I was terribly chuffed to have been invited by the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) to moderate (virtually) a panel of three fascinating writers and literary translators, Ryad Assani-Razaki, Jinwoo Park and Leilei Chen 莫译 (muo-yee). It was my first panel moderation in Canada since relocating here last summer, and a great honour and pleasure […]

When I submitted a photograph that I’d taken of a piece of shutter art in the racy, party district of Lan Kwai Fong in Central, Hong Kong, little did I dream that some months later, the photograph would appear in the glossy pages of a coffee table book. Murals, created by the co-founders of the […]

Who better to have a conversation about AI then De Kai – computer scientist, AI pioneer, professor, and now author of an accessible guide on how to understand, use, and ultimately, regain some degree of control over this powerful tool that we humans have created. We discussed “Raising AI: An Essential Guide to Parenting Our […]

Everything about The Only Way to Make Bread (ages 3-8), a gorgeous picture book coloured in sumptuous shades of sunflower yellow and crust brown, reminds me of a freshly baked loaf – warm, comforting and teeth-sinkingly tasty. Written by Cristina Quintero, a first-generation Columbian-Canadian writer and storyteller, and illustrated by Sarah Gonzales, a Filipino-Canadian illustrator, […]

The Moon Seed (ages 4-8), a beautifully written and gorgeously illustrated picture book with a surprise twist, is about the imagined life of a seed who experiences – literally – an out-of-the-world experience. Tucked into a pouch, the winged seed follows the crew of eight astronauts on their Apollo 14 mission to the moon. While […]

As the Lunar New Year began, I rode my Fire Horse into a new role at The Children’s Book Bank, a charity that provides free books and free literacy programmes to children, their caregivers and their educators. CBB operates from four different locations (or “book banks”) across the city: Regent Park, Sherbourne, Jane and Finch, […]

I had the great privilege to attend the SCBWI Winter Conference in chilly New York City in January 2026 with a scholarship attached to the Kate Dopirak Craft and Community Award (KDCC Award), a prize that I won in 2024 with my as-of-yet unpublished picture book manuscript, The Magic in Ming’s Hands. It was wonderful […]

During a recent stint in my beloved city of Hong Kong, I was able to share my flash fiction writing tips with enthusiastic Year 5 students at the French International School (FIS) and two storytelling workshops inspired by my award-winning picture book manuscript, The Magic in Ming’s Hands, with the equally enthusiastic K3 and K4 […]

Imagine how excited and honoured I was to participate in the action-packed Singapore Writers Festival this year! I had the delight of conducting two fun and interactive child-parent storytelling workshops inspired by my award-winning picture book manuscript, The Magic in Ming’s Hands, as well as being on a panel with fellow kidlit creators, Quek Hong […]

Mishka (ages 8 and up) is the name of a snowy white, powder puff of a dwarf rabbit, chosen by Roya, an Afghani girl, as her family’s first ever pet. It isn’t clear if Mishka understands what is said to him by each of the family members – Roya, her three brothers, Hamayun, Bashir and […]