From the sidelines
Inside the Magic Book Bus, parked outside the Arts House for the rest of the week!
I’m writing this on the sidelines of the Singapore Writers’ Festival: quite literally, in a half-hour window that’s opened up between visiting the ‘Magic Book Bus’ (the delightful installation by Closetful of Books – see above – that serves as this year’s Festival Bookstore); and attending a panel this evening on Malay speculative fiction, with Nazry Bahrawi, Nuraliah Norasid, and nor, who are the editor and contributors respectively of a recent Ethos anthology. SWF 2021 is, once again, the first of its kind, with a hybrid mix of online and offline programmes that’s curiously apt for this neither-open-nor-closed stage of the pandemic that we’ve found ourselves in.
Despite the wider offerings available for the online programmes, I’m thankful to have snagged tickets to some of the few on-site events. Though the organisers are hardly to blame for making the best of a bad situation, last year’s fully-online SWF was – I think by consensus – far from ideal. I’m hoping that this year’s sprinkling of on-site events will recapture some of the gossip and gaiety that made SWF an event to look forward to (or at least, hard to stay away from) in previous years. Apart from today’s panel, I’m equally excited to be attending the launch of Ann Ang’s Burning Walls for Paper Spirits later this week, with thanks to fellow poet Laura Jane Lee for a late tip-off about the tickets! My own upcoming panel is also an in-person event, and there’s something exquisite about the prospect of being able to laugh in front of a live audience again.
Two years ago, when Lingying of Asiapac Books invited me to contribute a chapter to their history of publishing in Singapore, the first story that came to mind was that of attending my first SWF back in 2009 – and struggling to peer over the heads of the assembled festivalgoers at an event celebrating the long career of Prof Edwin Thumboo. During the coffee-break, I struck up a conversation with the cheery middle-aged gentleman sitting on my left, who, quite unexpectedly (I was fifteen!), offered me his name-card. It was none other than the Fong Hoe Fang, publisher of Ethos Books and one of my rapidly expanding list of Singlit idols. That conversation eventually led to the publication of my first (and later, my third) book with Ethos; but more importantly, to more than a decade of friendship and celebration with the Ethos team.
There’s something about how events like the SWF can serendipitously, joyously, bring people together, over a snatch of conversation or a post-event cocktail. When my Creative Arts Programme mentorship kids asked a few weeks ago if we could postpone our next session by a weekend or two so that they could attend the SWF events (which continue till next weekend!), I agreed immediately. More than anything I can teach them, there’s nothing quite like seeing writers and publishers in action, for themselves. For all our sakes, I hope the hugs and tête-à-têtes return next year. But till then, let’s make do!
==
Full SWF programme available here. Not a sponsored post!