Business owner's passion for write stuff

From TheDailyTelegraph

IT'S not just journalists and novelists who get writers' block, who put the apostrophe in the wrong place or who fail to convey the message.

The same hurdles apply to business people who, as part of their job, have to write a report, reference, or speech.  It's only when they sit down to put the words together that they realise this can sometimes be a confronting task.

Founder of the Sydney Writers' Centre, Valerie Khoo, believes it was recognising this need that was partly responsible for her company being a finalist in the NSW Telstra Business Awards in the micro-business category, which is sponsored by The Daily Telegraph.

"It's not just people who want to write that we cater for, but also the people who need to write,'' Ms Khoo said.

"Unlike creative or life writing, some people need to improve their writing for work because it's an important part of their job, or it will improve their prospects.''

It was while she was an accountant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers that Ms Khoo realised her passion for letters was stronger than her skill with numbers, and combining the two was the first step to achieving success.

Getting there, however, relied a bit on serendipity. Before she quit accounting, she sought out as many writing courses as possible, hoping to hone her skills.

And so it turned out that the Sydney Writers' Centre grew into the sort of resource that she wished had been around at that time.

"One of the things we do differently and try to do well is to build a community, so that we're constantly able to provide a service and help.

"And it's not only face to face, but also online. This morning I got an email from a Norwegian who is working for a US company while living in Rome who has chosen to do our Australian course online.''

The writing community she is nurturing is not only confined to the Milsons Point offices.

Last year Ms Khoo initiated a memoir-writing course based in Paris, where students lived for 17 days in an apartment organised by the school, had lessons in the morning and spent the rest of the day wandering around the City of Lights.

"The people who went to Paris last year continue to meet regularly in the bookshop cafe that's near us.''

This year she is trialling a "writing the senses'' course in Bali and next year there is the prospect of a travel writing course in Tuscany.

"I have a passion to help people realise that they can do anything,'' Ms Khoo said.

"I really love people to achieve their dreams, to achieve what they thought they couldn't do.''

The winners of the NSW Telstra Business Awards will be announced on July 9.

What does it mean to be Australian? - Benjamin Law on Sunrise

or click here
-Thanks TK


You can read more about Ben's book here.

Rising Sun opening credits - DRAFT

OK, also found this gem on Kiwi's Spot. It's the draft version of a mini-series about Asian ANZACs in WW1.  I'm quite excited and can't wait for the final product.  Love the serenity by the way.... (Castle reference, anybody?)

The Benefits of Being Ethnic - Benjamin Law

For someone who grew up in a Chinese family, I spent an inordinate amount of my childhood wishing I were white. In my mind, being white would mean I'd finally have access to all the stuff Anglo kids took for granted, like roast dinners and matching crockery, as well as forearm hair and eyelids......

Read the rest at Benjamin-Law.com

Professor Stephen Chan Awarded OBE

From SOAS

Professor of International Relations Stephen Chan has been awarded an OBE for 'services to Africa and to higher education' in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours list, published on Saturday 12 June.

"I hope the award is of benefit to SOAS as it seeks to project itself as an increasingly important actor in the world of educated public opinion," said Professor Chan in reaction to the announcement. "It's not an award I sought but, after several glasses of champagne, I've decided I'm very happy with it."

Professor Chan is widely respected as a distinguished academic who has made a major contribution to the academic understanding of international politics in general and African politics in particular. He has also made a significant impact on political developments in Africa through his involvement in high-level diplomacy and actions and advice on the ground.

The firstborn son of Chinese refugees to New Zealand, Stephen Chan was a national student president, publisher, newspaper editor and international civil servant before he became an academic, first in Africa and later in Britain.

He began his academic career as a lecturer in International Relations at University of Zambia in 1983 then worked briefly as a visiting lecturer at the University of Wellington before moving on to academic posts at the University of Kent, then Nottingham Trent University, where he was Dean of Humanities. He joined SOAS in 2002 as Professor of International Relations and served as Dean of Law & Social Sciences for five years from 2002 to 2007.

"Stephen really deserves this honour," said SOAS Director and Principal Paul Webley. "As both an innovative scholar and a committed humanitarian, he epitomises the best of SOAS."

Professor Chan has published 27 books on international relations and more than 200 articles and reviews in the academic and specialist press, as well as over 100 journalistic feature articles. Particularly notable are his 2002 biography of Mugabe (Robert Mugabe: A Life of Power and Violence), his 1991 book on Zambian issues (Kaunda and Southern Africa: Image and Reality in Foreign Policy) and his 2006 volume of interviews with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (Citizen of Africa: Conversations with Morgan Tsvangirai). His most recent work is The End of Certainty: Towards a New Internationalism.

Earlier this year, he received the 2010 Eminent Scholar in Global Development award of the International Studies Association, a significant academic honour.

Professor Chan has had a long-term involvement with African causes. He participated in the reconstruction of Uganda after the fall of Idi Amin, and also advised and trained government ministries in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Kenya. He established a consortium that trained the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately before and after independence in 1993. He was also part of a consortium that trained the parliamentarians and ministers of post-Dergue Ethiopia from 1998-9. From 2006-7 he was a member of the Africa-China-US Trilateral Dialogue, an effort to establish a common set of principles to help govern the emerging trade wars involving the three continents.

For nearly 30 years, Professor Chan has also been involved in philanthropic work in Africa. In 2001 he established the Kwok Meil Wah Foundation, which assists young martial arts students in Africa. An expert in Karate, he teaches at numerous martial arts clubs in Zambia and Zimbabwe, the majority in deprived areas, during the evenings and weekends of his regular research visits. He also undertakes pro bono legal work on behalf of political refugees seeking asylum in the United Kingdom.

Temper Trap win at APRAs

From The West

Sweet Disposition, written in early 2008 by guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto and singer Dougy Mandagi, was named song of the year by the Australasian Performing Right Association’s 30,000 eligible members.

But since being released in September 2008 the winning blend of U2 guitars and the Indonesia-born Mandagi’s distinctive falsetto has kicked open doors for The Temper Trap, who are one of the hottest new Australian bands to emerge in recent years.

Sweet Disposition has been a hit here and overseas, and featured in films, television and advertising campaigns around the world.

Last year The Temper Trap went home empty-handed from the ARIA Awards despite having four nominations, so it was a “big thing” for the band to be recognised by their peers at the APRAs.

As the successful songwriters could not attend tonights awards, their mothers went instead.

The man behind Australia's top hotel rooms

From SMH

Room at the top ... Joseph Pang has worked on the Grand Hyatt Melbourne and the Four Seasons, Sydney (pictured). 

IF YOU'VE stayed in the refurbished suites at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne or Sydney's Four Seasons, Westin or Hilton, then you will be familiar with the work of Joseph Pang.

He is one of Australia's most in-demand hotel interior decorators. The aforementioned properties bear his imprint, along with the Melbourne and Sydney InterContinentals, and Hayman and Le Meridien Ile Des Pins Resort in New Caledonia.

During a 30-year career, he has been instrumental in many of the changes in hotel design in this country.

"It [hotel design] was quite institutional in the early part of my career," says Pang, who started his own company, Joseph Pang Design Consultants, in Neutral Bay five years ago.

Before that he was lead designer with interior designers Chhada Siembieda and Associates.

"Brand was paramount," he says. "A hotel had to reflect the brand above all else, there were strict rules about that."

Not so today, with hotels reflective of their location as strongly as their brand.

"Also, a hotel had to look like a hotel room then," Pang says. "Now, the modern hotel room feels like home; it is familiar, it is restful, you feel comfortable in it and understand it as soon as you check in because it is like home."

The winds of change have swept away two of Pang's bete noirs: the bedside console with built-in light switches, clock and radio; and the once-ubiquitous bottle opener set into the side of the vanity basin.

"It's been years since I did one of those," laughs Pang.

While the bedrooms and bars get all the attention from press and public, Pang says corridors are a key element in setting the tone of a hotel.

"A corridor is an important space in a hotel, though the guests probably do not think much about it," he says. "It is the transition from busy public world to the quiet and peace of the hotel room."