Heyyy… Yours truly is now back in Singapore after spending the Hari Raya weekend in KL for Bookfest @ Malaysia 2015 🙂 What a bustling crowd!!! I really loved every bit of it…
It was quite funny because I had some concerned relatives & friends cautioning me against flying up to Kuala Lumpur because of “racial riots”, no thanks to recent newspaper reports about the Low Yat Plaza incident. However, after speaking to local Malaysian friends about it, they shared that all was well and that it was simply news/ social media blown out of proportion.
And it was true! Driving down the roads of KL with my yoga buddy Xenia, everything was calm and very normal. Obviously a savvy tourist wouldn’t go looking for trouble at unsavoury spots; with my local friends, I went shopping and feasting, and also enjoyed a bowl of Malaysia’s famous Kin Kin spicy pan mee!
But right, back to the main objective of why I flew up to KL… It was for Malaysia’s biggest annual book fair: Bookfest@Malaysia. Besides the awesome event organizers, I have my wonderful publishers Marshall Cavendish International (Asia), as well as, my distributor Pansing to thank 🙂
The crowd at the event was just FANTASTIC. I’ve always been an unabashed book nerd. I absolutely love reading. It’s just one of those childhood hobbies that never went away… Also, I’ve a thing about books. My BFF gifted me a ebook reader for my birthday some years ago and I really appreciate it, but there’s just this beautiful charm about books. The smell of new reads, the texture of the paper as you turn the page, the fact that your book will never ever run out of battery juice and unexpectedly die on you.
Prior to my author sharing session at KLCC, I had an exclusive interview session and the video should be up on the organiser’s website and social media channels pretty soon 🙂 It was a fun half hour (isn’t it just funny how time just flies when you’re having fun?) and there was quite a lot of laughing, as you can see in the pictures!
I’m no stranger to Malaysia, having performed nightly in Genting Highland for a full month for Superstars of Magic 2 back in 2012 besides doing private shows and other gigs in my previous life as ‘Magic Babe’ Ning. And here’s the funny thing… sometimes event emcees just can’t get my stage name right. Seriously, I kid you not. Over the years, I’ve been miscalled:
- Magic Babi Ning (yes, as in babi = pig/ pork)
- Magic Baby Ning (as in a crying infant that can apparently do birthday tricks and possibly twist balloon animals)
- Magician Ning (okaaaaaaay like that’s super original)
- Magic Ning Babe (?!?!?)
- Magic Ning (sigh)
- Baby Ning (omg)
- Babe Ning (say whuuuuuut?!)
- Magician Babe Ning (okay, you get the idea)
……..So I was mighty relieved that my publishers informed the organizers about the proper English pronunciation of my stage name and their emcee was super professional and did an awesome job. Yay hey!
The Bookfest@Malaysia organizers had staff selling both my books – Adventures of 2 Girls (co-written with my BFF Pam Ho) and Who is Magic Babe Ning near the stage, while I took people through a quick walk through of slides 🙂 On stage, I shared with them a little about what they could expect from my true life stories. To be honest, it felt a little odd for me… wearing relatively new shoes as a writer since for a decade I’d always hit the stage as a performer/ emcee! LOL
After the event there was still time for more shopping at the nearby shopping centre, Suria KLCC (after obliging requests for photos when I got off stage), and it was super crowded being a busy weekend. But I got some shopping done so I have something to wear for Friday evening’s red carpet gala of 7 Letters at the Capitol Theatre… Phew!
Tomorrow is Wednesday and you know what that means… we’ve got new reviews to share on NingThing! I’ve got some verrrrrrry exciting news to share soon too, which will truly please all ye fellow bookworms out there. I promise to let you in on it very soon. But first, I’d like to share something exciting with you…
Meet Migme – an awesome social entertainment platform where you can meet new folks, chat with buddies, join in convos, talk with celebs, play online games, blog about the meaning of life, show the world who you really are, and much more 🙂
TBH, I just started on this multi-platform social app myself (yep the free download is now available for both Android and Apple users) and I’m still learning the ropes, but please do say hi to me (that’s my avatar above) on Migme! It’s a really nifty app that’s created by a young Singaporean genius and their headquarters is in the heart of Singapore. Check it out and lemme know what you think… More on that later in my next post!
(yes yes, I am totally guilty of always changing my hair colour!)