Moderators

Charlene Shepherdson is a Singaporean poet and community organiser focused on language in written, performative and visual forms. She is interested in heritage, technology and creative education. Her poems have been published in From Walden to Woodlands and UnFree Verse (Ethos Books), A Luxury We Cannot Afford, SingPoWriMo 2014: The Anthology (Math Paper Press) and the Straits Times.
(photo by Kai Elmer Sotto) 

Denise Tan started Closetful of Books after six years of working with children’s literature. With Closetful of Books, she shares her love for reading through specially-tailored workshops with authors and illustrators and super-duper fun book fairs in local and international schools. Denise also puts her studies in Mass Communications and English Literature to good use by spending all her time reading.

Emily Lim-Leh has written over 30 children’s picture books, with her bestselling Toy Series published in 4 languages in 5 countries. She is the first outside North America to win three IPPY medals and the first in Southeast Asia to receive the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Emily was named Mediacorp’s Singapore Woman Award 2013 Honoree for inspiring readers through her writing.

Galen Yeo is the CEO and Creative Director of The Moving Visuals Co. His diverse credits include award-winning factual and entertainment content for leading Asian and International broadcasters including Discovery, History Channel, National Geographic, NHK, Disney and Mediacorp.

EdTech has been an area close to Gerald’s heart for the past 18 years. He is currently the Managing Director and Co-founder of SnapLearn, a platform bringing learning and reading to life using Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) technologies. He was formerly the Head of Content & Services (Reading & Learning) at Samsung Asia and Regional Director (Education Platforms & Services) at Pearson APAC.

Julia Wheeler is an experienced journalist and interviewer, having worked with the BBC for more than 15 years as it's Gulf Correspondent. She has moderated large-scale conferences and chaired inter-governmental forums, including Stanfords Travel Writers Festival, the Stratford Literary Festival and the British Library. She has also hosted online conversations, webinars and panel discussions for UK and international organisations and audiences.

Julia wrote the award-winning book Telling Tales: An Oral History of Dubai, and is an alumna of the Faber Academy. She also writes fiction and poetry.

Katie Day is an international school teacher-librarian. An American with a masters in children’s literature from the UK and a masters in library science from Australia, she has lived in Asia since 1997, including 12 years in Singapore, first at United World College of Southeast Asia and now at Tanglin Trust School.  

Kim Beeman is Head of the Senior Library at Tanglin Trust School in Singapore. She has previously worked as a teacher-librarian at independent schools in Bangkok and New York City, and was a cookbook librarian in New York City for many years. 

Lim Cheng Tju writes about history and popular culture. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Popular Culture and the International Journal of Comic Art. He co-authored The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya: Tangled Strands of Modernity (Amsterdam University Press /  NUS Press, 2012).

Loh Chin Ee is Associate Professor and Deputy Head (Research) at the English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. She is the co-editor of Little Things, Poetry Moves and co-author of Teaching Poetry to Adolescents: A Teachers' Guide to Little Things by Ethos Books. She is also the co-editor of Literature Education in the Asia-Pacific: Polices, Practices and Perspectives in Global Times (Routledge, 2018).

Low Joo Hong has a degree in fine art, a MA in Children’s Book Illustration, and is currently doing a PhD in Art. Joo Hong is a finalist of the 2016 Best Children’s Title in the Singapore Book Award and the first runner-up for the 2019 Scholastic Picturebook Award.