The lovely ladies of Jacaranda were already there and ready to pitch my books to potential publishers, thanks, ladies!
As Ken and Celine were busy taking care of business, I walked around the two halls of booths. It was massive. It makes one realise just how many publishers, authors and illustrators there are out there. The competition is stiff and I now feel that I should have gone into accounting.
Emma arrived shortly after 10am and we went to a panel discussion by the Book Trust. Interesting and informative we were compelled to introduce ourselves to Book Trust Chief Executive, Viv Bird. I broached the topic of her possibly coming to the Asian Festival of Children's Content and she was interested to hear more. Let's hope the Book council can follow up on this.
Auntie Susanna and Mika were at the Singapore Pavilion when I returned and we decided to lunch at one of the cafeterias. Mika had a vegetarian selection and Auntie Susanna had the braised beef and mash. A famished Annabelle from NAC joined us at our table and all too soon it was time for Kenneth's panel discussion about children's literature in Singapore. My publisher, Edmund Wee and Mei Lin Lee of Marshall Cavendish were also was also a featured on the panel which was moderated by Paul Tan.
But before the panel started, I . had a pleasant surprise when I bumped into the brilliant author, John Dougherty, my fellow panellist from SWF two years ago. It was great catching up again.
And....the panellists did a great job, deftly fielding the tough questions about publishing in Singapore.
And my favourite part of the session is the photo below!
With that done, Auntie Susanna and Mika tubed int to Civent Garden for a spot of shopping and Emma and I caught up with the lovely Anita Loughrey for some tea. It's always lovely seeing her.
But she had to dart off for a writer's event, so Emma and I attended the Singapore networking night. Annabelle busy running around before cocktail hour but I managed to stop her for a quick photo with Emma. Please note Emma is holding the kopitiam cup Mum donated to the booth
Emma's good friend and Award winning author Andrew Weale joined us there. Andrew is brilliant and hilarious! It was great meeting him and he'll be in Singapore for the AFCC next month.
The social went on till we were told the power would be shut off and so we headed back to the hotel for a quick change and then onto a not so quick dinner at the Troubabor.
I'm doing laundry tomorrow. I bet you never thought you would hear me say that. Well, neither did I!
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