Sunday, March 30, 2008
"LIONS IN WINTER" AT THE SINGAPORE LIBRARY BOOK CLUBS
"Lions In Winter" was the subject of the Heartlands Book Club at the National Library, Bukit Batok Branch. A member brought 15 students from China to the club who shared their feelings about migration and dislocation, one of the themes of book. A member of the audience posts online, "I enjoyed the book. It was written in an easy style and the characters were well developed. The bleakness of the lives of many of them were poignantly brought...Nice piece of work - looking forward to reading more by the author."
Saturday, March 29, 2008
WENA INTERVIEWED BY NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD
The author responds to questions about the state of literature in Singapore posed by Maniam Kannappan, veteran radio host, as part of the National Library Board's (NLB) Read! Singapore campaign tour. Click here for the brief interview clip on the National Library Board's site.
Photos: At the Central Library book club reading of "Lions In Winter" with NLB campaign staff.
Friday, March 28, 2008
SINGAPORE TOUR AND CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS (JULY 28-AUG 2)
Wena Poon has been invited by the National Library Board of Singapore to perform author readings and teach creative writing workshops as part of the 2008 Read!
This workshop explores the theme, “Where Do Stories Come From?”.
The purpose of this workshop is to get students to think about the origins of stories, and to vocalize and write about stories that they are exposed to, in order to encourage the habit of creative writing and self-expression.
We will look at the origins of famous stories. This will help students conceptualize how these famous stories, which we took for granted, first started germinating in the author’s head. By focusing on where stories come from, students may be inspired to then try their hand at writing their own stories.
We will watch a scene from the recent film, “Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” where Lucy enters the wardrobe and sees the faun in the snow. We will discuss how many great books start with a germ of an idea.
Time permitting, we will watch a scene from the recent film, “Superman Returns”. We will discuss the Jewish co-creators of Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who came up with the idea of Superman in 1932 during the Great Depression in
Thursday, March 27, 2008
WENA AT CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS
As part of Read! Singapore, which reached out to 27,000 people this year, the author taught creative writing workshops at Singapore schools. "I have never attended a creative writing workshop in my life," says the author. "I don't believe that literary writing can be taught. Your best hope as someone leading these workshops is to inspire and encourage. I remember vividly being a teenaged student in Singapore. If I was told by my teacher to attend a local author's workshop, I would be turned off right away. So instead of teaching writing to the students, I talked about the origins of story. We talked about stories in movies and videogame plots and about blogging, which is how most people express themselves these days. Through talking about stories in new media, I want to impress upon students that Art is everywhere and certainly not beyond their ability to produce, since they already enjoy it everyday."
Top: At Republic Polytechnic. Bottom: At ITE College East. Photos: Tiffany Lim
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
LIONS IN WINTER NO. 6 ON TOP 10 BESTSELLER LIST
Published in December 2007 by MPH, Lions In Winter is a work of literary fiction comprising 11 short stories about Singaporeans living in the West.Within two months of its publication, Lions rose to No. 6 of the Straits Times Top Ten Bestseller List (February 3, 2008), above works by Stephen King, Mitch Albom and Khaled Hosseini. Not only was Lions the only book on that list by an Asian publisher, it was the only title written by a local writer.
In the third month of its launch, the book entered into its second print run.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT LIONS IN WINTER
From Eric Forbes' Book Blog:
“Wena Poon’s frank, refreshing stories bravely reject the pat stereotypes of Asia so common in the West. Asia desperately needs more narratives like hers to cancel out all the foolish, precious exoticism, pagodas and bound feet and concubines everywhere. Instead, she gives us complex characters negotiating urban realities. Her characters wrestle with dislocation, hybrid identities, tradition and modernity, and ultimately demonstrate, as the best literature always does, that so much of the human experience is universal, whatever its geographic and cultural particularities.” Preeta Samarasan, author of Evening Is the Whole Day (2008)
“Poon's great gift...is to keep that freshness of vision and to bring out the extraordinariness of the ordinary lives she describes, looking not only at immigration and the sometimes painful path to assimilation, but also questioning just what it means to be Singaporean. She writes beautifully in a style that is both informal and conversational, and there are clever little asides thrown into the narrative that really tickle the funny bone.” Sharon Bakar
"Lions in Winter is an impressive first collection with much to offer its readers, sitting comfortably within an emerging constellation of works such as Fiona Cheong's Shadow Theatre and Tan Hwee Hwee's Mammon Inc., which explore the predicaments of individuals whose identities and allegiances are dispersed among various transnational locations. " Eddie Tay, Book Critic, Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore
“Reading this book was like attending a family reunion at which each of my warped, wacky, flawed relatives took turns to drag skeletons out of closets and regale me with anecdotes that were by turns funny, dramatic, thought-provoking or tragic.” Alexandra Wong, in The Sunday Star
“Travel broadens the mind, but emigration often carries with it the dilemmas of dislocation. It is often a question of knowing when to leave and when to return." Brian Castro, author of Shanghai Dancing (2003) and The Garden Book (2005)
“A commendable début, refreshingly unpretentious and heartfelt." Tan Twan Eng, Man Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Gift of Rain (2007)
“Wena Poon’s stories are both delicate and explosive. In Lions in Winter she writes about people at the margins of our lives, people who are so because we fail to invite them closer. Here they insist on the invitation and each new encounter is a revelation.” Brian Leung, author of Lost Men (2007) and World Famous Love Acts (2004)
“Wena Poon’s frank, refreshing stories bravely reject the pat stereotypes of Asia so common in the West. Asia desperately needs more narratives like hers to cancel out all the foolish, precious exoticism, pagodas and bound feet and concubines everywhere. Instead, she gives us complex characters negotiating urban realities. Her characters wrestle with dislocation, hybrid identities, tradition and modernity, and ultimately demonstrate, as the best literature always does, that so much of the human experience is universal, whatever its geographic and cultural particularities.” Preeta Samarasan, author of Evening Is the Whole Day (2008)
“Poon's great gift...is to keep that freshness of vision and to bring out the extraordinariness of the ordinary lives she describes, looking not only at immigration and the sometimes painful path to assimilation, but also questioning just what it means to be Singaporean. She writes beautifully in a style that is both informal and conversational, and there are clever little asides thrown into the narrative that really tickle the funny bone.” Sharon Bakar
"Lions in Winter is an impressive first collection with much to offer its readers, sitting comfortably within an emerging constellation of works such as Fiona Cheong's Shadow Theatre and Tan Hwee Hwee's Mammon Inc., which explore the predicaments of individuals whose identities and allegiances are dispersed among various transnational locations. " Eddie Tay, Book Critic, Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore
“Reading this book was like attending a family reunion at which each of my warped, wacky, flawed relatives took turns to drag skeletons out of closets and regale me with anecdotes that were by turns funny, dramatic, thought-provoking or tragic.” Alexandra Wong, in The Sunday Star
“Travel broadens the mind, but emigration often carries with it the dilemmas of dislocation. It is often a question of knowing when to leave and when to return." Brian Castro, author of Shanghai Dancing (2003) and The Garden Book (2005)
“A commendable début, refreshingly unpretentious and heartfelt." Tan Twan Eng, Man Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Gift of Rain (2007)
“Wena Poon’s stories are both delicate and explosive. In Lions in Winter she writes about people at the margins of our lives, people who are so because we fail to invite them closer. Here they insist on the invitation and each new encounter is a revelation.” Brian Leung, author of Lost Men (2007) and World Famous Love Acts (2004)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
READER REVIEWS FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE
"This collection of short fiction is even stronger than I had expected...a book you could confidently put beside other collections by prominent Asian American short story writers. Rattawat Lapcharoensap and - why not? - and even Yiyun Lee spring to mind."
Sharon Bakar, a creative writing teacher and editor, Malaysia
thebookaholic.blogspot.com
"A well thought-out patchwork of Singaporean characters for our times. I could practically smell the kway teow and hor fun as I read. Shiok!"
K. Estis, an American expatriate who used to live in Singapore, writing from the Middle East.
"This is the east/west culture clash book that should be written. Jhumpa Lahiri does some of it, in a more solemn way. Forget about Amy Tan. The other stuff I've read and seen treat the subject in a kind of hyper-politically correct, overly-serious and really square way that misses a big opportunity. Ang Lee is a rare exception. There really is some pretty juicy, funny shit, and your stories have tapped into that."
J. Chang, a news reporter, writing from Brazil
"Wena is a talented writer indeed, going by these eleven gems of compelling, affecting short stories. The characters are believable, her wit cunning and her perspective, of clockwork precision...if someone were to ask what it meant to be a Singaporean on the street, I'd recommend this collection for starters. The thing is we are no United States: we don't have the geographical size, the heritage, the diversity in our society. Like a dark corner in a small alley, we don't really get to see the bustling highway and the neon-lighted downtown street - the real world outside, that is. What are already run-of-the-mill matters can be blown up into earth-shattering affairs or crimes on this side. This theme is most evidenced in my personal favourite, "Addiction", about a talented gay fashion designer refusing to come home to Singapore, knowing his family's non-acceptance of his lifestyle and so-called perversion."
Mrdes, a civil servant and book reader, Singapore
http://mrdes.blogspot.com/2008/05/wena-poons-lions-in-winter.html
"After I decided to buy Haruki Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, I have been curious about reading short stories. I enjoyed how Murakami did his story, and so did Neil Gaiman (both are excellent writers in my book, up there with J.K Rowling and Robert Jordan), but now I found another one. Wena Poon, excellent collection. Keep on writing! You're an inspiration to local writers indeed!"
Lily, a student, Malaysia
lilyxroxas.blogspot.com
"Very readable and authentic (from the point of view that there are no flowers, phoenixes and other overtly oriental symbols). I like the neutral, observational tone throughout this collection of stories, which is refreshing since most local literature can get quite angsty...A great read for anyone who is a) Singaporean and living abroad b) Singaporean and wanting to live abroad c) Singaporean and has lived abroad for a certain number of years."
M, book reader from Singapore
http://melch.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/two-tales/
"I read a review in the Sunday Star and I remembered the book because of the cover image, an orange autumn leaf on a stark background. I just finished reading it and I'm so glad I bought it."
Shereen, a book reader, Malaysia
230315.blogspot.com
Sharon Bakar, a creative writing teacher and editor, Malaysia
thebookaholic.blogspot.com
"A well thought-out patchwork of Singaporean characters for our times. I could practically smell the kway teow and hor fun as I read. Shiok!"
K. Estis, an American expatriate who used to live in Singapore, writing from the Middle East.
"This is the east/west culture clash book that should be written. Jhumpa Lahiri does some of it, in a more solemn way. Forget about Amy Tan. The other stuff I've read and seen treat the subject in a kind of hyper-politically correct, overly-serious and really square way that misses a big opportunity. Ang Lee is a rare exception. There really is some pretty juicy, funny shit, and your stories have tapped into that."
J. Chang, a news reporter, writing from Brazil
"Wena is a talented writer indeed, going by these eleven gems of compelling, affecting short stories. The characters are believable, her wit cunning and her perspective, of clockwork precision...if someone were to ask what it meant to be a Singaporean on the street, I'd recommend this collection for starters. The thing is we are no United States: we don't have the geographical size, the heritage, the diversity in our society. Like a dark corner in a small alley, we don't really get to see the bustling highway and the neon-lighted downtown street - the real world outside, that is. What are already run-of-the-mill matters can be blown up into earth-shattering affairs or crimes on this side. This theme is most evidenced in my personal favourite, "Addiction", about a talented gay fashion designer refusing to come home to Singapore, knowing his family's non-acceptance of his lifestyle and so-called perversion."
Mrdes, a civil servant and book reader, Singapore
http://mrdes.blogspot.com/2008/05/wena-poons-lions-in-winter.html
"After I decided to buy Haruki Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, I have been curious about reading short stories. I enjoyed how Murakami did his story, and so did Neil Gaiman (both are excellent writers in my book, up there with J.K Rowling and Robert Jordan), but now I found another one. Wena Poon, excellent collection. Keep on writing! You're an inspiration to local writers indeed!"
Lily, a student, Malaysia
lilyxroxas.blogspot.com
"Very readable and authentic (from the point of view that there are no flowers, phoenixes and other overtly oriental symbols). I like the neutral, observational tone throughout this collection of stories, which is refreshing since most local literature can get quite angsty...A great read for anyone who is a) Singaporean and living abroad b) Singaporean and wanting to live abroad c) Singaporean and has lived abroad for a certain number of years."
M, book reader from Singapore
http://melch.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/two-tales/
"I read a review in the Sunday Star and I remembered the book because of the cover image, an orange autumn leaf on a stark background. I just finished reading it and I'm so glad I bought it."
Shereen, a book reader, Malaysia
230315.blogspot.com
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