My newest title, The Uncle Downstairs, is finally out.
During the Covid-19 years, I had the privilege of speaking to rough sleepers and persons working in the rough sleeping space for two articles I had written for Singapore Kindness Movement’s online publication, The Pride. These conversations opened my eyes to a topic that I knew nothing about—indeed it’s not a topic we speak about often in Singapore. I was greatly humbled, especially for the preconceived notions I had about the homeless and realised that much of that messaging had been shaped during my growing up years.
I knew that I wanted to write a story about homelessness in Singapore, or, as it is more appropriately labelled here, rough sleeping. My purpose was to challenge some common myths we have about rough sleepers, but most of all, to create empathy in children (and their parents). Today, after two years of waiting (it sure felt a lot longer!), the book is finally out. It is my hope that parents and educators will use this book to start conversations about this topic.
A book on such a topic in Singapore, specifically written for children, is not an easy one to get published. I knew that from the get go, when an earlier manuscript was rejected by a local publisher. (I believe it was the first rejection that I’d ever received! I am very fortunate to be able to say that!) In fact, my current publisher almost rejected it as well. But what this did was spur me to find support in the right places.
For this reason, I reached out to Kenneth Heng from Solve n+1—one of the persons I had interviewed for the article, for his knowledge in the rough sleeping space (Solve runs The Open Home Network). I shared with him the raw manuscript and from that day onwards, I have received the best support ever. I credit Kenneth and his team for persevering through many hurdles over two years, to get us to where we are today. It is entirely through Solve’s effort that we have funding support from the Ministry of Social and Family Development and have collaborated with the curriculum team at PCF Sparkle Tots to design an activity guide based on the book to be used by parents and educators.
Nicholas Liem, who illustrated my A Place for Us series, was the right person for this book and I believe his illustrations have elevated the story. This is our seventh title together, and that means he has illustrated most of my titles! I also need to thank Leila Boukarim for sharpening this story.
Lastly, thanks to World Scientific Publishing Co for believing in this project and for their patience. The book is available on their Lazada and Shopee outlets.
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