Book talks by Singapore children's author, Vivian Teo, in the third quarter of 2024.
Second half of the year is typically quieter compared to the first half of the year for school talks but I'm still thankful I got to visit a few schools this term. Started the term with SJI Junior, where the response from the students was nothing short of amazing!
The book fair was already bustling on the 1st day and by the 2nd day, we were sold out on all #MyBFFIsAnAlien books by the 3rd recess 🥲 But no worries, we took preorders for the boys. I've signed them all and the ever amazing team at Readers' House sent them back to the school the next day!
Books with female protagonists like my books are sometimes labelled as 'girls' books' but I often tell my assembly audience there is no such thing as a 'girl's book' or 'boy's book': they are all children's books and we can all learn from a good book 💪🏽 So, SJI Junior, you're busting stereotypes and that makes me very hopeful for our younger generation 🥲
Shoutout to Rivervale Primary School! I met two boys who repeated what I said about there being no boy's book or girl's book to their sibling and friend who had remarked that #MyBFFIsAnAlien is a girl's book. Well, students of Rivervale Primary, you're quashing gender stereotypes and you should be proud of yourselves 🥲
If you're wondering why is this important or thinking I'm only saying this because I want to sell books, yes, I would like to sell books but this goes beyond that. We tell girls they can read books/watch shows with pirates and wizards, and they can be anything when they grow up, yet boys get shamed/told off for being “a sissy” if they like “girl’s stuff” like dolls/the colour pink/books featuring female characters. It’s as if society has attached for boys a stigma to so-called girls’ things. This signals to boys, girls are somehow bad and the worst thing they can do is to be like one. Then girls catch on to this line of thought that there is something wrong with being a girl. It's a vicious cycle that our society needs to get out of (I've previously written an article in Sassy Mama Singapore on this if you'd like to read more).
With education, I see mindsets slowly changing and I feel especially heartened when I hear from parents who told me their boys have read and enjoyed my book. So kids and parents, keep busting gender stereotypes okay 💪🏽Thank you Rivervale Primary for your warm welcome and response to my books and sharing! ❤
I also visited New Town Primary School! I'm really impressed by the students who came to ask my advice on publishing (they are already giving serious thoughts to writing books at this young age 👏) and K and S who wrote me letters. The girls asked if I could reply to their letters and I was thinking how I could do that when they had a great idea: I could WhatsApp their parents. That is very clever! And I wrote back of course 😄
I also met a teacher who used to teach Big E in primary school. I was so pleasantly surprised that she remembers Big E and me, and we had such a lovely chat ❤ Thank you so much, New Town Primary, for your warm welcome - I had a blast!
Thank you to Readers' House who had arranged my visits above!
It was also a pleasure to be back at Crest Secondary School for a second year, and this time to meet this year's S2 cohort who have been reading #MyBFFIsanAlien as part of their English lessons ❤ I'm really delighted to hear that the first book has piqued the interest of some students, inspiring them to read the rest of series 🥳
We also had a mini autograph session where some stayed back specially to get autographs and wefies. Lotsa good questions asked and discussions made in the session 💪🏽 Wish I could share pics from the fun session but all the pics have student faces so for privacy sake, they'll stay in my phone as fond memories 😊Thank you to the teachers who faciliated my visit and took photos for me 🙏 Crest Secondary, I hope to see you all again next year ❤
And of course, my new book The Epic Tale of Mikaela Kong was published in September! I went to Epigram Books to sign the preorders and thnks to the hardworking staff of my publisher, the books reached their recipients in a matter of days.
Thank you to Straits Times and Elisa Chia for featuring my book in 29 September's Straits Times Life! Books by local authors quite often don't get as much publicity as those published by big publishers overseas, so I'm really grateful to The Straits Times and Elisa Chia for supporting Singlit.
Even after publishing six books, I still get nervous when I release a new book, as I would wonder if my readers liked it and if the story lived up to their expectations. So, thank you to everyone who took the time to let me know you and/or your child have enjoyed my book. The Epic Tale of Mikaela Kong is now available at Epigram Books and Singapore bookstores including POPULAR, Kinokuniya, Book Bar and Readers' House.
The second half of the year is typically quieter for book talks as schools are usually busy with other activities and exams, but if there are any educators and event organisers here who would like me to visit their schools or events to share about my books, my work and inspire children to read and write, please feel free to get in touch with me via my contact form in my website's About page.
I'm looking forward to November where the book launch for The Epic Tale of Mikaela Kong will happen on 10 November, and I will be in the Singapore Writers Festival panel - Imaginary Realms: The Magic of Supernatural Stories - with Daryl Kho and Low Ying Ping, where we'll be sharing about writing stories with supernatural elements. This is moderated by the amazing Kayce Teo.
This panel is part of SWF's Youth Fringe. If you are an aspiring writer or you have a budding writer at home, this would be a good panel to attend as we'll be sharing insights about writing fantasy stories. SWF is a wonderful opportunity to hear from authors about the craft! More details on our panel here.
I share more regularly about my bookish events in my Instagram and Facebook pages. If you'd like to keep in touch, do connect with me at my socials!
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.
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