David Seow's Blog, page 27

An Evening with Romain Puértolas

Last Wednesday evening, Amelia and I headed down to the Arts House, where Kenneth was moderating Romain Puértolas's World Lit session. Having read and loved the book, we just had to attend and, of course, we were there to support Kenneth as well.

When Mr Puértolas asked how many people in the room had actually read the book about five, including myself, put up their hands. I thought it rather strange that people would show up to a literary event without actually having read the book in the first place.



Kenneth did a great job as always coming up with insightful questions and Mr Puértolas regaled us with stories of his previous jobs and David Copperfield's successful attempt at blocking his youtube channel which revealed the secrets to the magician's illusions. One thing that astounds me is that it takes the author about two and a half weeks to complete a manuscript that's close to the final draft. 

Though this is the first novel that he's had published, he has eight in the pipeline. His second novel will be out later this year, but we've got to wait for the English translation. What's more Fakir has already been green-lit as a major hollywood movie.



OK, can some of his good luck please rub off on to me? I mean I've been doing this for well over a decade and I've never come close to that level of success.

At the end of the session, fans lined up to get their books signed. I, of course, had to shamelessly give him a copy of A Day with the Duchess for his kids. All in all, It was the most enjoyable World Lit session that I've been too!

A Letter from the Royal Post

I just got a letter from the royal post. YAY! So happy! Thank you to HRH The Duchess of Cornwall!

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe

For last week's book club, Kenneth recommended reading  'The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe' by Romain Puértolas and it was a brilliant suggestion! Kenneth was scheduled to moderate an evening with Romain the following week, so we all got together to discuss the potential questions we had for the author.

While we usually convene at a restaurant in town, we recently made the decision to take turns holding the meetings at one of our homes and last week Catherine played the gracious hostess. Emma made a delicious boeuf bourginion and Catherine provided fried chicken and vegetable fritters. The rest of us joined brought eggs tarts, dessert, chips and pizza, wine and pineapple tarts.

Let me just say that the book is nothing short of brilliant. From the first page to the last it had us chuckling and thinking. Puértolas is without a doubt my new favourite author. I just wish I didn't have to wait for his new novel to be translated into English!

ALL IN YOUNG WRITERS MEDIA FESTIVAL

Sarah, Ken and me at the All In Young Writers Media Festival


Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been down with a horrendous bout of the flu and it's turned into a horrible wretching-kind of cough, but I'm sure you don't need to know the details.

Last Saturday I managed to drag myself out of my bed to attend the All In Young Writers Media Festival. Carlo invited me to be part of a  panel discussing the lives of a full-time authors along with the amazingly talented Otto Fong and Zed Yeo. How my pathetic part of the presentation would compare to theirs made me feel even worse!



Any how, I showed up early to support friend and fellow-author Sarah Mounsey who was discussing self-publishing. Of course, she
did a  great job of her presentation which made me doubt myself even more.





Denise of Closetful of Books was there after arriving back from India  with loads of books in her baggage--none of which were for me--and a big case of the flu. So the both of us were hacking up a storm at the Library at Orchard Gateway! So if you were there and you caught the flu bug you know who to blame --Denise!


Kelvin and Denise: Don't let her smile fool you. She's spreading her germs
everywhere!After lunch I headed home to work a bit more on my presentation. Linn Shekinah who was facilitating the panel discussion had already prepared a brilliant powerpoint slide show for me based on the pictures that I mailed her but I felt that I could add more too it. In any event I didn't do much at home except take my medication before heading back for the panel discussion.


Otto
Otto was up first and boy his presentation was fantastic. He also showed us his old school report card. I've never seen so many As in my life--or I should say my report cards never looked like that. Quite the opposite actually.



Then it was my turn to speak and wouldn't you know it, the computer froze up and I had to speak off the cuff. Sorry guys and girls. So I rambled on for about 10 minutes before it was Zed's turn. And wouldn't you know it, the computer started working again. It's just as well because Zed gave a fantastic powerpoint presentation just like Otto.


Zed
With our individual presentations done, the panel discussion commenced with Linn facilitating. The audience members were great and I think we gave them an insight into the world of full-time authors. Now it's up to them if they really want to take the plunge.

Collecting Entertainment Autographs.

Ever since I was a little kid and there are some who say that I still am, I have been enthralled by the movie industry. TV shows and movies have always been a favoured form of escapism for me It's no surprise my hobby collecting entertainment autographs.  Some people don't get the hobby and they may think it's weird and silly.  Some have sniffed, told me they don't understand it and think that it's point blank it's stupid! Well,  I don't need to make excuses for it or to justify it to anyone.  To me it's collecting a part of what has brought me some measure of joy and I don't see anything wrong with that. Do you? Here are some of the autographs that I've collected and that unfortunately no one else will be able to because these stars have sadly passed on.


Leonard Nimoy aka Mr Spock


Ingrid Bergman

Billy Wilder, Director, Some Like it Hot


Tony Curtis, Some Like it Hot, Spartacus

Esther Williams, The Million Dollar Mermaid Farrah Fawcett, Charlie's Angels




Patrick Swayze, Dirty Dancing; Ghos


Stevie Ray Vaughan, Musician

Robert Urich, SWAT, VEGAS, Spencer for Hire


Tom Bosley, Mr Cunningham, Happy Days

Michael Landon, Little House on the Prarie, Highway to Heaven
The Naked Gun movies
Jack Lord, Hawaii 5-0
James McArthur Hawaii 5-0

Don Adams, Get Smart

Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous and Peaceful  Chinese New Year!

An Important Message from HRH The Duchess of Cambridge

New Delhi Book Fair 14-22 Feb 2015

Last year I was asked if I would like to go to the New Delhi Book Fair, but as it's close to the Chinese New Year period I declined. But it's good to know that one of my books At the Night Safari made it to India. 

President Tony Tan and his wife, First Lady Mary Tan, made an official state visit to India ahead of the fair and they gifted their hosts with 300 books about Singapore.
In addition one of the books was read to a roomful of school children. Guess which one? That's right: At the Night Safari!All I can say is that it's an honour and a thrill. Thank you.

All In Young Writers Media Festival

At the end of the month, I'll be speaking on a panel about being a full-time author with the brilliant Otto Fong and Zed Yeo. If you've got time, please come down to the All In Young Writers Media Festival. Click the link below to register.

ALL IN

Asian Festival of Children's Content

Asian Festival of Children's Content
This year's Asian Festival of Children's Content will be a week-long affair with masterclasses, seminars and panel discussions. The festival is one of the highlights of the book scene here and it's organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore. So we'd love aspiring authors and illustrators to attend our festival. Please click on the link above to register! Thanks!