So this HuffPost writing is now sort of a weekly thing.  My second post for them went up last week, featured in HuffPost Women, and you can read it here:  ‘On the Anniversary of Your Rape.’

In the coming weeks, I hope to use this platform to explore issues surrounding sexual assault, and how it’s handled in our society through policy, contemporary attitudes, and representations in the media.  Please do Tweet or share this around, if it’s an issue that’s important to you.  My writer page for The Huffington Post is here and you can also follow me on my newly-revived Twitter account: @winniemli  – Thanks!

Hey, that’s cool.  The Huffington Post featured my article on their “front page” today!

The title is: “Dear Harvard: Your’e Not Winning (This Article Is About Rape, Not Basketball” and it’s effectively a response to “Dear Harvard: You Win” — the shocking op-ed written by an anonymous Harvard undergraduate student earlier this week.  In the earlier op-ed, the student blasts Harvard for their mis-handling of her sexual assault case.  In my response, I reflect on this from my perspective as a Harvard alum and a rape survivor.  Many thanks to those you who have already shared it round – please continue to do so.  I’m hoping that if enough people speak up, we can advocate a change in the policy towards sexual assault at Harvard and other colleges.  At the moment, it’s simply too easy for date rape cases to go ignored and un-pursued at educational institutions.  And the consequences for victims can be devastating.

Hi everyone

Just an update on where I am and what I’m doing.  After my book launch in Singapore in August 2012, I actually moved to Singapore for a short 6-month stint this year.  This involved wrapping up my work with the Doha Film Institute (where ultimately I had overseen 300+ screenings of 200+ art-house/foreign films and was very tired) — and leaving Qatar.

In Singapore, I worked as a Project Consultant for Temasek Holdings, on a future nature-themed tourist attraction.  Fascinating work, and thematically right up my alley, but ultimately I missed the time to write my own stuff.

Hence my second move this year, back to London, where I’m currently blazing ahead on a new novel and learning loads about literature and writing practice, through the Creative Writing MA at Goldsmiths, University of London.  After years of boardroom meetings, Blackberry messages, and delayed bureaucratic approvals, I have to say being a student and having the time to be creative on my own terms is a breath of fresh air.  I highly recommend it, if you’re the creative type!

I still do freelance work, so if anyone’s in need of a film programming consultant, copy writer, script editor, or general creative conceptualizer (whatever that means) …. give me a shout!

Next up, I’m working on becoming a philosopher-king (whatever that means).  Or maybe a warrior-poet.  (They won the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.  Don’t mess.)

For those of you who don’t live in Singapore (which is probably most of you) and would like to get a hold of the book I’ve recently been published in, the answer is yes, you actually can buy it on Amazon.

The link is here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/9810728182/

I understand if you just do a search for “Sushi and Tapas” on Amazon, you just get a bunch of nice recipe books, which might be awesome books in themselves with some really great recipes, but possibly not what you’re looking for.

And yes, I know it also says “Temporarily Out of Stock” on Amazon, too, but THIS IS NOT REALLY TRUE!  Amazon actually do have it in stock, they’re just (for some reason) waiting for enough orders to be placed for the book before indicating it’s in stock.  So get ordering!

Have I mentioned the authors have pledged all their royalties to charity?  Proceeds from the first, self-published edition went to Women for Women International, which helps women in war-torn countries rebuild their lives.  For the new edition of the book, recent proceeds have been pledged to a Singapore-based charity called Beautiful People, a volunteer initiative which aims to inspire, educate, and empower teenage girls and young women.  More about this charity in my next blog post…

I’m back in Doha, having had an amazing time in Singapore for the book launch of Sushi and Tapas: Bite-Size Personal Stories from Women Around the World. (Prior to that, I went to Sumatra on my own for five days of jungle-trekking, white-water rafting, and climbing volcanoes.  A bit too intense, but I survived.)

The launch took place at The Arts House (a venue in Singapore with a great program of literature, film, and music)  and we had a capacity crowd, mainly women, both ex-pat and local, with a range of ages.  There was an enthusiastic response overall, I met some wonderful people, and I had to sign about 60 or books or something… yikes.  Ooh, Singaporean Ambassador-at-Large Professor Chan Heng Chee graced our event with her insightful introduction.

Here are some photos from the evening:

Me with contributing authors Jing Huang, Zipho Sikhakhane, and our fearless editor Neo Gim Huay on the right

I should be smiling. Probably Book #44 that I had to sign…

Stay tuned for interviews with me in The Business Times and Cosmopolitan magazine in Singapore.  (Yes, opposite ends of the media spectrum, but hey, I got mass appeal…)

I’ve been perfecting the dual-moded  vacation – half of it rugged outdoors stuff, the other half cultured urban stuff.  The only problem is you then have to bring two wardrobes – and often in my last-minute packing, I end up neglecting one of those two.  So, the night before the book launch, with my legs still in pain from a tough descent down a 8,000-ft volcano (Gunung Sinabung on Sumatra), I realized I’d packed mainly trekking clothes.  i.e. Nothing Really Suitable for an Interview with Cosmo.   Cut to the next afternoon, when I found myself running around the malls on Orchard Road, Singapore, trying to find a suitable dress mere hours before the book launch.   “Just find me a Zara, and I’ll figure something out!” I said.

Anyway, yes, Zara saved the day with a classy dark green dress, and I got a compliment from the Features Editor of Cosmo.  That’s gotta count for something, right?

A big shout-out to everyone at Epigram Books for their brilliant launch of Sushi and Tapas  – in particular, Edmund Wee, Felicity Low, and Michelle Chua.  They’re a great local publisher with a strong emphasis on Singaporean culture and literature.   If you’re in Singapore, I spotted a nice stack of our books at the front of Kinokuniya Books at the Takashimaya Mall on Orchard Road.  (There’s a Zara one floor below if anyone’s in need of a last-minute dress.)

Hello from Singapore!  Recently landed, hungry and underslept from the red-eye, but today my guest blog post went up on the Epigram Books website, in anticipation of next week’s book launch.  You can read my guest blog post here

And here is some info on next week’s launch event.  I think if you happen to be in Singapore, all you have to do is RSVP by next Tuesday to attend.  Myself and two of the other writers will be in conversation with Chan Heng Chee, former Singaporean Ambassador to the United States.  (Not too shabby, eh?)

I’ve finally dragged myself to wade through the morass of web host/ domain name/ WordPress Dashboard confusion and split up my two sites.  So THIS is my author site.

And if you’re still interested in reading my blog written by a certain persona, click on the relevant page on this website.  (No, I haven’t updated it yet.  Yes, I will do that soon.)

The new author site has been largely prompted by the new edition of a book I’ve contributed to, and its launch event in Singapore on August 31st.  (For more info, click on the “Books” page on this NEW AUTHOR SITE.  Woo-hoo!  New author site!!)