011 by Arabian Business. An
anthropologist by training, she is also the
author of books and articles on sexuality,
violence against women and the oral history of the feminist
movement in the Arab world. Lilia is currently a research
professor at the Middle Eastern Institute, National University
of Singapore.
Lin Yao (Singapore) PG 44
Lin Yao, 19, is a newcomer to the literary
scene. She is currently studying at Dunman
High School and, since 2009, has
contributed more than 20 articles to the
Chinese student publication, ZBcomma.
She is also a student correspondent for Lianhe Zaobao.
Having been selected to participate in a number of writing
activities organised by the Ministry of Education, she first
had her work published in the Singapore Chinese Literature
journal produced by the Singapore Association of Writers.
林瑶 (新加坡)
林瑶,19岁文坛新秀。现就读于德明政府中学高中部。2009
年开始向学生报章《逗号》投稿,至今被刊登作品已有20余
篇。她也是《联合早报》体育通讯员,并曾获选参与多项由
教育部主办的写作活动。作品也曾首次发表于新加坡作家协
会的《新华文学》。
Linda Jaivin (Australia) PG 19, 23, 48
Having spent nine years in Taiwan, Hong
Kong and China, Linda Jaivin writes
extensively on Chinese politics and culture.
Her Chinese memoir, The Monkey and the
Dragon, was well received, as was her
historical novel, A Most Immoral Woman, set in China and
Japan. She is also known for her dark erotic humour — in her
best-selling novel Eat Me and essays and articles in
Confessions of an S&M Virgin. Linda has also written plays,
short stories, a satirical novel about rock ‘n’ roll and a black
comedy about refugees.
Lucas Ho (Singapore) PG 38
Lucas Ho is a writer, actor and educator,
usually all at once. He was written mostly for
the stage, and his plays include Everyday
Miracle and The Artist Who, both of which
were part of theatrical series that included
other playwrights. On stage, he has appeared in Short & Sweet
Singapore Top 30 and Buds Theatre Company’s Going Local
and Going Local 2. In school, he teaches at Hwa Chong
Institution and also juggles being an editor of online magazine
POSKOD.SG and a producer with Checkpoint Theatre.
Luo Ming (Singapore) PG 34
A leading figure in Singapore Chinese
literature, Luo Ming (Yap Khoon Chan) heads
the Singapore Literature Society. Formed in
1980, the Society aims to bring local writers
together and promote Singapore writing,
particular in Chinese. Luo Ming spearheads all their activities
and, in addition, is Chief Editor of several key literary Mandarin
publications, including Xin Jia Po Wen Yi, Xin Jia Po Wen Yi
Bao, Nian Du Wen Xuan and Zuo Jia Zuo Pin Ping Lun Xuan.
骆 明(新 加 坡)
骆明,原名叶昆灿,新加坡文艺协会会长,是一位深受海内
外认可 和 推 崇 的 文 坛 前 辈 。他自1980年就担负起新华文学
重要推手的使命,率领新加坡文艺协会积极举办多项文艺活
动,持续不懈地推动文学出版,以提升新加坡文艺创作的水
平。在骆明的领导下,新加坡文艺协会的出版物和活动不局
限于新加坡国内,也跨出国门,走向世界。骆明也是多个重
要文学期刊专著的主编,其中包括《新加坡文艺》、《新加坡
文 艺 报 》、《 年 度 文 选 》、《 作 家 作 品 评 论 选 》等 。
Lynette Owen (UK) PG 50, 51
Lynette Owen, OBE, is Director of
Copyright at Pearson Education. She began
her publishing career at Cambridge
University Press and went on to work at
Pitman Publishing and Marshall Cavendish,
before joining Longman, now Pearson Education. She is the
world’s leading acknowledged expert on Rights and has a
particular interest in licensing to emerging publishing markets.
Ma Elangkannan (Singapore) PG 45
Born in 1938, Ma Elangkannan
(M Balakrishnan) has published numerous
novels and short story collections in Tamil.
Best known for highlighting the plight of
the working class, he is the people’s writer.
Undoubtedly popular, he also received due recognition
when he received the Cultural Medallion in 2005 and was the
first Tamil-language writer to get the Southeast Asia Write
Award in 1982. His works have been widely anthologised in
newspapers and literary publications, been adapted for radio
and television, and been translated into English and Malay.
மா இளங்கண்ணன் (சிங்க ப்ர்)
1938-ஆம் ஆண்ல் பிறந்த மா இளங்கண்ணன் (மா
பாலகிஷ்ணன்) இவைர நிைறய சிகைத ப்க ம்
நாவல்கம் பைடத்ள்ளார். சாதாரண மக்களின்
அபவங்கைளம், உணர்கைளம், சாதைனகைளம் தம
கைதகள் லம் எத்ச் ல்ம் இளங்கண்ணன், உரிைம
இழந்த அவர்கள ரலாக ஒலிக்கிறார். இவர் வழங்கிள்ள
இலக்கியப் பங்களிப்ைப மதிக்ம் கமாக 2005-ஆம் ஆண்ல்
கலாசார பதக்க வி அளிக்கப்பட்ட. ேமம், 1982-ஆம்
ஆண்ல் ெதன்கிழக் ஆசிய எத் விைத (Southeast
Asia Write Award) ெபற்ற இவ ர், இவ்விைத ெபற்ற தல்
தமிழ் எத்தாளர் என்ற ெபைமக்ரியவர். இளங்கண்ணனின்
சிகைதகம் நாவல்கம் சிங்கப்ரிம் அைனத்லக
அளவிம் ெசய்தித்தாள்களிம் இலக்கியத் ப்களிம்
இடம்ெபற்ள்ளன. சிங்கப்ர் தமிழ் வாலியிம்,
ைலக்காட்சியிம் இவைடய பைடப்கள் இடம்
ெபற்ள்ள ட ன், ஆங்கிலத்திம், மலாய் ழியிம்
ழிெபயர்க்கப்பட்ள்ளன.
Madeleine Lee (Singapore) PG 42
Poet Madeleine Lee already has four books
of poetry to her name and a fifth on its way,
one-point-six-one-eight. Her work has been
included in numerous anthologies, and her
poems coffee, two balloons and The Poetry
Reader have been adapted into film. An active contributor to
the Singapore Writers’ Festival, she conceived 2nd Link, a
performance of Singapore/Malaysian literature, for the 2005
Festival, and saw her poetry collection y grec adapted into a
60-minute performance in 2007. When Madeleine is not
writing, she is an investment manager.
Malcolm Neil (Australia) PG 50, 51
Malcolm Neil was the CEO of the Australian
Booksellers Association and is currently
Director of Vendor Relations Asia/Pacific at
Kobo. As such, he is perfectly positioned to
provide an overarching view of the ebook
business. Kobo is one of the world’s largest ebook retailers;
they are constantly developing and honing new and
imaginative marketing strategies for an ever-evolving
business.
Marina Mahathir (Malaysia) PG 19, 24, 25
Marina Mahathir writes a fortnightly column
on social issues in an English-language
Malaysian daily, is an avid blogger, is active
on Facebook and Twitter, and is also a
television and film producer. She writes and
speaks regularly on human rights, particularly where it
relates to gender issues, Islam and HIV/AIDS. One to walk the
talk, Marina was president of the Malaysian AIDS Council
from 1993 to 2005, and currently sits on the board of Sisters
in Islam, which advocates justice and equality for Muslim
women. She is the daughter of the fourth Prime Minister of
Malaysia, Tun Mahathir Mohammad.
Maung Pyiyt Min (Myanmar) PG 35, 39
One of Myanmar’s most active modern
poets, Maung Pyiyt Min has been writing
since the late 1970s. To elude the authorities,
he often encrypted his poems in heavy
metaphor and experimented with different
poetic forms, like the Burmese four-syllable rhyme.
SWF 2012
Nevertheless his works were often censored. That did not
stop him from enthusiastically participating in the Modern
and Post Modern poetry movements in Myanmar and his
poem Maung Chaw Nwe won a Burmese book award in
2005. Pyiyt Min now contributes regularly to various
magazines in Myanmar.
Maxime Pilon (France – Singapore) PG 22
History buff Maxime Pilon co-authored the
book The French in Singapore (with Danièle
Weiler), shedding light on this little-known
aspect of Singapore history. Maxime’s love of
history is intertwined with his sojourns; he
taught history at schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai and
Copenhagen before moving to Singapore in 2001, where he
continues to teach history at the Lycée Français de
Singapour. He has since become a Singapore permanent
resident and had, in 2008, been awarded the Knight of the
Order of Academic Palms by the French Ministry of Education.
Mayo Martin (Singapore – Philippines) PG 28
Mayo Martin is the Deputy Features Editor
for the TODAY newspaper. He also maintains
the newspaper’s arts blog For Art’s Sake!,
covering various performing, visual and
literary arts events in Singapore. He
previously released a book of poetry in his native Filipino,
entitled Babel, and produced Uniberso: New Pinoy Poets
Calling, a bilingual spoken word audio anthology of
emerging Filipino poets.
Meira Chand (Singapore) PG 36, 42
Novelist Meira Chand, who is of Indian-Swiss
parentage, was born and grew up in London,
and lived for many years in Japan and also in
India. She has resided in Singapore since
1997. Not surprisingly, her novels explore
issues of identity, dislocation and belonging and are set in
the lands she has lived in. Her latest novel, A Different Sky,
was released in 2010 and takes place in pre-independence
Singapore.
Michael Cunningham (US) PG 12, 14, 17, 26, 29
“Like my hero Virginia Woolf, I do lack
confidence,” Michael Cunningham once said,
a surprising statement from a writer whose
novel The Hours won him the 1999 Pulitzer
Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner
Award, sealing his place in the firmament of American
literature. That was not Michael’s first taste of success as a
writer, having published the novel A Home at the End of the
World to wide acclaim in 1990 and By Nightfall in 2010.
Michael holds several fellowships and is also a senior lecturer
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