This talk will be a short introduction to getting your manuscript ready to pitch to an agent. The talk will also include, in brief, information about the business of publishing and how the publishing process works leading up to a book reaching the stores for sale.

The session will be conducted via the Zoom platform. Participants do not need a Zoom account to take part in the session.

Kinokuniya members and AFCC 2021 festival pass holders can enjoy 10% off the workshop fee for this programme. Please contact programmes@bookcouncil.sg for the discount code before online registration. Please note that only one promo code can be used for each purchase.

For enquiries, please email programmes@bookcouncil.sg

Speaker

Jayapriya Vasudevan has more than twenty years of experience of working in publishing. From editing and event management to sales and distribution, she has ‘done it all.’

In 1997, she set up Jacaranda, India’s first ever literary agency and built an impressive list working with distinguished authors such as Suchen Christine Lim, Lisa Ray, Krishna Udayasankar and Tiffany Tsao.

Following a stint in Beijing, Jayapriya moved to Singapore in 2006. Here she set up Books@Jacaranda Literary Agency Over the years Jacaranda has grown and now represents an exciting and diverse list of authors from Singapore and across South East Asia and beyond.

Jayapriya is a regular at literary conferences all over Asia, from Istanbul and India to Manila and Singapore as well as London and Frankfurt.

Moderator

Suffian Hakim is a Singaporean author and screenwriter described by the Straits Times as “one of the most whimsical, creative and unpretentious young voices in Singapore literature”.

He is the author of the #1 national bestseller Harris Bin Potter and The Stoned Philosopher, the critically acclaimed supernatural comedy The Minorities and the Epigram Books Fiction Prize longlisted The Keepers Of Stories.

As a screenwriter, Suffian is the writer and creator of Mediacorp adventure-mystery series Amaranthine and the co-writer of the new Mediacorp reboot series Mr. Kiasu 2.0.

Suffian has also spoken at several international literary festivals and holds the honour of being the first Singaporean to speak at the Cairo Literature Festival in Egypt.