The beloved Sing Lit classic What Gives Us Our Names is finally being revised and published with photos taken by the author from all over the world. From the water town of Zhou Zhuang to the suburbs of Calcutta, the pictures will allow readers a peek into the writer’s travel and experiences. Coupled with the text of What Gives Us Our Names, it will give people a new angle and perspective of the timeless classic. 

Date and Time: 18 May, 3 pm to 5pm

Location: Book Bar, 57 Duxton Rd, Singapore 089521

He’d gotten the idea from a book, not unlike the one you last read and loved, who lurid covers you have already forgotten. For a canvas, he used not his own skin but his very life, spending his days as if he were made up of the most telling bits of other people. To do this, he learned to watch quietly and look deeply, past the busy surfaces until he could discern the colours beneath, the ones that did not change. One by one he would name them as he wove them into his heart in the deep of night. He touched you once, borrowing pieces of your story in passing. They are here still, in case you wish to look.