The Power of Michelle Yeoh: Ballet, Stunts, Stardom! Part 1

 

A couple of years ago, I decided to do a series of books about the first Asian actresses in Hollywood: Anna May Wong, Nancy Kwan, Frances Ngyuen, Lucy Liu and Michelle Yeoh. 

That didn't seem very feasible at the time, so I decided to focus on one actress: Michelle Yeoh. Why? Firstly, she came from Mum's hometown of Ipoh in Malaysia. Second, her late dad and my mum were cousins (how distant I have no idea). The Yeohs practically populated that small mining town. 

In an age where movies were not readily available in Malaysia, I guess the Yeohs had nothing better to do than populate the town. I think both sets of maternal great grandparents had around nine kids each.

When my Dad was Singapore's Commissioner to Hong Kong, my parents would occasionally meet Michelle at social events in Hong Kong (when she was married to her first husband Dickson Poon) but they did not remain in touch after they left Hong Kong.

I've met Michelle about three times in my life, so I can't say I know her but she's acknowledged we're cousins one of the times we met. But by this stage I must admit she would probably claim I'm sort of nutter and wouldn't know me if she saw me again.

From my cousin Michelle. (How many times removed are we? I don't know)

Mum meets Michelle for the first time in over 20 years

Anyway, Michelle had been in show business for 40 years and in Hong Kong and Hollywood, the only actress from SEA to have achieved that feat, and at the time she didn't have a picture book biography on the market, so I called my illustrator Soefara and asked if she would be interested in illustrating the book.

Soefara  jumped at the chance. She was raving about Michelle's new movie Everything Everywhere All at Once and Soefara is all about featuring strong, empowered women in her artwork. 

preliminary cover concepts

Thing is Soefara takes her time illustrating, so much so that I've given her the  nickname Slowfara.

I started drafting the story. The theme would be "power". How she powered through broken ballet dreams, stage fright and other obstacles in her path to achieve international stardom and the much-coveted Oscar.

Rough sketch

An aunty, one of my mum's friends, had a friend who worked with Michelle on corporate speaking engagements and she offered to broach him with regards to any assistance in getting the book to Michelle. He's a big shot of sorts who is involved in a rather large annual  business summit.  I thought that was a kind offer but wasn't expecting anything. So, I was rather taken aback by the cold, curt, and dismissive response he relayed to aunty. So much so that I felt he had aunty convinced to his point of view. He curtly replied that "IF" I were related why didn't I contact Michelle personally myself. Then he proceeded to be extremely discouraging by telling her that the studios might put a kibosh on the book and loads of other challenges I would face getting the book off the ground. I got the distinct feeling that he found my book a personal affront to him and Michelle.

I almost called it quits right then and there but my mum and Soefara encouraged me to carry on. I also remembered that Michelle didn't give up just because she faced obstacles in her path, she just powered on. I mean the first draft of the manuscript had been finished. Why should I give up because of one person's negative and unhelpful reaction. Would it have stopped Michelle? No.

Bearing in mind that there were certain limitations, I decided to write about Michelle's journey from aspiring ballerina and beauty queen to becoming an actress, proficient stuntwoman and superstar. I would briefly touch on the rest of her amazing 40 year career.

I handed Soefara a preliminary draft  in November 2022. And as Michelle's performance in EEAAO kept gaining accolades, I kept redrafting it. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a musical or comedy! What if she went all the way? What if she actually won the best actress at the Oscars?

For a while it was touch and go. She lost the Critics Choice Award and the BAFTA: Two awards that are predictors of who will win the ultimate acting trophy: The Oscar.  But then she won the SAG Award and the Independent Spirit Award, the last awards before the Academy Awards. It was a tight race between Michelle and two-time Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, but momentum was on Michelle's side.

And so Soefara and I decided to  put the final page of the book on hold until after Oscar night.

When Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry announced: "The Oscar goes to Michelle Yeoh" we were off to the races, well, at Soefara's leisurely pace. I asked one of my publishers if they would be interested in publishing the story, but she didn't get back to me. As time was of the essence, I decided to self-publish the book under my own publishing house: Bonnie Books.

There were numerous hiccups a long the way to publication and but what book hasn't had its fair share of turbulence during production?

The book was finally hot off the press in July 2023. 

Read on for Part 2.

The Power of Michelle Yeoh: Ballet, Stunts, Stardom! Part 2

WH Smith, Singapore

My ebook distributor quickly posted the book on all online platforms including, amazon, apple books and kobo. Sadly, Alkem, the paperback distributor only managed to get the books into the library and bookstores here in Singapore, Malaysia and SE Asia. But he did bring the books with him to the Frankfurt Book Fair. 

Frankfurt Bookfair

Frankfurt Book Fair

I tried getting press for the book by sending it to the only newspaper in town but I did not even receive a response. From my experience the local press has not been supportive at all with the exception of Melanie Oliveiro of Mediacorp Radio who has always been very supportive. 

Melanie Oliveiro

I've received a lot more encouragement and support from the media in the US and the UK. 

I donated several hundred copies to a local girls' school as well as a couple of copies to the American Club library. I also mailed copies to teacher-librarians at several international schools.

A family friend also gave several copies of the book to Michelle's mum and one of her sisters. Bloggers Hwee Goh, filmmaker Jean Yeo and Felicity Yeoh, one of Michelle's nieces, of LemonFizzbooks gave the book very kind reviews.

Award-Winning Director, Jean Yeo

Felicity Yeoh

American Club Library

I was also thrilled with my friend and best-selling author, Wendy Orr gave the book a fantastic review on her instagram. Wendy's always been very encouraging and supportive and she's seen me through times when I've been extremely discouraged altogether.

Wendy Orr

Then in November 2023, I was lucky enough to present Prince William, The Prince of Wales a copy of the book.  I also gave copies of book to Christian Campbell, Siwon Choi Manny Jacinto, and Simu Liu.  

Prince William

Manny Jacinto

With some encouragement from my mum and some friends, I entered the book into two local book awards and the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards. I was not shortlisted for the local book awards and I did not expect to be shortlisted for the Moonbeam either. Then, surprisingly, I received a package in the post late last week.

I remember when my former school runner (someone who arranges school visits and distributes books) told me all those years ago: "Your books will never win any awards." 

Everything is in God's time, not ours. It took Michelle 40 years in the business to win the Oscar. And it took me over 20 years to win my first book award. The lesson is that you should never give up (even though you may want to at times).  And for that, I have to thank my mum, dad  family and good friends for always being supportive and encouraging. I also have to thank "Cousin" Michelle for being an inspiration. Maybe one day, however highly unlikely,  Michelle will say that children's author David Seow is my cousin. LOLZ.

 

There's a Problem with the Emperor.

 

Back in 2001, my niece and nephews were my inspiration for a story about a little emperor and his search for fun.

It was definitely not the easiest book I ever worked on. The editorial process was fraught with lot of hiccups and differences of opinion. I won't go into details but there was a lot of tension and frustration and my editor and I knew what caused it. And I was most definitely not happy with the final edit of the book.

The text of the story was changed from mostly active voice to passive voice, so the first line read: "A long time ago, in the largest kingom, the littlest emperor ruled." 

When there isn't a meeting of minds between the publisher, editor, author and illustrator it affects the final outcome of the book. The story should be the priority and any egos should be put aside for the sake of the product.

The reviewer at Publishers Weekly seemed to pick up on that lack of synergy by all involved.

20 or so years after publication, I decided to ask for my rights back and the publisher graciously agreed to hand them over. I might have the story re-illustrated and republished. I'll have to see. But in the mean time, here's the my edit of the story.

The Littlest Emperor —by David Seow

A long time ago, the littlest emperor ruled the largest empire in the world.

Although he was so little, the emperor had the biggest, kindest and wisest heart and always made sure everyone had a warm house, nice clothes and lots of yummy things to eat.

One day, everyone in his empire had everything they ever needed, and he had nothing left to do. He sighed, “What shall I do now?”

“Why don’t you have some fun?” asked the grand advisor.

“Good idea! But how do I have fun? Where can I find it?” the emperor asked. “What does it look like?”

No one in the palace could tell him, so the emperor searched for it across his empire.

The people of the biggest city presented the emperor with a magnificent palace and towering pagodas. He smiled politely, but he already had a grand palace and many towering pagodas. “Is there another kind of fun?” he asked.

So, opera troupes performed the grandest operas in his honour. Everyone seemed to enjoy them, but the littlest emperor fell fast asleep. When he awoke, he continued on his search.

The poets from the next town wrote long poems about him. But the emperor already knew everything about himself. “Is there another kind of fun? he asked politely. 

The top chefs prepared a lavish banquet with the finest food of the empire: smoked snails, jellyfish noodles, beetle buns, and spider soup. The emperor smiled politely, but he didn’t like fancy food. 

So, he continued on his search. But sadly, it was the same in every city and town he visited. Everyone thought grand palaces, towering pagodas, grand banquets, long poetry readings, and lavish banquets were fun—everyone but the emperor that is. He began to think he would never find what he was looking for.

Suddenly, his carriage wheels got stuck in some mud.  As the guards tried to free the carriage, the emperor saw some children playing in the rice fields. The sound of their happy giggles tickled his ears. “What are they doing?” he asked. 

“Making a lot of noise,” replied the grand advisor. “I’ll send the guards to silence them.”

Before anyone could stop him, the emperor tossed off his robes, jumped into the squishy mud and ran off to join the children. Splat! A mud ball hit him right in the face. The emperor threw a mud ball back. Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!

Soon, mud balls were flying all over the place. The emperor’s little heart jumped. Was this the fun he was looking for? The emperor was having such a great time that he didn’t even hear the grand advisor calling him.

Then, the villagers rushed the children back to the village to prepare for the emperor’s arrival. No one recognized the emperor. He looked like the other muddy children. He giggled. Was this what fun was like?

The children plunged—Splish, Splash, Splosh!—into a giant bubble bath and then changed to get ready for the emperor’s arrival. “The emperor giggled as his carriage rolled into the village. The emperor is here,” the villagers cried.

The grand advisor stepped out sobbing. “The emperor is lost. The emperor is gone!”

“No, I’m not! I’m here and having the best time,” said the emperor.

“You are?” asked the grand advisor. “Did you find fun? Where is it?”

“Here!” said the emperor, throwing a mud ball at the grand advisor. SPLAT! 

The grand advisor threw a mud ball back, and soon, mud balls were flying all over the place again.

The emperor spent three whole days and nights playing with his new friends. They flew kites and played with spinning tops and firecrackers; they even tried walking on stilts and joined in a dragon dance. All too soon, it was time to go home. He was happy he had finally found what he was looking for.

He now knew the fun was different for everyone. Some found grand palaces and operas fun; others found poetry and grand banquets fun, and to others, it was having a mud fight, playing with spinning tops and firecrackers, juggling and walking on stilts, and even taking part in a dragon dance. 

But the best kind was the kind you could share. And every day after that, no matter how busy he was, the emperor always made sure there was time for fun for everyone.

Miss you, Dad. Love you.

 

Coming July 2023, The Power of Michelle Yeoh: Ballet, Stunts, Stardom!

 

Merry Christmas, Everyone.