Dear Nyonyas and Babas,
In this month’s video, I am joined by Baba Peter Lee, curator and scholar, and Nyonya Ngiam May Ling, TPAS Legal Advisor and organiser of the Baba Nyonya Literary Festival.
Baba Peter talks about a batik exhibition he is curating for The Peranakan Museum, targeted to open in October 2024. The exhibition will be mainly based on over 100 batiks donated by three sisters from the Hendromartono family in Pekalongan, Indonesia. Their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were all batik makers, each with her own special and distinctive style. Baba Peter also shares that he has just finished writing a chapter on Southeast Asia fashion for a world fashion encyclopedia. This leads us to an interesting discussion on the ‘rojak-ness’ of the Peranakan culture.
Nyonya May Ling is thrilled to announce that the third edition of the Baba Nyonya Literary Festival will be held on 27 and 28 July 2024 at the Pod in the National Library Building on Victoria Street. Stalwarts of the festival, namely Josephine Chia, Walter Woon, Shawn Seah and Christopher Tan will be back. New faces include Tan Siok Sun who will discuss her book about her father-in-law Dr Goh Keng Swee, Gilbert Cheah who will discuss the book about his ancestor Chew Boon Lay, Jon Lim who will discuss Peranakan architecture and Arthur Lim who will discuss his book “Tok Panjang”. We are also looking forward to welcoming overseas writers from Malaysia and the US.
Do look out for our announcements on ticket sales to the Baba Nyonya Literary Festival in early June.
We wish all of you a Happy Lunar New Year – !! We hope you enjoy watching our video clips as much as we enjoy putting them together.
Warm wishes,
Nyonya Genevieve Peggy Jeffs
President, 2022 – 2024
The Peranakan Association Singapore
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