Together Apart: Stories of the Everyday Singaporean

Important Notice
This programme/event is open to members of the National Library Board, Singapore. Please ensure you have your myLibrary username on hand before proceeding with the registration. If you do not have a myLibrary username, you can create one here: https://account.nlb.gov.sg/.

About the Programme/Event: 

What does it mean to connect with others? Why do we feel alone even when we are surrounded by people? This panel discussion looks at distances both physical and psychological in stories real and fictional (though no less authentic) of everyday Singaporeans, and how our common experiences of hurt and loss can be turned into sources of healing.  

This programme is suitable for those who would like to understand what it means to cultivate meaningful relationships with others and ourselves, and a chance to glean applicable tips on journaling and an appreciation of fiction in representing our lived experiences. 

This programme is a joint initiative by the National Arts Council and the National Library Board. 

About the Speaker(s): 

Speaker: Danielle Lim is an award-winning author of four books. Her short story collection, And Softly Go the Crossings, won Book of the Year and Best Literary Work in the Singapore Book Awards 2021. Her memoir, The Sound of SCH: A Mental Breakdown, a Life Journey, won the Singapore Literature Prize 2016 (non-fiction), and has been translated to Chinese and Tamil, published in Taiwan and India. Her latest novel, All Our Brave, Earthly Scars, was published by Penguin Random House in 2022. 

The Publishers Weekly (US) listed Danielle as one of Singapore’s top writers in 2016. She has been invited to speak at writers’ festivals internationally, including Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. Her works have been featured in The Straits Times, BiblioAsia, The West Australian, on radio 938Now and ABC Radio Australia. She has been interviewed on Great People TV, The Brand Called You, and the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. 

Speaker: Nicole K. is the founder and executive director of The Tapestry Project SG, a non-profit organisation that weaves communities together to deepen personal capacities for better mental wellbeing. The Tapestry Project publishes personal lived experience stories of Singaporeans and facilitates narrative programmes that empower individuals with the ability find healing through their stories. Formerly a freelance writer and editor, Nicole firmly believes that words have the power to create individual and collective positive change. Following her postgraduate pursuits in psychology and creative writing, Nicole is a certified narrative therapist that traverses the interweaving worlds of the literary arts, language and identity. 

Moderator: Daniel Kong is a PhD candidate and researcher from the medical humanities cluster in NTU’s School of Humanities. His work focuses on illness narratives and stories of the body in mediums such as life-writing, theatre, performance art, and literature. Of particular interest are the topics of Schizophrenia, practitioners ranging from Antonin Artaud to Melati Suryodarmo, and thinkers like Deleuze. His PhD project focuses on first-hand accounts of Schizophrenia, studying published autobiographies and accounts published in archives like the Schizophrenia Bulletin First Person Account series. The project employs narrative inquiry and other literary methods as ways of analysing how first-person accounts make Schizophrenia legible to oneself and one's broader community. Daniel has a BA (Hons with Highest Distinction) and an MA in English Literature. His current candidature in NTU is under the Nanyang President’s Graduate Scholarship. 

About the Book: 

And Softly Go the Crossings (Penguin Random House, 2020) - In this collection of short stories, Singapore Literature Prize-winner Danielle Lim probes the unseen changes which take place in the human psyche and their impact on the textures of life. Weaving through pain and healing, beauty and darkness, these silent crossings of the human heart and mind are deep and formidable. Yet they often go unnoticed due to their quiet, subtle nature. From a man struggling to bridge the distance between him and his father as his father dies, to the changes in the human psyche 
when people are pit competitively against one another, these stories seek to draw out the emotional and psychological threads which form the tapestry of lived experience. 

With its portraits of love and loss, loneliness and heartache, hope and healing, And Softly Go the Crossings challenges the reader to encounter human connectedness through soft, yet powerful, inner rhythms. 

Host or Publisher GoLibrary | National Library Board, Singapore