Brunch With Lang Leav

As we approach the end of 2013, I did a quick review of the hectic year that has sailed past. One of the interesting things that I did this year was to have brunch with a writer.

The writer, Lang Leav, was in Singapore to promote her new book titled ‘Love & Misadventure’,  and the promotion events included having brunch with readers selected by Penguin Books (or Kinokuniya, I am not sure) and several book signing sessions at various Kinokuniya bookstores. A good friend of mine was selected to have brunch with Lang Leav. As she was allowed to bring a friend along, she invited me to come along.

Before this, I had never heard of Lang Leav but I thought it would be quite fun to tag along for the experience. On that morning, I scrambled to look for a copy of Lang Leav’s new book in iTunes. I bought the digital copy, downloaded it onto my iPad but didn’t have the time to read it carefully. My brief impression of the book was that it was a collection of poems, with lovely illustrations drawn by the writer.

Brunch was at Salt Grill & Sky Bar in ION Orchard.  The restaurant, offers gorgeous views of the city, was not crowded that morning and we had almost the entire place to ourselves.  Besides my friend and I, there were four other persons, including a couple from Penguin Books.  It was a good thing that Lang Leav didn’t ask me questions about her book, it would have been rather awkward having to confess that I had not read it.  She seemed rather nervous about the book signing sessions that day, and having to start the day having brunch with strangers didn’t seem to help settle her down.

We chatted a little about our respective countries (she was born in Thailand, moved to Australia when she was a child and now lives in Auckland), her travel schedule and what inspired her to write and sketch. By the end of brunch, she became more relaxed and took photographs with us, as well as autographed copies of her book for us.  She is a lovely lady.

I read her collection of poems  in Love & Misadventure when I reached home that day. I have never been a reader of poetry because I don’t get most of it. Poetry has always been something quite abstract to me.  I am bit dim in that area.  Maybe it is supposed to be that way but I find it difficult to appreciate something that I cannot grasp. I found reading Lang Leav’s work to be quite a different experience for me.  I understood her poems, mostly about love and relationships, and the sentiments that she was trying to put across.  I thought the poems were beautifully written, simple yet poignant.   Some of my favorite pieces are here:

Xs AND Os

Love is a game
of tic-tac-toe,
constantly waiting,
for the next x or o.

A DEDICATION

She lends her pen,
to thoughts of him,
that flow from it,
in her solitary.

For she is his poet,
and he is her poetry.

CLOSURE

Like time suspended,
a wound unmended –
you and I.

We had no ending,
no said good-bye.

For all my life,
I’ll wonder why.

And that’s us with Lang Leav! 🙂