📚Kyla’s Musings: At the World Chess Championship to present my book!!

I’m hosting my first-ever book event in Singapore :’)

Hi friends!!

The year that my chess novel comes out, the World Chess Championship is held in my home country of Singapore. Literally could have never predicted this wonderful coincidence. And even better: the World Chess Championship (WCC) invited me back home to present May the Best Player Win!

First-ever book event in Singapore!!

Which means I’m hosting my first-ever public book event in Singapore this Sunday!!

I’ll be discussing the personal inspirations behind May the Best Player Win, the four years that went into creating this book, and why it’s so important to talk openly about the pressure to succeed (which I think many Singaporeans would have struggled with at some point). SG readers – I’d love to see you there! <3 You just need to RSVP at this link to get your free event ticket.

Doing school visits

This week, my days are packed with school talks and book signings. Honestly, writing for kids is so rewarding in a different way from writing for adults. Kids are brutally honest, so when they tell you they like your book, they really mean it. And they respond so enthusiastically! On Monday when I spoke to 500 kids, they were all clamoring to ask questions and I just felt bad that we couldn’t get to all of them. The most heartwarming part is when they come up to me afterwards and tell me that I inspired them to read/write more. :’)

We sold out of books pretty early on, so students were asking me to sign their shirts, arms (!), laptop cases (!!), and all sorts of non-paper objects. And then two kids ran up and gave me this note - my heart MELTED.

World Championship opening ceremony… selfies with world champions

I also had the incredible opportunity to attend the World Championship opening ceremony. To see players whom I’ve looked up to for over a decade just casually milling around… it was nuts.

My copy of May the Best Player Win was signed by former world champions as well as by Grandmaster Gukesh. Gukesh is, of course, one of the two players competing for the title… at the grand old age of 18… :’) Well, if he wins, I might be the first person to get any book signed by the newest world champion.😉

And I managed to get a selfie with 5-time world champion, Vishy Anand, who is almost single-handedly responsible for the massive chess boom in India.

This is a shorter newsletter than usual because life’s extra hectic. But it’s a good kind of busy! And I’m very grateful that I get the opportunity to share my book with so many people at home.

Also, go watch Wicked. It’s ridiculously good. Ariana Grande defied all my expectations (while Cynthia Eviro defied gravity!).

Take care, friends,

Kyla :)