This week, I thought I’d cast the next a little wider. One event that would certainly be worth going to is the September After Words panel organised by Ethos Books. There are two separate discussions, each focusing on a book. INSIDE/OUTSIDE: REVISITING PASSAGES features Yong Shu Hoong, Dave Chua and Wong Shu Yun, talking about a project that they worked on in writing stories that evolved from the lives of people marginalised in Singapore society. Jerrold Yam’s TRAVEL POLITICS: MAKING HOMES OUT OF PEOPLE & PLACES is very different in focus, exploring the theme of travel in his latest poetry collection. The event’s at 7.00 on Friday September 12th at Marine Parade Library.

Also coming up towards the end of the month is the third talk in the Living with Myths series, which asks us to look critically at the stories we tell about Singapore’s past. Three very good speakers, including NUS’s own Huang Jianli. This is an example of an event that isn’t explicitly about literature, and yet which would be really useful in making intellectual connections. We’ll be talking in the next few weeks about literature’s role in re-imaging the past, and the historians will cover some of the history that we’re looking at in the next few weeks. This isn’t until 22 September but do book your ticket now, if you can–the sessions have been very popular and massively oversubscribed.

If you aren’t the event-going type, and would like to review a book instead for your post, I’ve got three spare review copies of recent Singapore writing: Lydia Kwa’s new novel, Pulse, Tania de Rozario’s poetry collection Tender Delerium, and a blast from the past, The Wayang at Eight Milestone, an edited collection of the work of a forgotten writer from the 1960s and 1970s, Gregory Nalpon. You get the book, free, but the deal is you post on it in return!