It was not surprising for me to read about a recent survey that found that less than 20% of Singaporean women had local female role models. Even without the survey, this was something we had known for a long time. It was also the reason for my first starting to write stories for children. I wanted Singapore children, especially girls, to have local ladies of inspiration to look up to. Being historically-minded, I thought to the past. Thus, my first book was inspired by the independent and strong Samsui Women. The inspiration for my second book, "Wayang Girl" is less obvious. While one can guess that the inspiration was the traditional Chinese opera known as "Wayang" in Singapore, there was actually a specific woman in mind. When I was working at the Singapore History Museum, I had the opportunity to meet Beijing opera singer, and Cultural Medallion winner Phan Wait Hong. Even though she was in her late 80s when I met her, she had a loud resounding voice and an energ
It has been six years since I last wrote in this blog. Many things have happened since 2014. In addition to my three cats, there was an addition of a dog (who died!) and after that, the addition of another dog named Xena. And this year, 2020, the COVID epidemic hit the world. With more time at home, I resurrected one of my working projects, and my first book for Young Adults (aged 12-15) is now published! I started writing a story known as "Island Girl" around 2015, and submitted it for the Scholastic Asian Book Awards in 2016. It was shortlisted, the only manuscript in Singapore, and eventually it was placed 2nd runner-up. Initially there was a contract to publish the manuscript but even after many re-writes, the publisher decided to drop the contract. It was pretty discouraging but I still felt great love for this story, and the main character of the book, Habibah, so I continued working on it. Finally, this year, I reached a point where I felt the story got to the point