It’s funny how different connections come up in life.

I’m getting to the end of REBECCA by Daphne Du Maurier and I came across an oblique reference to Singapore.

It’s when Colonel Julyan, the inspector in charge of the inquest into the death of Rebecca, is sitting down to lunch at Manderley.

The servants are in the room so they’re making chit chat and he talks about having been stationed in the far east and Singapore.

I’ve read the book before but that reference to Singapore always just went over my head. But now I’m going there, in May, and it sticks out at me like a beacon.

People always assume that America is the home of all things literature. It’s refreshing to note the kind of work that goes on elsewhere in the world.

Here’s a conference, attended by some luminaries, celebrating children’s literature and they felt so determined to have me there, they even decided to pay my way.

It reminds me of the Universal Forum of Cultures I attended in Monterrey. There too, the people were celebrating diversity and cultural events from Japan and all over the world.

It seems that the developing countries are indeed taking children’s literature seriously.

Sometimes I wish that my publishers would pay more attention to these emerging markets.

They represent people who have been disenfranchized for a very long time.

This conference in Singapore doesn’t only deal with literature, but with all sorts of children’s media including comic books and animation.

I feel like I’ve come so far from the days I used to only dream about being an international children’s author.

I’ve been writing for more than twenty years now. I’ve been all over Canada (except for Nunavut) and all over the U.S. I’ve been to Mexico and South Africa, I’ve presented a plenary speech in Denmark that dealt with the Danish cartoon incident and now I’ll be featured in Singapore.

I feel lucky and grateful that my dreams, even as I write this, are coming true.

And I haven’t had to sacrifice my faith or my principles for it to happen.