The Huntsman: Winter's War

The Huntsman: Winter's War premiere was scheduled for April 3, 2016 at Universal Studios. Fans who wanted a glimpse of the stars: Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron and Jessica Chastain had to buy the standard Universal Studios Day pass to gain access to the red carpet or they could enter numerous competitions that would allow them entry into the "exclusive" fan zones.

I decided to take my chances and enter the competition. As I was working on a project for Resorts World Sentosa, I was able to snag two tickets to the premiere, but those unfortunately did not include access to the red carpet, so I gave those tickets to Joyce and Chee.

As luck would have it, I managed to snag one of the competition passes and together with fellow movie fans Ray, Anthony and Liza, I headed down to Universal Studios at around 3:30pm well ahead of the 5:00pm start time of the event. The place was packed with fans by the time we got there.

With passes in hand, we were ushered to the far end of the carpet.  Though we were able to get to the front of the barricades on the red carpet, it didn't look like the prized passes were so fantastic as the stars would probably sign for a long line of fans before making their way  towards us. From past experience, when the stars reach the far end of the carpet, their handlers rush them along and they barely have time to sign any autographs.

Nevertheless, we took our spots on the barricade and waited it out. The movie premiere was supposed to start at 7pm but by 6:30 there was still no sign of the stars and we figured we  would just see them walk past, but 6:45pm we heard screams coming from the front of the carpet and figured that the stars had arrived.

It was a rather excruciating wait, not knowing if we would be skipped because at red carpet events there is no guarantee that you could get anything at these kind of events, even when you win a spot in the fan zone.

Cedric Nicolas Troyen, the Director @RLiw

It was a rather long wait before the director of the movie came over to sign for us. He signed and that was a good indication that the stars might sign for us too. Before he left I gave him a copy of my book The Lion Dance.

Ray and me waiting for Charlize Theron, you can see me about to give her A
Day with the Duchess ©Today

Next up was Charlize Theron, a vision in white. She was the last to hit the red carpet but the first to reach the end of it. She signed autographs and posed for photos and she gave multiple hugs to a girl who was no doubt her biggest fan there. The girl looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Finally, she came to our side of the carpet. I held out a copy of A Day with the Duchess for her. She took it and began to sign the cover. I yelled "It's for you and your children." My friend Liza took the photo below

Charlize realises that the book is for her and her kids.

She stopped smiled and thanked me graciously and then she kindly signed my poster. I later found out she signed an abbreviated version for the other fans. 

Then Chris Evans and Jessica Chastain joined her on the red carpet and posed for some photos before Theron moved off to the press section and Chris and Jessica continued to sign autographs and pose for selfies.

After a lot of yelling Chris came over and signed for us. He signed my poster but as you can see he must have been really tired because he didn't give me a complete Hemsworth. 

You can compare the one he signed for my friend Joyce on another occasion. Still it's similar enough and I'm happy that he signed for me. Ray asked him for a Selfie and I managed a photobomb. Then I gave him a copy of A Day with the Duchess for his kids. He seemed pleasantly surprised and he thanked me with a big grin and then moved on to the rest of his fans.

@RLiw

By that time security asked us, none too politely I might add to remove our posters from the red carpet before Jessica Chastain came over to us. She had been to the S.E.A. Aquarium that morning and so I gave her a copy of At the S.E.A. Aquarium and she promised that she would read it. Then she signed an autograph for me and posed for two pictures. She is such a lovely lady.

With that we called in a night and skipped the movie as we were too exhausted to go. All in all, it was a pretty amazing day and we got autographs from all the stars! We had a brief respite for star gazing before the next big premiere: The Captain America: Civil War  Blue carpet event at Marina Bay Sands. But getting up close and personal stars would prove to be a far trickier endeavour....

Asian Festival of Children's Content Press Conference 2014

A few days after our return from London, the National Book Development Council of Singapore held a press conference for the upcoming Asian Festival of Children's Content. Originally conceived as the Asian Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference by NBDCS Director, Mr Ramachandran, the festival has grown exponentially and includes conferences for teachers and parents and is now popularly known as the AFCC. As Mr Rama has said over the years, he hopes the festival will bring Asian content to the world's children.

Mr Ramachandran, Ms Lim Li Kok, Ms. Claire Chiang, HE Vijay Thakur Singh, Mr Kenneth Quek

As Deputy Director of the Council and Festival Director of the festival, Kenneth kicked off the press con with a detailed overview of what participants can expect from the conference. And this year's conference looks set to be even bigger and better than the previous years', if that's even possible. Some of the literary glitterati who have attended the event in previous years include Susanne Gervay, Wendy Orr, Norman Jorgensen, James Foley, Chris Cheng, Alvina Ling, Rukhsana Khan, and  Sarah Odedina.

Ken and the book 'Water' which was launced at last year's AFCC.

Once again, there will be an impressive line-up of panels, workshops and masterclasses for parents, teachers, authors and illustrators. This year you'll  get the chance to get up close and personal with the likes of Sally Gardner, Atanu Roy, Leonard Marcus, Subir Shukla, Sampurna Chattarji, Sandhya Prabhat, Frane Lessac, Kathleen Ahrens, AJ Low, Mariko Nagai,  Andrew Weale, James Mayhew, AJ Low, and Ken Spillman to name a few. 

And if you are an aspiring author or illustrator, this may just be the year you'll find yourself on the road to publication. You'll have the opportunity to pitch their story ideas to agents and content developers.

Catherine Carvell "Darcy Moon and the Deep Fried Frogs", Sarah Mounsey "Purple Paw Prints" and Emma Nicholson "Princess Petunia's Dragon" are just some authors who attended the festival and were subsequently published! Not bad, right?

This year's country of focus is the Asia's literary heavyweight -India! 

HE Vijay Thakur Singh

After Kenneth's introduction to the this year's festival, the Indian High Commissioner , Ms Vijay Thakur Singh, took to the podium to talk about India's rich and vibrant history in story-telling.

Then it was time for Claire Chiang, Chairman of AFCC's Board of Advisors to announce the shortlist for the Scholastic Asian Book Award. 

Ms. Claire Chiang

The shortlisted authors are:

1. Aditi Krishnakumar for Ergo Sum (India)

2.  Catherine Torres for Sula's Voyage (Philippines)

3. Thia Shi Min for Dragonhearted: The Fine Spell of Words Alone (Singapore)

4. Sophia Lee for What Things Mean (Philippines)

5. Vivek Bhanot for Robin and the Case of the Summer Camp Kidnapping (India)


Congratulations to all of the shortlisted writers and if you would like to find more about the AFCC please click this link @AFCC Registration. I hope to see you there!

FIRST PRESS For A Day with the Duchess

The Writing Year

It's barely been two weeks into the new year and I've already broken several resolutions. Oh well, I guess I can start over for Chinese New Year, right? Anyway, I'll try to be better at  from now on.

Firstly, I hope to be more disciplined with myself when it comes to writing. The beginning of the year always reminds me of the first school. For one thing, I get anxious about the year ahead and for another, I regret the the things I didn't accomplish the previous year. So my new year's resolution is to be much more time efficient and productive this year.

Speaking of the first day of school, Emma came back  from the UK in time to help me with the final proofing of Sebbie's First Day of School. Thanks, Emma.

Final Proofs for Sebbie's First Day of School

Emma's book Princess Petunia's Dragon is now available at Kinokuniya, MPH and all good bookstores in Singapore, so go grab a copy now! It's a brilliant book, really brilliant...a real fire-breather of a book. Stop reading this blog and buy a copy.

Emma at Kinokuniya with Princess Petunia!

Sarah's back safely from Cambodia and is hard at work on the third book in her pawtastical Purple Paw Print series and it should be out by May, just in time for the Asian Festival of Children's Content, right, Sarah? Sarah's  award-winning books are so much fun and unpredictable too. Kid's love them and I can't wait for the next one too!

Another book I'm terribly excited about is Darcy Moon and the Deep Fried Frogs by Catherine Carvell, which will be published in March. I was there when it was being written and I was lucky enough to be there when Catherine was crafting the story. It's hilarious and it's a green book too.  And by that I don't just mean it's an environmentally friendly book, I mean it's literally green - look it's got a green cover!   

And finally, Kristina Thornton and Michael Csokas's The Wee Adventures of Shabu Shabu: The Jade Legend has been a hit with kids here in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Japan and the USA since they launched it at the Asian Festival of Children's Content this year. The imaginative duo also have a top app for the book on itunes so buy it now for hours of entertainment for yourself or the kids in your life.

Now the sequel's about to hit to bookshelves. so get ready to order your copies of the next guaranteed blockbuster from Csoka and Thornton, The Wee Adventures of Shabu Shabu: The  Silk Route.

The working cover of book (NOT THE FINAL COVER)

Mark my words, Emma's, Sarah's and Catherine's, Kristina's and Michael's books are bound to be a best-selling award-winning must-have books of 2014.

That's it for now. I'll blog more tomorrow when I should actually be writing my next book! 

A Dragon for Christmas

Emma Nicholson's Princess Petunia's Dragon

It's that time of year, where people are hitting the shops left, right and centre in their scramble to do as much shopping as possible before the CHRISTMAS day. In other words it's an incredibly so stressful time of the year! And if you've got young ones at home, you're probably dashing about from toy store to toy store looking for their favourite doll, action figure or game. Why not get them a good book as well? The world of imagination is the best gift you can give anyone and my gift recommendation for you is Emma Nicholson's Princess Petunia's Dragon, illustrated by Charlotte Micklewright. It'll make a great gift not just for Christmas, but for any occasion. Or as I call it a 'just-so gift', a gift you buy just so you can make someone happy.

Looking at the proofs at the printers

At the moment, Princess Petunia's Dragon is entering its final stages of labour and will be delivered in about two weeks. Emma's been working on it for quite a while and I have to say that she's done an outstanding job.  I love the story-it's brilliant - and the proofs look amazing. I can't wait to see the actual book.

This weekend, Emma invited Kenneth and me over to her place to have a look at some of the proofs and for a tea of mince pies - yum! To be clear, the mince pies were yum, we didn't eat the proofs! :) 

Emma showing the proofs to Kenneth

Then I followed Emma to the printers for one last proof check before the book is put to bed.

Emma checks everything thoroughly.

Everything looks good.

Emma and Jeremy of Image Printers Pte Ltd.

Yay! Done!

So now all that's left is to wait. The book will go to print in the next couple of days and I'll let you know when it's out so you can go and order it. Congratulations, Emma. Well done!

Leonard Marcus Singapore Children's Literature Lecture at the Asian Festival of Children's Content

Noted Children's Book historian, author and critic Leonard Marcus will be presenting the Singapore Children's Literature Lecture at the Asian Festival of Children's Content and guess whose book has been selected to be dramatised there...mine!! I am truly humbled, honored and grateful that something that came out of my teeny mind has been selected to be part of such a prestigious event. To say that I am very, very, very, very grateful would be an understatement of monumental proportions.