Celebrity Life

We get decision makers from Asian Civilisations Musuem, Singapore Repertory Theatre and Singjazz to share their hopes and dreams for the local creative industry.

The post It’s time to demand more for Singapore’s art and culture appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

We get decision makers from Asian Civilisation Musuem, Singapore Repertory Theatre and Singjazz to share their hopes and dreams for the local creative industry.

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

We review the second installment of the writers-in-residence programme at the Raffles Hotel – a mystery novel by Vicki Virtue.

The post The Raffles Affair: A lighthearted, modern whodunnit for those fond of the iconic hotel appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

We review the second installment of the writers-in-residence programme at the Raffles Hotel – a mystery novel by Vicki Virtue.

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.

Our compilation of the best self-improvement books will help you centre yourself and realign your goals.

The feeling of getting lost in a book is incomparable — not even a binge-worthy TV show comes close to the peace, quiet and grasping power of literature.

Self-improvement is a genre of reads on rise, more so in the recent years end especially right now when the circumstances of 2020 have forced us to take a long, hard look at ourselves and how we want to live our lives to truly be happy. It’s a journey, and a good next step forward is to escape (ironically inwards) with books that people have praised for helping them reshape their outlook on life. These are our favourites of the best self-improvement books today.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck : A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

With a title immediately gripping, the New York Times Bestseller is a modern day self-help guide with all the cuss words, good jokes, and cold hard truths. Mark Manson, who also blogs, believes the key to life is living without trying to be happy or positive all the time. The author believes in embracing the mediocracy of human nature and the world itself while defining what matters, and who matters, to drive your everyday choices. As he not-so-subtly puts it, there are only so many things we can chose to truly care about and this books help you define yours — and why some of those “cares” are the reason for any feelings of being stuck or unfulfilled.

Get it here

When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön

Pema Chödrön is a very well respected American Tibetan Buddhist, ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this book, Pema collects all the lessons and insight gained from softening through hard times in life, touching on the hardest experiences we all have like death and other losses. Her advice draws from Buddhist wisdomswhile including personal stories of her hardships, and how she uses the teachings to transform. The book is now released with a cover for it’s 20th-anniversary edition.

Get it here

Oprah Winfrey The Wisdom Of Sundays – Life-Changing Insights From Super Soul Conversations With Oprah

Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday is a spiritual-themed series you can thankfully also catch on YouTube. Each episode is — as Oprah puts it — an aha moment. This book is a collection of all the biggest aha moments of the three-time Emmy Award-winning show, organised into ten different topics or branches of spirituality. These insights come from guests includes Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hahn, and Elizabeth Gilbert. There are also accompanying photographs and a personal essay by Oprah herself.

Get it here

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

To know where we’re going, we have to know where we came from — and what a lot we can learn our own biological engineering. The no.1 international bestseller is the work of renowned historian, Yuval Noah Harari, who explores the way our history throughout existence has shaped how we function as a human race. All the data forces us to look ahead at the possibilities for evolution of human kind, and within ourselves.

Get it here

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

This is a book for women who’ve clung so tightly (without even realising) to the ideas of womanhood: what being a “good” mother, partner, sister, friend or colleague looks, and how we should feel in these roles. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this?”…. are you in for a ride. Glennon Doyle was already a best-selling author of a book about her “happily ever after” with a husband and kids after overcoming her addiction to alcohol and bulimia. The more she learns what it is to be brave, the more she is inched towards her true self and her “knowing”, ultimately finding out what it means to be living courageously and authentically.

Get it here

This story first appeared on Prestige Malaysia

The post These Self-Improvement Books Will Change Your Life appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Featuring winners of the English category for the Singapore Literature Prize 2020, why they stood out, and a little on the authors.

The post Introducing this year’s Singapore Literature Prize English Category Winners appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Featuring winners of the English category for the Singapore Literature Prize 2020, why they stood out, and a little on the authors.

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

The Singapore Literature Prize virtually crowns Marylyn Tan for her debut collection, Gaze Back.

The post Singapore Literature Prize gets its first female winner for English poetry appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

The Singapore Literature Prize virtually crowns Marylyn Tan for her debut collection, Gaze Back.

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