programme download - Singapore Writers Festival

AUTHORS & SPEAKERS
Nicholas Liu (Singapore) PG 35, 47
Nicholas Liu has had poems published in
magazines and journals including QLRS,
Poetry Review (UK), RHINO, and Stand. He is
the Editor of Unswept Magazine and the
author of two chapbooks, He Gives Them
White Robes (Chapbook Publisher, 2011) and Failure to Apply
the Method (Grey Book Press, 2012). His first full collection,
Versions from the English, is forthcoming from firstfruits
publications. He is currently a JD student at the Singapore
Management University.
Nirrosette (Singapore) PG 29
Nirrosette (real name: Munirah Binte Jaafar)
is a young lady deeply passionate about the
Malay language, and has been writing short
stories and poetry for a local newspaper
since she was 10. Just 19, she has published
two successful novels, Ikhlas A.K! (2011) and Nah, Untuk
Awak! (2012). The former is a modern love story about a
young girl for whom money can’t buy happiness, and the
latter is about a hopeless romantic looking for a fairytale
ending. Nirrosette aspires to be a Malay teacher.
Nirrosette (Singapura)
Nirrosette (nama sebenar: Munirah Binte Jaafar) merupakan
seorang gadis yang mencintai bahasa Melayu, dan mula
menulis cerpen dan puisi untuk akhbar tempatan ketika
berusia 10 tahun. Kini berusia 19 tahun, beliau telah
melahirkan dua novel iaitu Ikhlas A.K! (2011) dan Nah, Untuk
Awak! (2012). Ikhlas A.K.! merupakan sebuah kisah cinta
moden mengenai seorang gadis yang mengerti bahawa
wang tidak boleh membeli kebahagiaan dan Nah, Untuk
Awak! pula mengenai seorang insan yang berjiwa romantis
dan yang mencari-cari kesudahan yang muluk-muluk.
Nirrosette berhasrat menjadi guru bahasa Melayu.
O Thiam Chin (Singapore) PG 28, 31, 46
After a circuitous journey that took O Thiam
Chin from a course in mechanical
engineering to a career in marketing, he
discovered that he was meant to be a writer.
Since then, he has written short stories
ceaselessly, because “no one else can tell the stories he
wants to tell”. His first collection of stories was self-published
because no publishers wanted it, but his work now appears
in anthologies like ONE: Short Stories from Singapore’s Best
Authors and journals like Asia Literary Review and QLRS.
Exploring the foibles of human nature, he sets many of his
stories in his home suburb, Ang Mo Kio.
Oh Yong Hwee (Singapore) PG 41
Oh Yong Hwee is the CEO and Creative Director of Patroids
Creative Works, a Singapore-based creative
agency. He enjoys the challenge of
conceptualising ideas with a blend of
creativity and technology, and has won
awards and accolades at the local, regional
and international level. With comic artist Koh Hong Teng he
created the Singapore superhero for The Straits Times and
put together comic work Ten Sticks and One Rice.
Considered an industry thought leader in Asia, he regularly
writes opinion pieces, contributes to articles and judges at
competitions in the region.
Ong Johsen, Johnson (Singapore) PG 35
Having started off in the recording industry,
Johnson switched careers when the industry
went downhill, moving from being a
professional music reviewer to becoming an
online columnist. While putting together a
collection of his columns, he was invited by a Hong Kong
publisher to write a book on Singapore food. With that, he
ventured into new territory and injected a fresh voice into
Singapore’s food publishing through his excellent writing.
His books include Singapore Food Map and Eating in
Singapore. He is currently working on a novel.
王祚森 (新加坡)
早期从事唱片业,基于行业迈入黄昏期而转换跑道。从专业
乐评人到网络专栏作家,他在筹备散文集时受香港出版社之
邀撰写新加坡美食为题材的书籍而开辟了新领域,以其细腻
的文笔为新加坡美食注入人文气息。其长篇小说正在筹备
当中。已出版著作有《新加坡美食地图》(2007年出版/绝
版)及《新加坡食尚达人》(2011年出版/绝版)。
Ong Soh Chin (Singapore) PG 15
Ong Soh Chin is a journalist and editor with
long and wide-ranging experience, having,
over 20 years, covered the arts,
entertainment, fashion, beauty, lifestyle,
politics and current affairs. She has made her
mark in both magazines and newspapers, having worked at
the three major media groups in Singapore, and is currently a
columnist with The Straits Times, as well as director of her
own media consultancy, Percolate. Since 2009, she has also
been a consultant for the Asia Fashion Exchange,
Singapore’s annual national fashion event.
Ovidia Yu (Singapore) PG 30, 40, 46, 47
Describing herself as a writer, yogi and
free-spirited Christian, Ovidia Yu had her
heart set on being a writer from a young age.
Quitting medical school to devote herself to
her craft, she went on to write short stories,
novels and over 30 plays, including The Woman in a Tree on
the Hill, the only Singapore play to win an Edinburgh Fringe
First, and Hitting (On) Women, which won Best Original
Script at The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards. Fresh from
the Toji Residency in Korea, she launches Miss Moorthy
Investigates at SWF this year, while her new mystery starring
a Peranakan sleuth will be published next year by New York
publisher William Morrow.
Pamela Ho (Singapore) PG 39
A lady with a zest for life, Pamela Ho has
been a radio DJ and talk show host,
published writer, magazine editor, die-hard
foodie, globetrotter and the clueless, often
amused, mum of two little boys. While doing
all this, Pamela managed to bag four journalism awards and
declares that her passion lies in giving voices to people’s
stories. Currently a television producer with AM Live, she
launches her first travel memoir this year, cowritten with
Ning Cai, better known as ‘Magic Babe’ Ning.
Paul French (China – UK) PG 19, 22, 23
Bridging China and the English-speaking
world, Paul French has successfully
penetrated Chinese society, culture and
business. His first foray into the Middle
Kingdom came via a consumer research firm
he set up after university. That led to him being based in
Shanghai, where he comments regularly on China issues. He
is the author of four works, including Carl Crow: A Tough Old
China Hand (2006) and Through the Looking Glass: China’s
Foreign Journalists from the Opium Wars to Mao (2009). His
latest work, a murder mystery novel, Midnight in Peking, was
released in 2012.
Paul Sochaczewski (Switzerland – US) PG 15, 24, 29
An ardent conservationist with years of
Southeast Asian experience, Paul
Sochaczewski first came to the region with
the Peace Corps in 1969. Serving in Sarawak
for two years, he went on to work in
Indonesia and Singapore for the next 10, and later ran the
World Wildlife Fund International’s global campaigns to
protect tropical rainforests and biodiversity. Fruits of this
career include two books he co-authored, Soul of the Tiger:
People and Nature in Southeast Asia and EcoBluff Your Way
to Instant Environmental Credibility, and hundreds of articles
in periodicals like the International Herald Tribune and the
Wall Street Journal.
Peter Schoppert (Singapore) PG 40, 46, 50
Peter Schoppert is a publishing maven who has covered
many facets of the regional publishing business. After
leaving McKinsey & Company, he became convinced digital
publishing represented the future of the industry.
SWF 2012
He launched PS Media and has developed a
reputation as a forward thinking digital
pioneer.
Peter Wee (Singapore) PG 25
The President of the Peranakan Association
and well known leading authority on
Peranakan culture, Baba Peter Wee’s
collection of ceramics, beaded shoes,
antique sarongs and all things Nonya spans
over 40 years and is enviably one of the best collections on
Peranakan culture in Singapore. Peter’s books include A
Peranakan Legacy: The Heritage of the Straits Chinese, on
exquisite fashion pieces as such as embroidered clothing and
gold and silver jewellery, and items of daily living that
chronicles the rich heritage of the Straits Chinese.
Philip Jeyaretnam (Singapore) PG 14, 28
Philip Jeyaretnam is a Cambridge-educated lawyer and
writer. His first book, First Loves, was on The
Sunday Times Bestseller List for 18 months;
subsequent bestsellers include Raffles Place
Ragtime, Abraham’s Promise and Tigers in
Paradise, a collection of his earlier works with
two essays on Singaporean literature in English. In his
capacity as a lawyer, he has been a Visiting Fulbright Fellow
at Harvard Law School and received the Airey Neave Award
for constitutional law writing and writing on the rule of law.
He was President of the Law Society from 2004–2007 and is
Managing Partner at law firm Rodyk & Davidson.
Philip Tatham (UK – Singapore) PG 51
Philip Tatham is one of the more colourful
publishers in Singapore and his publishing
company Monsoon Books has set the
benchmark for innovative commercial
publishing. Monsoon is a leading publisher of
books and ebooks on Southeast Asia and Philip advocates
producing books to challenge and entertain the reader. His
mission statement is to be unique.
Pico Iyer (UK) PG 38, 39, 40
When Pico Iyer travels, he looks for those
curious and comical junctures where
different cultures intersect. Once describing
himself as “a global village on two legs”, Pico
is one of the most revered and respected
travel writers and observers of global culture today. His
books, such as Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the
Monk and Cuba and the Night, have been translated into
several languages and published in Europe, Asia, South
70 71