Singapore Writers' Festival 2015 - Writer Romain Puertolas at Words Go Round

Pic by Eric Clement

The Singapore Writers' Festival (SWF) held a schools' programmed called Words Go Round (WGR) recently, with various invited locally-based and overseas writers that include Catherine Lim, Dave Chua, Drewscape, Matt Dickinson, Ken Spillman and Romain Puértolas.

Red Dot Diva has to admit that she had not heard of French writer Romain Puértolas until one morning during Words Go Round, just before she headed to work. In mid-sip of her morning caffeine requirements, Red Dot Diva's Mom had poked excitedly at a page from The Straits Times' Life! section. "See! This author is very handsome!" she declared. It was a feature on Romain Puértolas, accompanied by an eye-catching photo of the man. Romain's dramedy book entitled "The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe" has been making waves around the world.

Now, Red Dot Diva's Mom always had fantastic taste, and Romain Puértolas turned out to be very .... oooh lala ... indeed. That first visual encounter on print spurred Red Dot Diva's curiosity, and she is glad to say that she has met the very interesting man in person while he was here for Words Go Round.

Still, her "Romain" experience cannot beat the one relished by her geeky friend Jas - who was the writer's local "bodyguard" while he and his family were making their rounds during the festival.

Here is Jas' brief pictorial rundown of her couple of days being Romain Puértolas' liaison officer: