In a bracing talk, award-winning novelist Tash Aw will attempt to interrogate the origins of where we come from in Southeast Asia, so that we can understand where we are heading. The talk is organised in conjunction with the launch of his latest book Strangers on a Pier, a collection of personal essays about his family history of migration and his experiences as a Malaysian Chinese living in the West and Asia.

Co-presented by The Select Centre and National Gallery Singapore, the talk is held on 31 March, 7.30pm at the National Gallery Singapore.

Tash Aw will explore in his talk the panoramic cultural vitality of Southeast Asia through his own complicated family story of migration and adaptation. From a taxi ride in present-day Bangkok, to eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1980s Kuala Lumpur, to his grandfathers’ treacherous boat journeys from mainland China in the 1920s, Aw weaves together stories of insiders and outsiders, images from rural villages to megacity nightclubs, and voices in a dizzying variety of languages, dialects, and slangs.

Venue: National Gallery Singapore, Auditorium, City Hall Wing, Basement 1, Singapore 178957

Admission: Free by registration, http://peatix.com/event/153664

When: 31 Mar 2016, 7.30pm

By: National Gallery Singapore