islandhippy

'In the Footsteps of Raffles’ with Nigel Barley
Tuesday, 29 June, 7.00 - 8.30 pm
Possibility Room, Level 5, National Library Building

Want to find out more about Sir Stamford Raffles in the most humourous and insightful way? Or how to write historical fiction?

Nigel Barley is the author of twenty books, academic and popular, in genres as diverse as travel writing, fiction, biography and art history. In the Footsteps of Raffles and Rouge Raider are two of his books which have been written against the backdrop of Singapore and her history. In this session, Nigel will discuss some of the particular difficulties and satisfactions that lie behind various works, concentrating on those involving the history of Singapore and SE Asia. He will also tease out certain themes that have emerged increasingly over the years such as his motivation as a writer, his personal relationship to his subjects and the tension between randomness and structure.

Places are limited, so please register here as soon as possible.

This programme is in collaboration with the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) and Monsoon Books Pte Ltd.

About the Author
Originally trained as an anthropologist, Nigel worked in West Africa, spending time with the Dowayo people of North Cameroon and from here, his first book which is a witty and informative account of anthropological filed work among the Dowayo people, 'The Innocent Anthropologist' was produced. He survived to move to the Ethnography Department of the British Museum and it was in this connection that he first traveled to Southeast Asia. After forays into Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Burma, Barley settled on Indonesia as his principal research interest and has worked on both the history and contemporary culture of that area. After escaping from the museum, he is now a writer and broadcaster and divides his time between London and Indonesia.