Celebrity Life

Unable to indulge their wanderlust, Singapore authors are writing memoirs about their past journeys - and readers are lapping them up.

The post Travel books by Singaporean authors to check out appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Unable to indulge their wanderlust, Singapore authors are writing memoirs about their past journeys - and readers are lapping them up.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

If you thought you'd read everything there is to read by J.R.R. Tolkien — the legendary wordsmith behind The Lord of the Rings series — think again.

A collection of previously unseen writings by the British author are due to be published for the first time in 2021. The collection will take readers straight to the heart of Middle-earth, exploring the land through its geography, its history and its people.

The collection, titled The Nature of Middle-earth, covers themes including Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the geography of places where some of Tolkien's most famous epic fantasies were set. The collection may even settle the long-running debate among readers of the British writer about whether dwarf women had beards — a debate that's been raging on Reddit for years.

[caption id="attachment_212456" align="aligncenter" width="425"] 'The Nature of Middle-earth' is a collection of previously unseen writings by Tolkien. It's due to be published June 24, 2021. (Image: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media)[/caption]

Considered one of the founding fathers of modern fantasy, Tolkien is best known for his novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, published in 1937 and from 1954 to 1955 respectively. The works became international best-sellers translated into more than 70 languages, as well as Hollywood trilogies directed by Peter Jackson. However, the British author continued to write about Middle-earth in the following decades, right up until the years preceding his death in 1973.

"For him, Middle-earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in The Nature of Middle-earth reveal the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation," explains in a statement Deb Brody, vice-president of the American publishing company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Nature of Middle-earth is a collection of writings edited by Carl F. Hostetter, one of the world's leading Tolkien experts and respected head of the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship. This international organisation, founded in 1988, studies the fictitious languages imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The book is due out June 24, 2021, and is published by HarperCollins in the UK and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in North America.

The post A Collection of Unseen Tolkien Works Will be Published for the First Time in 2021 appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Anyone who relishes in the life of excess and extravagance (and gleefully privy to all the first world problems that come with it) won’t be strangers to works by Kevin Kwan, which started with the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy.

The bestselling series was later adapted into the 2018 film, applauded for bringing Asian representation on a monumental scale to Hollywood. His latest novel, Sex and Vanity, was picked up for a feature film presentation by Sony Pictures — just a week after it hit shelves in June.

Sex and Vanity has been named a breezy update to E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View for 2020. The plot places the lens on Lucie Churchill, a biracial protagonist who, on top of a lifetime of contending with racial microaggressions, is torn with two love interests: The WASP-y fiancé of her family’s dreams or George Zao, a former flame she now can’t stand.

[caption id="attachment_212332" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Kevin Kwan. (Image: Raen Badua)[/caption]

Kwan has no doubt been keeping busy: Amidst a drama series in development at Amazon with STX Entertainment and numerous film and TV projects in the works, he recently spoke at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, hosted at the Asia Society.

We caught up with the author ahead of his session at the festival on 14 November, and asked him to fill us in on his latest novel, what he got up to during lockdown, and his own take on the world of luxury going forward.

(Main and featured image: Raen Badua)

The post Author Kevin Kwan Talks ‘Sex and Vanity’, Lockdown and Luxury appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

A journey into the uncharted waters of literary merchandise.

The post Are Authors the New Rock Stars? appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The Dominican American talks about rebellion in his youth - and plays the superhero game.

The post Why Pulitzer-prize winning author Junot Diaz dislikes the limelight appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

The Dominican American talks about rebellion in his youth - and plays the superhero game.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

Best-selling author Andrew Gross talks candidly about lucky breaks, inspirations, and life lessons.

The post Q&A with Author Andrew Gross appeared first on Palm Beach Illustrated.