2H 2025 highlights and author talks by Vivian Teo
- Vivian Teo
- Jan 11
- 4 min read
Author talks by Singapore children's book author, Vivian Teo, and her book-related highlights in the second half of 2025.
It was a very busy second half of 2025 for me! I kicked things off by attending the Singapore Book Awards in July, where The Epic Tale of Mikaela Kong was nominated for Best Young People's Fiction.
Nope, my book didn’t win, but I had such a great time at the event held at The Pod at the National Library, chatting with fellow nominees and authors like Jojo Chia and Emily Lim-Leh. Plus, the food was really good! 😄
July was also the month when my latest book, Champion of the Realms - released in May - made it into the top ten best-selling children’s books at POPULAR 🥳🥳
This came right after my new book landed on The Straits Times Bestseller list in May. Thank you to everyone who bought my book!
August was probably the busiest month in the second half. I visited Changkat Primary School and Cantonment Primary School—it was wonderful to be back in schools, sharing about my books, meeting readers, and signing copies at the book fairs. These schools were also among the first to hear about Champion of the Realms.
I was also extremely honoured to be part of POPULAR’s SG60 celebrations. In addition to filming a promotional video in July where I shared my thoughts on writing and Sing Lit, I was also featured in POPULAR's POPClub magazine.
Plus, POPULAR arranged a book signing at its Jurong Point outlet in conjection with its SG60 celebrations. I’m truly thankful to POPULAR for being so supportive of my books and Sing Lit 🙏
Another highlight in August was the Live On Festival, organised by the National Organ Transplant Unit (part of the Ministry of Health). I served as one of the judges for the festival’s essay competition. Having read and judged the essays beforehand, it was wonderful to attend the awards ceremony, deliver a judge’s speech, and celebrate the winners.
The shortlisted essays and design competition artworks were beautifully displayed, and the energy from the crowd of educators, parents, and students was just amazing.
August also brought exciting news: Champion of the Realms was nominated in the 2025 POPULAR Readers’ Choice Awards (English, Children’s category)! Spoiler: My book didn't win. The award ceremony was in November, which I wasn't able to attend as I was overses. But I'm still grateful to POPULAR for the nomination and for everyone who voted for my book!
In September, I visited Bukit Timah Primary School. It’s always special to go to a school in Bukit Timah because the area features prominently in My BFF Is an Alien—that’s where the lead characters, Abri and Octavia, live and go to school. In fact, BTPS is located in the estate where much of the action in Invasion, the fourth book fo the series, takes place, so you can imagine my delight driving past familiar road names 😄
October took me to Marsiling Primary School, where all the My BFF Is an Alien books were sold out by the second day of the book fair 🥲 Thank you so much for the love, Marsiling Primary ❤
November was the Singapore Writers Festival, and it was my first time conducting a creative writing workshop for tweens at the festival. The workshop, titled What if an Asteroid Hit the Earth, sold out quickly—thank you for the incredible support! Hopefully, I’ll have another chance to run more workshops in the future, as I know some of you missed out. I don’t do many workshops because they take a lot of time and effort to prepare, but when the right opportunity comes along, it’s always worth it. Thank you, SWF, for having me and for all the support with the workshop prep 🙏
It was so inspiring to meet and work with aspiring writers at the workshop—both kids and adults! I love the creative stories everyone came up with, from dystopian futures to flawed protagonists to bittersweet endings ❤ And it was especially heartwarming to see families joining in together, with parents attending alongside their kids. How cool is that 🥰
Throughout the year, I was also working on the third book in the Mikaela Kong series, Return of the Dragons, which is scheduled for publication in February 2026! I’ve just submitted the first draft of the fourth and final book to my editor, and I’ll be working on its edits throughout 2026, with plans to publish in early 2027.
It was a wonderful end to 2025. Beyond working on MK4 in 2026, I’m also hoping to start drafting two new books—sounds ambitious, doesn’t it? 😂 My mantra for 2026 is to aim high. Even if I don’t reach every goal, I’ll be content knowing I tried, with no regrets.
In the meanwhile, if there are any educators here who would like me to visit your school for author talks, please feel free to get in touch with me with via the "Contact Me" form in my "About" page.
I'm more active on Instagram, so do follow me there if you'd like more timely updates! Feel free to DM me on author talks over there too! Until the next update, happy 2026, everyone!
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.
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