Reading Rachel

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Singapore Literature Book Club session on Friday 14 May, where I was the featured author and my novel, Finding Chopin, the title in discussion. Not pictured are camera-shy attendees who were not at all shy off-camera in dissecting the novel from start to finish, keeping me on my toes! 😅

I had prepared beforehand three short passages to read, though it turned out that I didn’t even need to, since everyone who showed up had already read the book (some more than once), and came armed and eager with questions about particular characters, scenes, themes, symbols, and so on.

Fun fact # 1: I have never been to a book club before, and yesterday was my first time not only attending one, but also hosting it (no pressure)!

Fun fact # 2: The Singapore Literature Book Club has been around since 2016. It is managed by the tirelessly passionate library volunteer Shamimah Mujtaba in partnership with the National Library Singapore.

I cannot overstate how awed and moved I am by all or any support for Finding Chopin. It was amazing to meet fans of my work and folks who took the trouble to come all the way down to tell me in person just how much the story affected them or how deeply they felt for certain characters or places mentioned.

Memory, amirite?

My belated recap for the The Plot Thickens, November edition, hosted by Epigram Books and moderated by my formidable editor Gwee Li Sui. (More photos here)

Gwee and I went deep into the nuts and bolts of how Finding Chopin was conceived, developed, then reshaped and polished to the version you have in your hands today. Gwee shared with the audience how his goal was to guide me towards adding details about characters and in scenes so that readers would be as clear as possible about who they were seeing on the page and what was happening—while my job as author was to fix the blind spots while also protecting my characters and preserving my voice.

We also talked about the difference between the various iterations of the manuscript and how much pacing changed with adjustments to narrative sequence in a story straddling three generations, with memory weaving in and out of dialogue and characters’ consciousness.

Time ran out before we could to touch on the use of music or go into Chopin’s connection to it all, but it was wonderful to interact with the audience, who asked many good questions. For a second time, someone requested for an audiobook version (hmm) and even who I would choose to be a voice actor 🤓

My final thoughts: it truly makes all the difference having an editor who gets your work and knows how to guide you towards taking your story to the best place possible. Gwee was superb—is superb—and if you liked Finding Chopin, he deserves the credit.
Thanks again to everyone who came to attend this cosy literary conversation.

Throwback to last month’s panel at the Singapore Writers Festival 2025, where I had the privilege to sit in the esteemed company of Meihan Boey, Ng Yi-Sheng and Sunita Sue Leng on a panel moderated by Khoo Sim Eng. I was happy to spot many familiar faces in the packed audience while trying to keep up with questions about my book or related themes. It was only after the event that I learned of the long queue outside our cosy venue — the Dance Studio of Victoria Theatre. Wish we could’ve accommodated more folks (e.g. Dr Gwee Li Sui who got locked out, and almost Epigram’s Edmund Wee too if not for Paul Tan’s quick thinking). All in all, it was good fun bantering about fiction with the other panelists and interacting with a very lively audience: great energy and vibes all around. Bonus: managing to catch Gwee later and snagging his autograph for my copy of his best-selling poetry book See How We’ve Already Forgotten + being acquainted with the mighty Prof Koh Tai Ann + bumping into my former intern, the very adorable Caleigh. Biggest upside? Korean dinner afterwards with long-suffering hubby Joseph who joked that I brought him to “eat orh tau png” 🤣 Phew! Until next time Singapore Writers Festival! More photos here.