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Month: September 2024

New Books releasing in October 2024 🍁

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It’s the perfect time to fall in love with books all over again, as October ushers in a season of cozy evenings and colourful leaves. From fascinating non-fiction books to a very unique fictional story – you will be inspired, motivated and moved all at once when you look at this list. So grab your pumpkin spice latte and settle in—October’s literary harvest is here to delight.

                                                                                              🍁🍁🍁

 

How We Came To Be||

Written by Andrea Dee, How We Came To Be is a very different story about relationships. It follows two people in college who accidentally meet again after being sort-of-strangers in high school and fall into an unlikely yet shockingly easy friendship. The story explores themes of aromantic-asexuality and takes you on a journey of their bond.  

Rewrite The Rules||

Written by Ritu G Mehrish and Rajita Saxena, Rewrite the Rules is a book that empowers Asian women leaders to challenge the status quo and redefine success on their own terms. It is a call to action that invites you to embrace your power, break free from limiting beliefs, and forge your own path to success. The book also features diverse experiences of over 200 women leaders across Asia, and focuses on the five core areas essential for thriving as a female leader. 

The Female Digital Revolution||

Written by Nimisha Tailor, The Female Digital Revolution provides a unique insight into the changing role of women in the digital economy which is growing at an unprecedented rate. Through a collection of powerful real-life stories and research, the book brings to life current and future digital changes that are reshaping the role of women. 

The Balikbayan Artist||

Written by Eileen R. Tabios, The Balikbayan Artist is inspired by and dedicated to Venancio C. Igarta (1912–2000), the real-life leading artist of the Manong Generation. It will take readers from the early twentieth century to the present day when Vance Igorta’s art is being discovered anew. This is the captivating story of Vance, a farm-laborer-turned-artist who returned to the Philippines as a balikbayan after nearly fifty years in the United States. 

Fearless||

Written by Sylvia Yu Friedman as a memoir, Fearless is an anthology of experiences drawn from philanthropy, journalism, and cross-cultural workplaces which offers a wellspring of hope and insights on identity, overcoming heartbreak and toxic environments, finding love, and conquering self-doubt. It’s Sylvia’s letter to her younger self, a rallying call to laugh unabashedly and harness the power of love.     

🍁🍁🍁

 

Did you instantly connect to these stories? Stay tuned on our Instagram page to know when they come out. Happy fall reading!  

 

 

 

Read an exclusive excerpt from The Siege Within

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The Siege Within is the untold story behind the political crime that continues to make world headlines, and why a nation so full of promise has been brought to its knees. Read an exclusive excerpt from the book below. 

*** 

Two elements are critical in a bond swindle.  

The first is securing the right coupon and the YTM rate.  

In mid-April 2009, Jonathan Manifold, the head of risk management at AmBank, emailed the bank’s top management overseeing the planned TIA scheme to say he estimated the fair market YTM for the TIA bond issues at 4.72 per cent, based on the 4.72 per cent yield US Treasuries were fetching at the time, and by assigning a so-called 25 basis points spread. This would have roughly been the rate for any typical bond issue guaranteed by the Malaysian government.  

But the TIA bond was a lot more. It was an elaborate exercise in fraud to siphon money and to use it to create a political slush fund for Najib. The rate Manifold had recommended would have been devastating for Project Tiara.  

This was a huge problem. A higher coupon would be crucially beneficial for the plan to succeed. Never mind that the Malaysian taxpayer would have to pay a high annual rate of interest for the thirty-year bond. The overriding objective was to create conditions that would provide all the latitude for the schemers to structure the deal in ways that would allow them to squeeze money up front.  

Manifold’s all-important email on the recommended rate for the TIA bonds quickly disappeared into the ether. AmBank’s Teng and Chan began arguing that the TIA bond proposal was far from being a typical government-backed bond issue.  

Further, Teng and Chan had personally lined up four foreign parties that had expressed a keen interest in underwriting the bonds. The only notable name in the list was the BNP Paribas chapter based out of Singapore. The other three were:  

  • Thailand-based Adkinson Securities, a listed financial outfit that was later renamed Country Group Securities, and which was controlled by the Taechaubol family; 
  • Little known Shikumen Capital Management Ltd, which was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and had operations in Hong Kong; and 
  • Aktis Capital Singapore, a financial advisory and fund management outfit headed by banker Cheah Teik Seng, who worked in the Malaysian Finance Ministry and was known to be close to Nor Mohamed. 

Now, the second element for the swindle would kick in— the mode of issue for the bonds. Depending on the nature of the bonds issues and arrangers, financial advisors would suggest one of three routes—a Private Placement, a Book Building exercise, or a Bought Deal. A Private Placement by a little-known company known as TIA was likely to face some hurdles. The most obvious track would be Book Building, simply because the bonds would be in keen demand to investors as the papers carried a government guarantee. All AmBank had to do was to underwrite the amount that investors would not have taken up. But there was no money to be made in these two approaches. Low and his team of schemers then decided to cherry-pick elements from all three modes of issue to create a financial structure that would enable them to extract as much as possible from the bond issue upfront.  

Project Tiara would apply a Bought Deal, which is usually utilized for cases involving high-yield papers, where the issuer’s credit standing is weak and a higher coupon is required to attract investors. 

***

This is Malaysian journalist Leslie Lopez’s first book, and it delves into the writer’s own archives of previously unpublished material to go back in time and show exactly how it was possible for a Malaysian prime minister to envisage his treacherous crime, and then to execute the dastardly deed. Get your copy now.

Read an exclusive excerpt from The Global Citizen

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The Global Citizen by international investor and philanthropist Patrick Tsang is a timely and relevant exploration of the cultural nuances that define the increasingly interconnected business world of the 21st century. Read an excerpt from the book below.  

*** 

While learning from notable successes is helpful, and gleaning their advice from their interviews, books, podcasts, and so on can certainly help you, it is a one-way relationship that will never be as helpful as a real-life mentor. Finding good mentors is vital. Remember, learning and education are two very different things.  

You need someone who knows you, cares about you, can give you constructive criticism, help you through your problems step by step, and most importantly, inspire and help you grow. You need to learn from someone who has been where you are now. I was lucky—my best mentors lived with me and were around me all the time, sharing their wisdom both directly and indirectly every moment of every day.  

If you are not so lucky to be born into a family of inspiration, you can find influential mentors in your workplace or elsewhere. The best mentors are people who are where you want to be. If you are looking for a mentor at work, try searching for people at a level (or several levels) above you in the company. Ask yourself why you admire these people—is it their speed, their knowledge, their competence, the way they can gain the attention of a room?—and then ask them personally how they built up these skills independently. 

Then, use their advice where possible and applicable. Do not let the hard work discourage you; apply their advice to grow, and soon you will find yourself at their level (perhaps even surpassing them).  

The best mentors are successful in their careers because their time is used well, so be sure to make yourself worth their time. Consider buying them lunch or a drink and exchange ideas. Their mentorship is valuable, so make sure it is clear to them that you understand and respect its value. At the very least, thank them genuinely for their time. 

*** 

Structured into three parts – Integrity, Empathy, and Self-Improvement– The Global Citizen delves into topics such as mentorship, resilience, personal values, and the balance between Eastern and Western cultures. Get your copy today.  

 

Read an exclusive excerpt from Worship the Body

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Told from different but interlocking points of view, Worship the Body is a story that becomes a song complete with recurring refrains and a coda, intimating that there are silences to the body that are essential to our understanding of happiness. Read an excerpt below.  

*** 

Indeed, in restaurants like this, Jaime had never seen a table for one. Places like this never allow any accidents to happen. All the movements of the employees are measured. From the guard who would open the door for him, to the head waiter who would direct him to his table, to the waiter who would attend to him. And so, it took a while for the accident to happen. He gave his order after taking his time perusing the menu, even though he had already decided he would only have a drink. He thought slowly, with the menu before him, as though he was waiting for he knew not what. Finally, the beer arrived and it was set in front of him. That was when he thought he needed a glass. He wouldn’t drink the beer right out of the bottle. He wanted a ritual that evening. 

He wasn’t looking to get drunk. He couldn’t get wasted because he was going to drive home. So, he asked for a glass. There was a ritual to the pouring of beer into the glass. Not like just quaffing it from the bottle. 

That was when the accident happened. No glass shattered. No one slipped on the floor. No one threw up. No one choked. His eyes and the waiter’s met. Just like that. In that orderly restaurant that didn’t allow accidents, Jun’s and Jamie’s eyes met when Jun set before him the glass with ice in it because Jamie wanted a ritual that evening. He didn’t expect that someone would join him in his ritual in that restaurant that had no table for one. That was when Jaime understood that around him, it had become rare for people to look each other in the eye. 

*** 

Hidden within a network of intimate relationships, Jaime, Jun, Ria, and Maya try to forge an extraordinary family in urban Manila, as they discover that secrets also have their own joys. Get a copy to read their stories.  

 

 

WE BRING HOME TWO SINGAPORE BOOK AWARDS 2024, THIS YEAR!!

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Leaders People Love by Yeo Chuen Chuen and The American Boyfriend by Ivy Ngeow win at the Singapore Book Awards 2024 

 

Singapore, 24th July 2024: Penguin Random House SEA (PRH SEA), one of the leading publishing houses in the region, is excited to announce that its publications Leaders People Love by Yeo Chuen Chuen and The American Boyfriend by Ivy Ngeow won at the Singapore Book Awards 2024. Leaders People Love won Best Professional Title and The American Boyfriend won Best Marketing Campaign.  

 

Leaders People Love features a host of accessible leadership lessons. Undergirded by a contemporary and relevant mindset, these strategies consistently yield excellent results and prove a point: becoming an effective and well-loved leader is possible if you know how. 

 

The American Boyfriend is a page turning thriller about a forty-three-year-old single mother with a dead-end job in Southwark who goes to Florida to meet her long distance boyfriend. Everything that comes after makes her question her safety.  

 

Talking about her big win, Yeo says, ‘It takes partnerships to make any book a success. I’m grateful to the team at Penguin Random House SEA, and the distributors for their advice and support. Most importantly, I’m thankful to my readers and leaders who support my cause to elevate leaders at every level. This Asian woman is on her way to change the world, one workplace at a time!’  

 

Ivy shares her thoughts by saying, ‘All I wanted was for my book The American Boyfriend to find readers, and for them to find me. It seemed such a simple but unattainable aim: how would I as an individual reach a worldwide audience? And how would they know of me? Winning the Best Marketing Campaign in the Singapore Book Awards 2024 proved what we could, would and did achieve together as a team. The relentless efforts of Penguin’s publicity, PR, sales and marketing teams exceeded my expectations.  I am forever grateful for their unbelievable hard work round the clock, and most of all belief in me and my book. As such, this Award is so much bigger than us. Guys, we made magic happen.’  

 

Nora Nazarene Abu Bakar, Publisher, Penguin Random House SEA, is elated about the wins and says, ‘WE WON! WE WON! Singapore Book Awards awarded us Best Professional Title for Leaders People Love by Yeo Chuen Chuen and Best Marketing Campaign for The American Boyfriend by Ivy Ngeow. Although optimistic, I did not think we would walk away with anything, so did not prepare any speech. I accepted the first award all dignified but for the second, I just went crazy when the winner was announced. Last year we won Best Professional Title and this year we’ve won it again. So maybe next year we’ll just submit for Best Professional Title.’ ‘Thank you first and foremost to our amazing author who has written about agile and authentic leadership to bring out the best leader in us. As a woman leader, I’m incredibly proud of this book because [Yeo] is an authentic Asian female voice, whose work is also read by people in the west, both men and women. After all, we’re all about bringing voices from this region out to the world. Thank you to the team at PRH SEA and to SBPA. And thank you to our distributors Times Distribution and Alkem.’ 

‘I really really really really wanted to win [Best Marketing Campaign] because it is high time we recognise that what happens after a book is published is just as important as what happens before.’ 

‘I’m not taking anything away from editors-you will always do great work. But nowadays, marketing is 50% if not 60% of what makes a book. So l urge all publishers to invest as much as you can in marketing. This is a sweet win.’

 

About Penguin Random House SEA 

Penguin Random House SEA was established in 2018 to discover and publish local and international voices across English-language adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction formats for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, and Myanmar. As part of Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, the newly established company is also dedicated to its mission of nourishing a universal passion for reading by connecting authors and their writing with readers. Headquartered in Singapore, Penguin Random House SEA will bring the spotlight on local authors from the region and simultaneously open the Southeast Asian market to diverse international titles. In its first year of operations, the publishing house is bringing stories from across the region and publishing authors such as children’s writer Eva Wong from Singapore, Malaysian novelist Tunku Halim, award-winning author and journalist from the Philippines Criselda Yabes, Indonesian poet, essayist, and award-winning novelist and food writer Lakshmi Pamuntjak and author and journalist Akshita Nanda from Singapore, to name a few.