Helping Kids Deal with Anxiety After the Pandemic
Panel Ashley Chew, Jane De Suza, Oliver Phommavanh | Moderator: Jenny Faith Koh
What is the impact of the COVID pandemic on children's literature? How did children's authors and their young audiences cope with it and continue to do so? This panel explores the importance of reading about the pandemic to children and how it can encourage young readers to deal with issues surrounding difficult and challenging times.
Bibliotherapy Childrens Books Reading Writing for Children and Youths
Ashley Chew (Singapore)
Ashley is a Librarian from the Arts & General Reference team at the National Library Board (NLB), Singapore. She is in charge of content creation, the curation, development and management of collections and exhibitions, as well as the provision of reference and research services to the public. Previously, she was an Early Literacy librarian for children aged 0-6 years old, promoting a robust reading culture from young.
Jane De Suza (India/Singapore)
Jane De Suza is an award-winning author, columnist and creative consultant. Her books combine humour with thought-provoking insights and are published worldwide. She is a management grad, has been Creative Director, film writer and columnist for leading publications in India. Currently, she lives in Singapore.
Photo by Sudhakara Jain
Oliver Phommavanh (Australia)
Oliver Phommavanh loves to make people laugh, whether it’s on the page writing humour for kids or on stage as a stand-up comedian. He also shares his passion for writing with kids, using his experience as a primary school teacher. Oliver has performed at various comedy and writers festivals around Australia and Asia. Oliver’s recent books include Brain Freeze, Don’t Follow Vee and Natural Born Loser, and he is best known for Thai-riffic!, Con-nerd and The Other Christy.
Moderator Jenny Faith Koh (Singapore)
Jenny Faith Koh is a writer and mental health advocate from Singapore. She writes stories to give voice to the overlooked and unheard. Her stories have appeared at the Singapore Writers Festival, The Lumiere Review, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of a mental health podcast, I Feel Fine Really.
Programme dates and times are subject to change.