When the (late) 70s learnt more about the 60s, the feeling of nostalgic just sink in deeper.
It’s an honor to be invited to the book launch of the illustrated book “Singapore In The 60s” – I love illustrated book on topics that interest me, and what’s more, the author of this book is the co-creator of my ‘childhood’ favourite illustrated book – Mr. Kiasu! I still remember everytime I went to my school library, the first book I hunt for will be Mr. Kiasu… hope my teachers won’t be too upset when they learned this 😛
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| Mr. Kiasu – My favourite illustrated book during my secondary school days… Image Credit: Today Online |
Other than Mr Kiasu, Mr James Suresh is also the co-creator of other famous comics creation – Kopi tiam, On A Street in Singapore, When I was in uniform. On A Street in Singapore was also recently listed on the Sunday Times Best Sellers list for 5 weeks and was awarded 2nd prize in the Reader’s choice aware organised by Popular Bookstore!
The Book launch event is held in Queenstown Primary School – the Primary school which Mr James Suresh have attended when he was young. 🙂 I think it bring a special meaning of launching the book at this location.
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| Queenstown Primary School Library have an interesting Jungle theme… |
Mr James Suresh begins by share some of his creations and also showing his humbleness through crediting all those who contribute to the books – including his family for being understanding towards him, as he spent a lot of family times on this book instead of them.
He also share some background on what motivate him to come up with his books and how it brings back the fond memories of his childhood. As he was sharing, I can almost feel the fond memories in him through his smile – alas, maybe one day I will look like this as I was sharing my fond memories with my kid in future 🙂
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| Seeing Mr James Suresh smile so broadly, I feel like we are walking along with him in the memory lane of 60s |
After his sharing session, Dr Chia Shi-Lu, MP of Tanjong Pagar, Dr William Wan, General Secretary of Singapore Kindness Movement,and Brian Richmond, the veteran deejay, also come up to share their thoughts and memories of the 60s with us.
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| Dr Chia Shi-Lu, MP of Tanjong Pagar |
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| Dr William Wan, Secretary General of Singapore Kindness Movement wrote the foreword for the book |
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| Brian Richmond, the radio personality shares with us his teen years in Queenstown and how he managed to woo his wife back then |
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| The illustrator – Mr Syed Ismail (left) and the author – Mr James Suresh (right) signing on the books for the special guests |
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| Haha. I like the signature of Mr Syed Ismail… so cute 😛 |
“Singapore In The 60s” share the various area of Singapore that may be significant to a Singaporean through the eyes of Mr James Suresh. Through the comics illustrations and humorous anecdotes, others will be able to get a glimpse of what life was like for Singapore 50 years ago. Some of the view on life covered includes:
- The High-rise Kampong (sharing of Mr James Suresh’s Neighbourhood)
- Travelling Hawkers and tradesmen
- Recreation in the 60s
- Significants Events and Memorable Experiences
- Public Services and Amenities
- Icons of the 60s – Past and Present
- Catch long kang (drain) fish at the big drain near my dad’s factory
- The Pasar Malam which is full of new and amazing stuff for sales
- Opera performance which we love to watch as mum will get us some peanuts and corns as treats to stop us from running around
- Amusement parks was a luxury entertainment then… we usually only get to experience 2 or 3 rides with a candy floss as it we are not so well-to-do then
- The long queue, hot and constantly running out of seats Polyclinic in Singapore
- How amazed we always feel towards the overhead cash tin at the provision shops and how we can just stand there watching the uncle pull down the cash tin many times before we are willing to leave the shop
Contest time: 50 copies of “SINGAPORE IN THE 60s” up for grabs!
Although 5,000 copies of “SINGAPORE IN THE 60s” were printed, 4,500 of them will be donated to school libraries and are not available sales in public. Noting that there might be a lot of us who would love to have this SG50 version of the book (public circulation of the book will be expected earliest next year), 50 will be up for grabs through this online competition!
- Like The Influencer Media Fanpage
- Share the Poster
- Comment one thing you love about Singapore.
Don’t miss the chance to get special edition books in celebration of Singapore SG50~
