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Heartlands Book Club - Events in May

HAPPENIN' . programmes + events

[HBeditor: Here are some photos of the book discussion of the play, Emily of Emerald Hill, with the author hersself, Ms Stella Kon as facilitator.]

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Deep in discussion...


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Ms Stella Kon

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Heartlands Book Club will be having 2 book discussions in May. One of Singapore's most famous plays Emily of Emerald Hill will be discussed with the author, Ms Stella Kon, as facilitator and the other has gotta to be one of the most widely read books in the past few years, Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie.

Stella Kon - Guest Facilitator for her play Emily of Emerald Hill

Emily of Emerald Hill is a one-woman play about a Nonya matriarch who dominates her family, yet in the end finds that she loses what she loves most. The play won the First Prize in the National Play-Writing Competition 1983. Since then it has been presented more than a hundred times, by eight different performers, in Singapore, Malaysia, Hawaii and Edinburgh. It has been translated into Chinese and Japanese and broadcast over Radio Iceland. The play was seen as a seminal work in Singapore theatre. It has been cited in many academic essays and been used as a reference point in plays and poetry by other Singapore authors.

Stella welcomes questions on Emily of Emerald Hill.

Date/Time: 4pm, Friday 19 May
Facilitator: Stella Kon
Call No.: SING 822 KON (Singapore Collection)
Click here for item availability.


Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie

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The book that makes some adults cry. This book is one of the English titles selected for this year’s nation-wide READ! SINGAPORE.

About the book:
Mitch Albom used to think he had it all: love, fame and money. Until the day when, at 37, he switched on the television and saw his old college sociology professor, Morris Schwartz, being interviewed about death. In his student days at Brandeis University, Albom had considered Schwartz a friend and mentor. Having learned that Schwartz was slowly dying of A.L.S., or Lou Gehrig's disease, Albom realized he urgently had to contact him, so as to resume the spiritually enriching conversations that had meant so much to him in college.

Excerpt taken from The New York Times here(need registration).

Date/Time: 4pm, Friday 26 May
Facilitator: Paul Fitzpatrick
Call No.: 378.12092 ALB
Click here for item availability.

Light refreshments will be served. The venue for the book discussions is the Activity Room, Bukit Batok Community Library. To register for any of the book discussions above, please email your intention to participate to: soon_huat_KWEH@nlb.gov.sg.

Contributed by Kweh Soon Huat, Librarian, Adult and Young People Services

Have you participated in this event?
Post your comments, or email to HBeditor@nlb.gov.sg

Posted by Lee Ping on May 15, 2006 03:20 PM | Permalink

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    • Emily of Emerald Hill To hear straight from the writer, Stella Kon, about how she came to write this book, the technical "how" that she came to choose the format of monologue, and other aspects of her life as a writer, was enriching and very personable. The spin-off questions-and-answer discussion on the need of a platform to encourage local literary work has helped me to become more aware of the roles of Art Administrator, Distributors, Critics, Reviews in the life cycle of a work. I like Stella's positive outlook on local art scene and her tenacity to persist as a writer, despite not receiving much support.

    Posted by: Chen Wee | May 19, 2006 06:25 PM

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    • It was a lovely afternoon having Stella to facilitate her book. Seeemingly simple to read, the different outcomes the fate of the central character Emily could take towards the end. One of the participants felt Emily has lost everything materially but she stood connected with the audience. Stella gave a juicy trivia when she mentioned that Mentor Minister and her once acted on stage in their Refflesian days. Stella also shared the ups and downs of being a playwright and faced the 'writer's block' too. To round it off, an autographed updated edition of Emily was given to the bookclub.

    Posted by: denniskweh | May 26, 2006 12:14 PM

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    • Got photos? Must send some photos to be posted if you do!

    Posted by: Lee Ping | May 26, 2006 12:17 PM

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    • Just sent some photos of our discussion with Stella.

    Posted by: denniskweh | May 26, 2006 12:43 PM

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    • We have our first discussion on one of this year's READ SINGAPORE titles - "Tuesdays with Morrie". All 12 participants vigorously said their piece on the book. As the book touches on perennial questions like meaning of life, death, fear, aging, love and other vicissitudes, everyone shared their understanding of them. One brought out the sociological study of dying by Kubler-Ross, another drew on similar experience with a dying relative who was positive about it, another gave his perspectives as a qualified embalmer and many more opinions. The book was simple but the contents were profound. The mixture of the members' different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities (British, Fillipino, Pakistani) saw colourful views during the discussion. The discussion lasted more than 2 hours.

    Posted by: denniskweh | May 27, 2006 12:01 PM

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