Speakers & Moderators

Alicia Tan

JUICE Singapore’s editor, Alicia Tan, has vast publishing knowledge spanning eight years at several successful local and international titles in Singapore. Her experience spans from fashion to lifestyle, music and cultural trends.

Andrew Tan (Drewscape)

Drewscape enjoys drawing and inventing stories as a means of bringing stories to life. Formerly an advertising art director, he now does most of his work for advertising agencies as a full-time illustrator.

Aun Koh

Aun Koh is the founder of food blog Chubby Hubby. He discovered a love of writing in University and was Editor-in-Chief of his school’s weekly newspaper. Aun spent a decade working in magazines and newspapers in New York, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore before taking a break to work in the art world for two years. Aun has written several cookbooks and is currently an Executive Director at The Ate Group, an integrated communications services group.

Ben Slater

Ben Slater is a film critic and screenwriter. He’s the author of Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore (Marshal Cavendish, 2006) and his writing on film has been published internationally. He’s script edited several feature films including Helen, HERE, Endless Day and Mister John, wrote the short The Legend of the Impacts, and is the co-writer of the forthcoming sci-fi thriller Camera. He teaches screenwriting at Nanyang Technological University.

Chong Tze Chien

Tze Chien is an award-winning playwright and director; his plays include Pan Island Expressway (Singapore Dramatists Award 1998), Furthest North, Deepest South and Charged (Life! Best Script, 2011). He has been the Company Director of The Finger Players since 2005, and was a Playwright/Director with The Necessary Stage from 2000 – 2004.

Daryl John Ho

Despite Daryl’s youthful appearance, he has almost a decade of experience in media and performance arts, having worked for W!ld Rice, iTheatre and even being part of PromaxBDA winning team of Mediacorp’s The Noose 3D promotional campaign. Currently, he’s a producer at Easy Productions, creating content for various brands in and out of Singapore, and developing an electronic dance music documentary series with Luff Media and DJ Chris Ho.

Dave Chua

Malaysian-born Dave Chua has been winning writing awards for many years. His short story, Father’s Gift, won a Singapore Press Holdings-National Arts Council Golden Point Award in 1995; his first novel, Gone Case, bagged the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award in 1996. His latest collection of short stories, The Beating and Other Stories (2011), has been longlisted for the 2012 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize.

Felicia Low-Jimenez

Felicia Low-Jimenez was born and raised in Singapore. She spent most of her childhood with her head in the clouds and her nose buried in a book, and now daydreams of owning her own bookstore. She has a graduate degree in Literary Theory, and the Sherlock Sam series is Felicia’s debut writing effort, after accumulating years of experience buying, selling and marketing books.

Fong Hoe Fang

Hoe Fang runs an advertising and design house which in 1997, started Ethos Books. The imprint supports emerging writers and aims to foster a lively literary community. Today, it continues the quest to help writers tell compelling social stories, protect memories and reflect the ethos of our times.

Grace Chia Krakovic

Grace writes under her maiden name, Grace Chia. In 1998 she impressed readers with her debut collection of poems, woman go. Since then, many of her other poems and short stories have been included in publications such as Singapore Literature in English: An Anthology, The Straits Times, SilverKris, Di-Verse City, as well as in online journals like HOW2 and Stylus Poetry Journal. She was the first female Singaporean writer to be invited to both the Austin International Poetry Festival and Queensland Poetry Festival, and recently released her second poetry collection, Cordelia.

Heather Hansen

Heather Hansen is a speaker, trainer and author in the areas of communication and interpersonal skills. Originally from the United States, she has lived in Singapore since 2006. Heather writes on topics related to the English language, global business communication, people skills and networking. She is author of the book Powerful People Skills (part of the STTS Success Skills Series) and contributing author to 3 other books: 88 Essential Secrets for Achieving Greater Success at Work (Chapter 9 – Get Ahead with Global English), Great Expatations: Don’t Chop My Passport and Other Stories (Chapter 1 – Don’t Chop My Passport!), and Success 365 (sections on people skills and networking). Heather has also developed an online learning portal for international English pronunciation called English Pronunciation Lab.

Ho Ren Chun

Besides self-publishing a collection of poetry for his family when he was 13, Ho Ren Chun has contributed to school magazines, online forums, and has had his writings featured in The Straits Times. He achieved the Top in the World award for his IGCSE (English) exam. His debut collection of poetry, Shrines & Streetlights, came out last year.

Jason Erick Lundberg

Jason Erik Lundberg is the author of several books – including Embracing the Strange and The Alchemy of Happiness – and over a hundred short stories, articles, and book reviews. He is the founding editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, series editor for Best New Singaporean Short Stories, and editor of Fish Eats Lion. A graduate of the prestigious Clarion Writers Workshop, Lundberg holds a degree in creative writing from North Carolina State University and currently lives in Singapore.

Joyce Chng

Joyce Chng has been published in international and overseas SFF magazines such as Crossed Genres, Bards and Sages Quarterly, Semaphore Magazine and MBRANE-SF. Her stories have appeared in anthologies such as The Apex Book of World SF II. Her urban fantasy novels (Lyrical Press) are written under the pen name J. Damask, and her YA books are self-published on Smashwords.

Kannan Chandran

Kannan Chandran started E-Quill Media (EQM) to eschew the mundane. EQM publishes the award-winning magazine STORM, and SINGAPORE, for the Singapore International Foundation. EQM also publishes books for INSEAD and the NUS Business School, among other organisations. Kannan started in journalism as the theatre, film and music critic with The Straits Times in the 1980s. In the 1990s he was the Managing Editor of Magazines Incorporated which produced The Peak, and magazines for international corporations. Kannan has been decorated by the government of Chile for his contributions in the field of journalism. He was the President of the pro-tem committee that established Mensa Singapore. He has written songs for regional recording artists.

Kenny Leck

Kenny Leck is the co-founder of BooksActually, an independent literary bookstore. He also helms the publishing imprint Math Paper Press, and the handmade stationery line, Birds & Co. Artist and collector, his most characteristic art works are boxed assemblages created from found objects.

Laremy Lee

Laremy writes in different genres, with a focus on writing for the stage. Excerpts of his works can be found at www.laremy.sg. Laremy is an Associate Producer with Checkpoint Theatre. He will be the Writer-in-Residence at the Toji Cultural Centre in Korea from April to May 2013.

Lee Thean-jeen

One of the most prolific and acclaimed writer-directors working in Singapore’s production industry today, Thean-jeen has written, directed, and created more than a hundred hours of award-winning television and film. Shows he has created or co-created include AlterAsians, The Singapore Short Story Project, Calefare, The Pupil and Code Of Law.

Linda Collins

Singapore-based Linda Collins is a regular writer of columns such as The Expat Files and of book reviews for The Sunday Times and is a copyeditor for The Straits Times. A New Zealander, she has also worked on other newspapers including The Australian Financial Review and, in Britain, The Sun.

Liyana Othman

Liyana Othman is an Economics undergraduate and Singaporean book, movie and entertainment reviewer. Her website, LiyanaLand, was founded in 2009 and grew from a far too long to-read book list into a website that focuses on Young Adult fiction, South-east Asian and Singaporean literature. Aside from spending eighty percent of her time peering at her e-reader or her mum’s iPad, Liyana spends the other twenty percent organizing bookish events, checking out book and film festivals, as well as exploring the area and being a local tourist. Her reviews are currently published in WAVES lifestyle magazine in Johor Bahru and Singapore.

Dr. Melvin Sterne

Dr. Melvin Sterne is the author of one novel (Zara, Ink Brush Press) as well as 20 published short stories (several of his stories have won awards or been anthologized into other collections). His first book-length collection of short stories is forthcoming at Lamar University Press. He has also published poetry and academic articles. Dr. Sterne served as Managing Editor for the Licton Springs Review, as Senior Editor and Publisher of Carve Magazine, as an editor for the Government Information Quarterly, and as Co-Editor of the Blood and Honey Review. He has also served as editor or consultant on a number of successful independent publishing projects. He currently serves as Associate Professor of English at Shantou University in Shantou, China.

Samantha de Silva

Samantha de Silva develops and conducts courses in communication skills, and runs writing mentorship/ coaching programmes. She creates content, copy-edits, and proofreads for corporate, academic and creative projects. She also works on script analysis and writing for game, film, and fiction projects. Samantha has been a contributing writer and voice talent on the satirical podcast, the mrbrown show, since 2008.

Suchen Christine Lim

One of Singapore’s most talented and distinguished writers, Suchen Christine Lim won the inaugural Singapore Literature prize in 1992 with her third novel, Fistful Of Colours. Her published works include 4 novels, a play, a collection of short stories, several of which are published in Singapore and international journals and anthologies, 13 children’s picture books, and a non-fiction work, Stories Of The Chinese Overseas. She has also written short film scripts. She is the winner of the SEA Write Award 2012 (Singapore).

Tan Su-Lyn

Tan Su-Lyn first cut her teeth as a writer at 8 Days magazine where she reviewed restaurants and interviewed celebs like Johnny Depp and Mariah Carey. She eventually became managing editor of Wine & Dine magazine, revamping it during her stint and winning an IFRA Asia Gold Medal for Design for her efforts. Su-Lyn has written for many of the world’s best publications, from the Wall Street Journal to Town & Country, and has also written and edited a wide range of books including the Lonely Planet World Food Guide to Malaysia and Singapore.

Teng Qian Xi

Teng Qian Xi was born in 1983 and educated in Australia, Singapore and New York. She majored in Comparative Literature. Her work has appeared in various periodicals and anthologies, both locally and internationally. She now teaches secondary school and JC students, and gives the occasional writing workshop. Her poetry collection, They hear salt crystallising, was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize 2012.

Wyelin Chiu

Wyelin’s avid love for arts, design, and fashion led her to create Eiffel in Seoul, a leading fashion website featuring the latest red carpet fashions worn by Asian celebrities. Eiffel in Seoul has been featured in SHOP Korea, City Edition by Global Blue; the Wall Street Journal; and the Sunday Herald, Scotland. Prior to Eiffel in Seoul, Wyelin was a freelance writer for allkpop.com.

Zizi Azah Binte Abdul Majid

Zizi Azah is the Artistic Director of Teater Ekamatra. Teater Ekamatra is Singapore’s leading Malay theatre company, which produces contemporary Malay theatre that addresses social and community issues. Effectively bilingual in English and Malay, she is both playwright and theatre director and has helmed theatre productions in both languages. Zizi Azah is the recipient of Young Artist Award 2012.