An interview with Chris Mooney Singh at the Singapore Writers Festival 2009 that explores the genesis of The Long Walk Home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9tGQ3_EIX4
I was having a bad hair day but the interview is worthwhile :-)
Showing posts with label Singapore Writers Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore Writers Festival. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
An interview with Chris Mooney Singh at the Singapore Writers Festival 2009
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, author of Earning the Laundry Stripes, The Long Walk Home, the bestselling The Taj Conspiracy, and the upcoming thriller The Hunt for Kohinoor
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Singapore Writers Festival 2009 - an update!
The Singapore Writers Festival 2009 was titled UnderCovers. Spread over 9 days, the festival showcased over 100 writers through a variety of programmes: talks, panel discussions, meet-the-author events, film screenings and publishing industry events! I had the pleasure of being invited as a participant and moderator and had a great time interacting with readers, other writers and people from the publishing industry.
The festival venue was the Arts House, a lovely Colonial bungalow that was previously Singapore's Parliament House and is now the country's premier arts and heritage venue. Located beside the Singapore river, and across from Clarke Quay, it is an excellent venue with interesting cafes and bars that line the river - for nibbles and quaffs between events! I took my daughter for a ride down the river when the 'writer's stuff' - as she put it- got to be too much :-)
Flanking the entrance to the Arts House was an enormous collage composed of front covers of books being showcased at the festival.
Now, I couldn't let go of the opportunity to pose beside the cover of my book, The Long Walk Home, could I?
The first event I participated in was titled 'Writing Historical Fiction' and moderated by Elmo Jayawardene who is an ex-airline pilot, a writer and social worker. Elmo is also a wicked wit and has recently completed a book tracing the history of Sri Lanka. I couldn't have asked for a finer moderator than him!
After the talk - Autograph time!
Kiran Khalap is the author of three books, a travel writer and columnist, and since none of the three pay his bills, he also plays the role of a brand consultant!
Shashi Warrier began his writing career with a
juvenile fiction work The Hidden Continent
(Penguin/Puffin), and he moved on to thrillers
including Night of the Krait and The Orphan.
His latest work is The Homecoming.
Migration and Displacement: New Indian Writing
The event was moderated by Meira Chand and featured three writers: Neel Chowdhury, Rajat Das and myself. The discussion was centered on whether living away from India had helped us gain a better perspective in our narratives set in our hometowns.
Meira Chand is an Indian-Swiss author of eight novels, including A Far Horizon and her latest, A Different Sky. Neel Chowdhury is the author of The Inheritors and has written for Time and Fortune. Rajat Das is the author of Paper Boat and develops heuristic tools of learning.
Seated (l to r): Meira Chand, myself, Neel Chowdhury
Yours truly!
Interacting with the audience after the event.
I moderated the final event of SCRIPT - an inaugural festival in conjunction with the Singapore Writers Festival 2009. SCRIPT 2009 celebrated writings from the Indian subcontinent in English or in translation. It is the brainchild of the dynamic duo of Jayapriya Vasudevan and Priya Doraswamy of Jacaranda Press, India's leading literary agency with a branch in Singapore
Titled 'Chaos', the panel probed if and how the chaos of the Indian subcontinent aided or detracted from the creative process.
A final photo op with panelists from 'Chaos' and the ladies from Jacaranda! Standing (l to r):
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, Priya Doraswamy, Shashi Warrier, Elmo Jayawardene, Jayapriya Vasudevan, Mohammed Hanif, Ahmede Hussein
Mohammed Hanif is the author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Ahmede Hussein is the author of Blues for Allah.
Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and so did this - but what a blast while it lasted!
The festival venue was the Arts House, a lovely Colonial bungalow that was previously Singapore's Parliament House and is now the country's premier arts and heritage venue. Located beside the Singapore river, and across from Clarke Quay, it is an excellent venue with interesting cafes and bars that line the river - for nibbles and quaffs between events! I took my daughter for a ride down the river when the 'writer's stuff' - as she put it- got to be too much :-)
Flanking the entrance to the Arts House was an enormous collage composed of front covers of books being showcased at the festival.
Now, I couldn't let go of the opportunity to pose beside the cover of my book, The Long Walk Home, could I?
The first event I participated in was titled 'Writing Historical Fiction' and moderated by Elmo Jayawardene who is an ex-airline pilot, a writer and social worker. Elmo is also a wicked wit and has recently completed a book tracing the history of Sri Lanka. I couldn't have asked for a finer moderator than him!
After the talk - Autograph time!
Some writerly schmoozing! With (from l to r)
Jayapriya Vasudevan (of Jacaranda Press), Kiran Khalap, and Shashi Warrier
Kiran Khalap is the author of three books, a travel writer and columnist, and since none of the three pay his bills, he also plays the role of a brand consultant!
Shashi Warrier began his writing career with a
juvenile fiction work The Hidden Continent
(Penguin/Puffin), and he moved on to thrillers
including Night of the Krait and The Orphan.
His latest work is The Homecoming.
Migration and Displacement: New Indian Writing
Meira Chand is an Indian-Swiss author of eight novels, including A Far Horizon and her latest, A Different Sky. Neel Chowdhury is the author of The Inheritors and has written for Time and Fortune. Rajat Das is the author of Paper Boat and develops heuristic tools of learning.
Seated (l to r): Meira Chand, myself, Neel Chowdhury
Yours truly!
Interacting with the audience after the event.
Titled 'Chaos', the panel probed if and how the chaos of the Indian subcontinent aided or detracted from the creative process.
A final photo op with panelists from 'Chaos' and the ladies from Jacaranda! Standing (l to r):
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, Priya Doraswamy, Shashi Warrier, Elmo Jayawardene, Jayapriya Vasudevan, Mohammed Hanif, Ahmede Hussein
Mohammed Hanif is the author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Ahmede Hussein is the author of Blues for Allah.
Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and so did this - but what a blast while it lasted!
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, author of Earning the Laundry Stripes, The Long Walk Home, the bestselling The Taj Conspiracy, and the upcoming thriller The Hunt for Kohinoor
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Singapore Writers Festival, Oct 24 - Nov 1, 2009
The biennial Singapore Writers Festival is scheduled for Oct 24 - Nov 1, 2009, and yours truly is invited to participate in two events, Ahem! Now Singapore, as some of you might know, holds a special place in my heart, especially with regard to my second novel, The Long Walk Home. I started writing it in Singapore in 2002 (a result of residing on the 31st floor of a condo and my head, consequently, being perpetually in the clouds!). Over the seven years it took me to complete the book - we moved cities, our daughter came, I wrote umpteen drafts, sprouted several grey hairs - and dash it to the printer's for its release at the London Book fair 2009, the Lion city continued to hold its mentoring sway. The National Arts Council Singapore was a proud sonsor of the book's launch at LBF. And now, it makes me incredibly happy to be given a chance to showcase the book at this year's Singapore Writers Festival. What better way to close the loop? So Singapore, here I come! If you are in town, or happen to be passing through, do drop in to attend one of the many exciting events being hosted, many of which are free. Mark your calendars, and spread the good word :-)
I am uploading the event details in two posts to follow - in the meantime, here's a quick recap:
- 29 Oct 2009, Writing Historical Fiction
In which I am conducting a workshop on how to write historical fiction. I can only assume that after the success of my second novel, The Long Walk Home, that uses the canvas of 20th-century Punjab as a backdrop, the organizers assume I know something of writing fiction that entails time travel :-) When I started writing the book, I was also teaching myself the craft of writing fiction - it sure is surprising to have come to a point where I am regarded as capable of teaching the craft! As Orhan Pamuk said, as a writer you simply write and then leave it to the readers and critics to tell you how well you have done what they think you have done!
- 31 Oct 2009, Migration and Displacement: New Indian Writing
This is a panel discussion featuring three Indian writers, moderated by Meira Chand and, once again, for me, highly serendipitious! Meira was the only writer I was aware of in Singapore when I started writing short stories and on a whim I emailed her a story requesting for feedback! Yessiree, that was audacious of me, but wonders never cease for Meira was gracious enough to respond with some very constructive advise. Of course, we ended up having coffee and have stayed in touch, on-off, but imagine my delight when the festival people informed me that Meira would be on the panel! Swarnadip - the golden island - serendipity: an accidental discovery of something fortunate, especially when seeking something unrelated.
May wonders never cease :-)
I am uploading the event details in two posts to follow - in the meantime, here's a quick recap:
- 29 Oct 2009, Writing Historical Fiction
In which I am conducting a workshop on how to write historical fiction. I can only assume that after the success of my second novel, The Long Walk Home, that uses the canvas of 20th-century Punjab as a backdrop, the organizers assume I know something of writing fiction that entails time travel :-) When I started writing the book, I was also teaching myself the craft of writing fiction - it sure is surprising to have come to a point where I am regarded as capable of teaching the craft! As Orhan Pamuk said, as a writer you simply write and then leave it to the readers and critics to tell you how well you have done what they think you have done!
- 31 Oct 2009, Migration and Displacement: New Indian Writing
This is a panel discussion featuring three Indian writers, moderated by Meira Chand and, once again, for me, highly serendipitious! Meira was the only writer I was aware of in Singapore when I started writing short stories and on a whim I emailed her a story requesting for feedback! Yessiree, that was audacious of me, but wonders never cease for Meira was gracious enough to respond with some very constructive advise. Of course, we ended up having coffee and have stayed in touch, on-off, but imagine my delight when the festival people informed me that Meira would be on the panel! Swarnadip - the golden island - serendipity: an accidental discovery of something fortunate, especially when seeking something unrelated.
May wonders never cease :-)
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, author of Earning the Laundry Stripes, The Long Walk Home, the bestselling The Taj Conspiracy, and the upcoming thriller The Hunt for Kohinoor
Singapore Writers Festival: Writing Historical Fiction
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, author of Earning the Laundry Stripes, The Long Walk Home, the bestselling The Taj Conspiracy, and the upcoming thriller The Hunt for Kohinoor
Singapore Writers Festival: New Indian Writing
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, author of Earning the Laundry Stripes, The Long Walk Home, the bestselling The Taj Conspiracy, and the upcoming thriller The Hunt for Kohinoor
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