Mist-bound is sweeping all children and youth book awards across Singapore
Singapore, 23 September 2022: Penguin Random House SEA (PRH SEA), one of the leading publishing houses in the region, is excited to announce that its publication Mist-bound: How to Glue Back Grandpa by Daryl Kho has been adjudged as the winner of the Singapore Book Awards 2022 in the Young Persons Title Category. The award was presented at an event hosted on Thursday, September 22, by the Singapore Book Publishers Association. Mist-bound was also a finalist for the Book of the Year award and even made it to the Top Ten Reader’s Choice books after an open public vote.
With his dad’s illness and dementia, his mother’s otherworldly love, superhuman strength, and unswerving devotion to her husband, and the guilt and an immense regret that Alexis, his only child and her Grandpa never got to truly “meet” each other before the mists moved into his mind, Daryl’s long-buried itch to put pen to paper and his debut “family novel”, Mist-Bound: How to Glue Back Grandpa, was born. The story was also a chance for Alexis to have an adventure with her Grandma, since they live in different countries and rarely see each other.
Sadly, Daryl’s father’s condition continued to decline. He passed away before the book could be completed and read to him. Subsequently, Daryl nearly abandoned the project, but finally decided to see it through. For Daryl, each time that a child reads the story is a chance for Grandpa to be “saved”, over and over, and over again.
Mist-bound was also awarded the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2022 by the Singapore Book Council earlier this year.
Talking about this big win, Daryl, says, ‘It wasn’t that long ago that I truly feared never being able to finish writing this story, let alone hope of getting it published. Today, to not only be able to hold my book in my hands, but on top of that have it win awards, and best of all touch readers young and old… Wow. My mind is still blown, and I will never ever take this for granted.’
Nora Nazarene Abu Bakar, Publisher, Penguin Random House SEA, says, ‘As a young publishing house in the region, this is an important recognition of our work. This is the third time in a row that a book from Penguin Random House SEA has been applauded by Singapore Book Awards. I see Mist-bound’s win as a nod to the book being a catalyst for critical conversations with children about dementia, through Daryl’s wonderful storytelling and we are looking forward to what he has next.’
In addition to Mist-bound’s win, other books that made into the finals from Penguin Random House SEA included The Arches of Gerard Street by Grace Chia in the Best Literary Fiction category, Engaging Millenials by Vivek Iyyani in the Best Professional title category, and Beyond Storms and Stars: A Memoir by Noeleen Heyzer in the Best Non-fiction title category.
All books mentioned here are currently available for purchase from bookstores and online retail stores.
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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.
