Best things about this year's Singapore Writers Festival

1. Pico Iyer. 'Nuff said.

2. Savouring a little Lagavulin single malt, courtesy of @alfpang.

3. Actually, a whole bunch of new-to-me liqueurs and wines, thanks to @alfpang. You had to be there.

4. Running into people in the Festival Pavilion and just outside --- friends, writers, readers, all. I've been rather social life-less lately, so the Festival turned out to be a good way to catch up lots of people in one place. Also a good way to catch up on the panels and sessions I didn't attend.

5. Pura the Cat, a children's book by my extremely talented and inspiring old friend Tan Soon Meng. As I said on Twitter: cute street cats, Singapore setting --- what's not to like?

6. Hearing unassuming writers like Boey Kim Cheng talk about the process of writing and making meaning, and how it's mostly, at the heart of it, about "words on a page". YES.

Here's a more detailed overview in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (link via @alfpang): "Politics and business, sex and violence, wrestling and the Pulitzers–all of this and more at the Singapore Writers Festival".