January 2005
EDITOR’S
NOTE
Happy New Year and welcome to the January 2005 edition of e-WordNEWS.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday. There were a couple of book launches
recently which will be reviewed in this issue of e-WordNEWS. Storytelling
is now being used as a communication tool in many organisations. If
you wish to join the culture of storytelling, do attend the NE Seminar
and the Moonshadow Storytelling sessions. Once again, thank you for
your support and we look forward to seeing you at our up-coming events.
Enjoy!
From the NEWS desktop of...
Anita Paul, Editor
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NBDCS EVENTS
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Engaging Hearts
and Minds
National Education through Storytelling!
In September 2004, the National Book Development Council of Singapore organised a one-day STORYTELLING seminar for teachers, National Education (NE) coordinators, and in fact anyone who wishes to use stories to communicate ideas. The seminar was a huge success. Participants learned how powerful storytelling can be in communicating messages to their audiences. Here’s what they said:
“An excellent workshop! Though I was a little shy in the beginning, the step-by-step guidance really helped to allay my concerns about storytelling.”
“Interesting way to transmit NE messages.”
DATE:
? 14 March 2005, Monday 8.30am to 5.30pm
(for all teachers, including NE coordinators reaching out to preschool
& primary school students)
? 15 March 2005, Tuesday
8.30am to 5.30pm
(for all teachers, including NE coordinators reaching out to secondary
& tertiary school students, as well as NE practitioners, including
SAF commanders and NE lecturers, reaching out to adults)
Fees:
$250 per person (includes one lunch and two teabreaks)
Early bird discount of 15% for registrations before 15 Feb 05.
Group discount of 15% for registrations in groups of 3 or more.
(Only one type of discount may be used.)
Register for the next Engaging
Hearts and Minds Seminar now!
For registration forms, please email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or call us
at tel. (65) 6848 8290 today. For details, please visit http://www.nbdcs.org.sg/ne.htm
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BOOK LAUNCH / REVIEW
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Singapore Heads And Tales
by Denyse Tessensohn
If you thought that Singaporeans are all the same and lead dull lives
in mind-numbing conformity, you will be pleased at this searchingly
observant collection of short stories about the people of Block 108,
Clementi.
Familiar yet quirky, and determined to ignore their way through every restriction to having a good time, these are memorable characters that are interesting and likable so you want to find out what becomes of them…..when the loving daughter Radiance, a very successful call girl, generously decides to perk up the marital lives of nine of the good wives in Block 108, the lessons will be remembered and talked about for a long time to come. (Source: Singapore Heads and Tales)
Book Launch
Denyse Tessensohn launched her new book, Singapore Heads And Tales on
18 December 2004 at Wiggy’s & The wine Hut, Big Splash, East
Coast Park. It was a private session, with mostly family and friends.
The book was dedicated ‘with respect and affection’ to Mrs
Hedwig Aroozoo Anuar. Guests indulged themselves in wine, fruit juice,
seafood and sandwiches. The launch started at 6pm and went on till after
8pm.
Denyse Tessensohn has an Honours Degree in Law, is a Licentiate of the Trinity College of London for the Teaching of English as a Second Language, and holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics. She has been teaching the Spoken English in Teaching course to trainee teachers at the National Institute of Education since 1996 and has taught Phonetics and Improved Spoken English in Singapore schools, tertiary institutes and companies since 1987. She is the author of Elvis in Katong, A* Primary Oral English Skills, Got Money Cannot Die and Modern Manners.
A Singapore Eurasian whose family has lived in Singapore since 1843 and in Malacca from at least 1756, she has Portuguese, Javanese-Malay, English, Goanese, Dutch, Chinese and Polish-German ancestry.
Please write to her if
you wish to order her book or have any comments on this book. You may
contact Denyse at Clea Consultants Pte Ltd, Katong Post Office, P.O.
Box 108. Singapore 014304 or
email her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Singapore Women Re-Presented
Multi –authored book edited by Audrey Chin and Constance Singam
The Singapore Woman: Who is she? Career woman, working mother, foreign
domestic worker, expatriate? Who was she? Kampong girl, Nonya matriarch,
colonial ‘mem’, mui tsai, Samsui woman? In this bumper of
a book, a rich collection of essays, anecdotes, and selected works offers
a multi-faceted view of what it means to be a woman in Singapore, provding
an engaging spectrum on the lives of women in Singapore then and now.
Whether serious or light-hearted, the pieces in this insightful book
explore the social issues and conflicts woman face in an ever changing
society.
(Source: Singapore Women Re-Presented)
Book Launch
The launch of this book on 17 December 2004 was held in partnership
with Write Workz, Singapore Management University’s Literary Club.
It was an evening of food, wine, catching up with old friends and more food. The wet weather did not dampen the event and the entire evening was a party. Most of the authors who contributed to the making of the book were there to receive their acknowledgements. Speeches by both Audrey and Constance were very well received. Excerpts were read from portions of the book, the juicy bits, that is.
I had a brief conversation with Olga Polunin, the illustrator of the cover. I praised her painting and told her I wish I could draw. I told her about my awful experience in school where my painting was criticised by the teacher in front of the class. Her response was rather interesting. She said I could paint if I wanted to. She said that it was a matter of perception. We know what a chair looks like. We try to draw it using our imagination. The result is a picture of what a chair does not look like. We keep making improvements to it till we are satisfied that the drawing depicts a chair as it is meant to be.
Basically, don’t
give up. I believe that goes with anything in life. It also depends
on how much you want to succeed in getting what you want. The biggest
mistake is to try to develop a talent in something you’re not
interested in. That is a recipe for disaster. Each of us has hidden
gifts. We can realise our own talent and bring it out or someone else
sees it and helps us nurture them – that is if you really want
to.
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ABOUT TOWN
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Moonshadow stories: Illuminating your life through story...
Strong Women
Storytelling for Adults
How do you measure the strength of a woman? Brain vs. brawn, charm vs.
cheek, determination vs. discretion...
Join us for an evening of folktales from the four corners of the earth
and judge for yourself...
Featuring: Kamini Ramachandran
& Verena Tay
Guest: Rosemarie Somaiah
Dates: Fri 14th to Sun 16th Jan 2005, 8 pm
Venue: The Blue Room, The Substation, 45 Armenian Street, Singapore
179936
Time: 8 pm
Payment: By Donation
Who are MoonShadow Stories:
- Verena Tay has acted, directed and written for local English-language
theatre since 1986, working with leading companies like The Necessary
Stage, Action Theatre, TheatreWorks and Practice Theatre. Her first
book, In the Company of Women: Selected Plays, published by SNP Editions,
was launched on 22 July 2004. An Associate Artist with The Substation
since 2002, Verena is also a founder member of Magdalena Singapore (created
in May 2003) that seeks to promote networking and sharing amongst women
arts practitioners.
- Kamini Ramachandran collects Children’s Literature and began
telling stories to her children when they were six months old. Kamini
participated in the Storytellers’ Course (May–June 2003)
organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and
the Asian Storytelling Network. In August 2003, she collaborated with
Verena in Women Who Act: Asian-Pacific Folktales (Distressed Damsels
Not Wanted). She is an active teller in the Storytellers’ Circle
and a member of ASN’s Talespin Group. In addition, she conducts
storytelling at pre-schools and private parties.
Seating is limited. To reserve a place, please contact Kamini Ramachandran
at tel: 9273 2383 or email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). These storytelling
sessions are supported by: The Substation, National Book Development
Council of Singapore, Asian Storytelling Network (Singapore)
NB: MoonShadow Stories
is pledging Sunday evening's collection towards The Singapore Red Cross
in aid of the tsunami relief effort.
Artfields
16 January 2005
Get down and dirty at Gone Fishing Café with your family on a
Sunday afternoon. The Family Art Camp (Tie Dye) will give you a chance
to do just that and it is an opportunity to bond with your kids and
get creative at the same time.
Time: 3.00pm – 5.00pm
Venue: Gone Fishing Café, 15 Chu Lin Road (off Hillview Avenue)
(Source: Literary Singapore)
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Ministry Of Education
The Ministry of Education invites all publishers and providers of resource
materials for kindergartens to attend a sharing session on the latest
developments.
Date: 7 February 2005 (Monday)
Time: 2.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Venue: Nanyang Polytechnic Auditorium (180 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8)
To register, kindly fax
registration form (found at www.moe.gov.sg/preschooleducation)
by 18 January 2005.
For enquiries, please call tel: 6838 7319/ 6838 7308.
Writer Wanted
Opportunity calls to potential writers. You are to write a series of
stories about a gangster who eventually succeeds in life. The stories
will be published in a series of eight books or more. Apart from relaying
the treacherous journeys of the young man, the stories should also highlight
the merits and deficiencies of our society.
For more information, please George Tan at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Aesthetica
Aesthetica is an independent, self-funded and a non-profit literary
and arts magazine that publish new writers and artists in the genres
of poetry, fiction, drama, articles, reviews, interviews, photography,
and artwork. Aesthetica promotes NEW writing and artwork by opening
our pages to everyone regardless of publishing history, age, gender,
education, etc. We are trying to make the arts available for everyone
by linking communities and ideologies. Our ethos is that of arts-for-all,
equality, creativity, and diversity.
Aesthetica is A5 in size with colour artwork, and bursting with creative-free thinking from all over the UK and the world. It is generally 125 pages, give-or-take, and comes out four to five times per year. It is available in Borders, UK and from the Internet.
International subscriptions are £30 for 6 issues or £15 for 3 issues.
We are also looking for
more diverse submissions for future issues from writers and artists
around the world. For more information, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(Source: Literary Singapore)
The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, formed in 1971
is the only international organisation to offer a variety of services
to people who write, illustrate, or share a vital interest in children's
literature.
The SCBWI acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers and others involved with literature for young people. There are currently more than 19,000 members worldwide, in over 70 regions, making it the largest children's writing organization in the world. SCBWI Singapore is part of the Asia-Pacific chapter.
Writers and editors, who would like to speak at writers events organised in Singapore, please contact Chitra Soundar. Chitra is the Assistant Regional Advisor of SCBWI, Singapore. SCBWI is planning its 2005 calendar of events that includes workshops, panel discussions and critique group meetings.
If you are interested in these events either as a speaker or participant or if you wish to become a member, please write to Chitra Soundar at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or find out more at http://chitrasoundar.netfirms.com
Environmental Challenge
Organisation (Singapore)
The Environmental Challenge Organisation (ECO) is a group of youth volunteers
who feel there is a lack of exposure and environmental protection action
in Singapore and have come together to form this new and unique organization.
They aim to educate the public as much as possible on environmental
awareness through unique, innovative and creative ideas. The National
Youth Council has recently granted ECO a seeding fund of S$30,000 and
they are currently residing at the InQBuzz at Orchard Road.
Writing for an Environmental Cause: ECO is coming up with an E-newsletter
to inform people not only on local environmental issues, but on international
issues as well (which will inevitably affect us one way or another).
ECO is in search for volunteer
writers to write factual articles or
even their views on any local or international environmental issues.
They are also looking for volunteer journalists to cover stories on
environmental issues in their countries or any other parts of the world.
This E-newsletter will be circulated worldwide. Eco is also considering
the possibilities of consolidating these articles and eventually compiling
a yearly book.
For details of ECO, please visit www.eco-singapore.org
MW Enterprises - Volume 6
MW Enterprises is a ‘reality-based’ publisher. They publish
a book series called ‘A Generation Defining Itself: In Our Own
Words’ from which a generation (born 1960 to 1982) is speaking
out about its realities, dispelling the narrow, simplified stereotypes
created by the mass media and commercial marketing. Volume 5 of this
book series is out and it includes local poet Cyril Wong. MW Enterprises
is now accepting submissions for Volume 6 and they are seeking more
Asian voices for this volume.
The deadline for submissions
is end of March 2005 and no submissions will be accepted after this.
For details, please visit http://www.evenstar.net/mwe/
The John Dryden Translation Competition 2005
The British Comparative Literature Association and the British Centre
for Literary Translation (University of East Anglia) are continuing
their joint sponsorship of the translation competition for 2005.
Prizes will be awarded for the best unpublished literary translations from any language into English. Literary translation includes poetry, prose, or drama, from any period.
First prize: £350
Second prize: £200
Third prize: £100
Prize-winners will be announced in July 2005 on the BCLA website, and prizes will be presented later in the year. Winning entries will be published in full on the website, and extracts from winning entries are eligible for publication in the BCLA's journal Comparative Critical Studies. Other entries may receive commendations.
Entry fee: £5 per
entry.
Closing date: 11 February 2005
For more details, please visit http://www.bcla.org/trancomp.htm
