The power of stories

Ms Claire Chiang, Chairman of AFCC Board of Advisors

Ms Vijay Thakur Singh, High Commissioner of India (Singapore)

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

1. I'm very happy to join you this evening at AFCC Opening Ceremony and Award Presentation. India is the country of focus for the AFCC this year, so let me start by welcoming our distinguished delegation from India, and all guests for taking the time to join us at this evening's celebration and event.

2. As the High Commissioner said, 2015 will be a special year for both our countries. It is the 50th anniversary of Singapore's independence – our Golden Jubilee, and it is also the 50th anniversary of the bilateral relations between Singapore and India. This is a double celebration for our countries. In many ways, this is also a curtain raiser for the celebrations that we are preparing for next year.

3. Like Claire, and many of you present, I love books. As a child, I will go to the Marine Parade Library every weekend and borrow many books, read them, and head back for another batch of books the following weekend. Books have truly been my companion.

4. My favourite genre as a young boy was science fiction. So I read all the C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein books, including Lord of the Rings. I had not imagined then that they would make it into a blockbuster movie, which they did. If you have watched the movie, as I did, I'm sure you would agree that they were very well done. But I believe that the book is better than the movie. No digital effect in the world can replace the power of the written word, and no visual can replace the imagination of the human mind – and that is what stories and books do for us.

Stories are powerful

5. Stories are powerful because they transport us to new worlds, and they take us on exciting adventures. One of my favourite authors, Stephen King, said in his memoir that "reading is the only proven method of time travel" and I think he is right. I know of no other way where we can travel new worlds, and imagine beyond our existing physical environment.

6. Reading empowers our children; it expands their horizon and imagination. For many of us, particularly in Singapore, many parents are concerned about the education of their children – and I believe this is the case in Indian as well. This week, we held parliamentary debates on the President's Address for the opening of Parliament and education was a recurring theme. The Members of Parliament reflected the concerns of the parents who worry about the stress level, tuition and whether their children are getting sufficient education.

7. As the saying goes, "reading is the only way you can get smart for free". I think we should encourage one another and parents in Singapore and India, to get our children hooked on reading as much as possible. With a habit of reading nurtured from young, it will give them the tools to continue learning for life.

8. We will always need stories and we will always need books, whether in the form of a glossy hardcover novel or an ebook on a Kindle. The demand will always be present. In the same way, it will also need writers and visual artists to create stories, and captivate and delight children. Hence I would like to applaud the AFCC for their work in encouraging the creation of more stories, the creation of more Asian content, and a culture of reading and writing among children.

The Samsung KidsTime Authors' Award

9. Tonight, we will be awarding the Scholastic Asian Book Award. I would also like to mention another award, the Samsung KidsTime Authors' Award. It is a brand-new initiative by the Book Council and Samsung. The award will be for stories in Singapore and ASEAN, to develop these stories into mobile content for the Samsung KidsTime platform. The award will draw upon a USD$200,000 fund for prizes, and app development, with the content creators each standing a chance to win a $2,000 cash prize. We want to thank Samsun for this partnership, and we hope to see more corporate partners come forward, like Samsung, to support our Singaporean and Asian authors as they create more stories and expand their audiences.

Looking to the future

10. Certainly, with more support from the community and corporations, we hope to see the AFCC organisers establishing even more platforms for content providers and connecting them with even more readers.

11. There is a lot of opportunity for this work as there is a lot of Asian content around us. There is scope to bring these stories to wider audiences and many opportunities to explore collaborative projects in the area of publishing, transmedia and even in the area of translation where there is a huge demand.

12. I also hope that with the support of the community and corporations, more people will see the value of literature, especially young parents and their children. We will continue to support the AFCC and the Book Council, and together we can promote a culture of reading from young, and make Singapore a nation of readers.

13. Thank you very much.