13-year old Aileen Gozali was born in Los Angeles, US and later moved to Xiamen, China with her family. Now a permanent resident in Singapore, she started piano lessons at the age of four in China. She attended the Xiamen Music School and studied under Guo Fang, Hou Runyu and Li Xiaoqi. Over the years, she has won numerous international awards including the 2007 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition in the US and 2008 8th International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia in Japan. Last October, she was invited to perform at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York. Aileen has also taken master classes from James Giles, Adam Gyorgy, Barry Snyder, Yin Chen Zhong and Irina Plotnikova, and is currently a piano student of Benjamin Loh.

Ang Song Kang “Chef Kang” has just been the sixth Singaporean to be accorded membership in the Chinese Cuisine category of the prestigious Les Amis D’ Escoffier Society. The Society boasts a stellar list of top western and Asian chefs in its folds. Chef Kang already has a portfolio of regional culinary awards throughout his very colourful career that took him to Indonesia and Hong Kong but this chef is one who loves challenges and innovation. Industry recognition spurs him on and Chef Kang believes that good food should be accessible and affordable for all.

Anthony Tan graduated with Honours in Design Technology from the London College of Fashion, UK. He has been designing costume for the arts scene in Singapore since 1993. Anthony is also an all-round performer on stage in both English and Mandarin productions. With a vast experience in costume design and performing, he has worked with numerous theatre companies such as the NUS Dance Ensemble, Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble, Theatre Works, The Theatre Practice and Singapore Dance Theatre. In 2007, Anthony was appointed as the costume designer for Singapore’s National Day Parade and designed costumes for all the performers for the parade.

Anthony is committed to achieving professionalism in the field of theatrical design and creates more innovation and advancement to the ever evolving art form.

From a 14-year old road show DJ with a faulty turntable to representing Singapore for the internationally renowned Red Bull Music Academy in 2007, Aresha is definitely well known for her feisty personality in music. Named one of Singapore’s Top 30 under 30 in 2008 by The Straits Times, this entrepreneurial lass formed star drum and bass promoters Theraphy Asia in 2003. Working with regional collectives in Malaysia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Korea, she has since toured some of the biggest names in the drum and bass industry such as London Elektricity, Logistics, Dieselboy and Nu:Tone throughout Asia. Locally, she has performed with collectives such as Subvert, Guerilla, Bedsty Music and PopMyCherry in clubs like Zouk, DXO, Home Club and Ministry of Sound.

Aristo Sham started playing piano when he was three years old. He joined the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts as junior piano student in 2002 and is now under the tutelage of Professor Eleanor Wong. The 12-year old prodigy has won numerous international and national prizes and written various works for piano solo, ensembles and computer music. With his own composition 3X, he was awarded the First Prize in the category of Original Composition for Western Instruments of the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival 2006. This piece had been performed in concerts and broadcasted at radio stations. Aristo was also presented the Certificate of Commendation by the Hong Kong Government for his outstanding achievements in international arts and cultural activities, gained the 2008 Hong Kong Outstanding Teens Award and featured in the Young Achievers’ Gallery of the Hong Kong Education Bureau.

Aureaus Solito’s first feature film Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros won 15 international awards including three awards at the Berlinale - The Teddy Award, International Jury Prize at the Kinderfest and Special Mention from the Children's Jury of the Kinderfest. It is also the first Philippine film nominated for Best Foreign film at the Independents' Spirit Awards in the US. It has been shown in more than 50 film festivals around the world. He is the first Filipino to make it to the premiere independent film festival in the world, the SUNDANCE Film Festival in Park City, Utah, USA; two years in a row for both The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros and Tuli, his second feature.

A graduate of the renowned Kanazawa College of Art in Japan, Ayako started her own organisation Food Creation to “deliver the concept to stomach”. Offering ‘conceptual’ catering and creation with food, Food Creation introduces unique new ideas for food. She is exploring a new art form that not only teases the visual senses, but the taste as well. Ayako was invited to put on her first solo exhibition at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. She has also been invited to present a food performance Time Crevasse at the opening reception of Yokohama 2008 International Triennale of Contemporary Art as well as the 101Tokyo Contemporary Art Fair 2008.

Ayu Utami, Indonesian novelist and columnist started as a journalist during General Suharto regime. She co-established the Alliance of Independent Journalists that fought for press freedom and was declared illegal by the military government. As her name was blacklisted from writing in the media, she switched to writing fiction. Her first novel Saman (1998) won the first prize in the Jakarta Arts Council’s competition. Her emergence was followed by a wave of Indonesian young women writers that spoke openly on sexuality. She also received awards from the Prince Claus Award in 2000 from the Netherlands and Asian Literature Council (Mastera) in 2008. She has also published a collection of essays, a play script and three novels.

Catherine Lim is a writer in Singapore and has to date published 18 books including collections of short stories, novels and a book of poems. Two of her short stories collections were used as literature texts for the G.C.E. Examinations by Cambridge University and her novels that are regularly used in universities and colleges have been published in the US, UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Spain, Israel and Iceland. Having conducted courses in Sociolinguistics and teaching Literature for teachers in Southeast Asian countries, she continues to give lectures at seminars and conferences in Singapore and abroad. She is also a regular guest speaker on cruise ships and a political commentator, giving lectures and writing articles on various political and social issues in Singapore.

Chanutr Techatana-nan began playing drums when he was 15 while playing in his high-school band. In 2002, he earned an award for Winner of the Best Drummer in the Open League category from Thailand’s no. 1 drum contest, which was the first drum contest in Thailand and South East Asia. In addition to his professional career as a musician, he started teaching young musicians and drummers at Thailand’s most renowned college of music, Mahidol University and Silpakorn University. He also had the privilege of playing with Mahidol University Jazz Faculty Ensemble and Silpakorn University Jazz Faculty Ensemble, and Denny & Friends – jazz group led by Denny Euprasert, award-winning Thai jazz pianist. Chanutr is currently performing with Don Gomes’ Trio, Mansri and OMAH Special Quartet.

Chookiat Kantha joined Indochine Waterfront Restaurant in 1999 and has hosted royalties and dignitaries such as the King and Queen of Sweden, Prince Albert of Monaco, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and of course celebrities such as Sting, INXS and Amitabh Bachchan. His unique cooking style embraces exotic flavours from Laos to Cambodia. Chookiat has been invited as a guest chef to countries such as Hamburg, Germany and even Monaco. He has been featured in various cooking programmes on television and magazines.Chookiat was nominated as a finalist in the “Rising Chef of the Year” award at the World Gourmet Summit in 2001.

A freelance lighting designer in Singapore, Dorothy has designed for many local theatre companies such as Toy Factory Productions, Check Point Theatre, The Theatre Practice, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Singapore Lyric Theatre, The Necessary Stage, TheatreWorks, and Singapore Dance Theatre. Her last design work was with Singapore Lyric Opera, La Traviata earlier this year.

Her more recent past design credits includes Next Hour, a collaboration with Taiwan and Hong Kong theatre practitioners for New Idea Theatre Workshop, organised by the National Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Centre R.O.C. in November 2007; M! The Opera (2006) in Kuala Lumpur; Long House, Dangerous Liaisons, Bent with the Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble (2006, 2005 and 2004 respectively); and Checkpoint Theatre’s Opiume at the Singapore Arts Festival 2004 and Hong Kong’s New Vision Arts Festival 2004.

After graduating from Gadjah Mada University in 1982, Eko Prawoto worked as a junior architect in Yogyakarta. He was then lectured at Duta Wacana Christian University and set up a new architecture department in 1985. In 1999, he was introduced to Hou Hanru who curated the travelling exhibition Cities on the Move which exhibited in London, Vienna and Helsinki. In 2000, he exhibited his project proposal for upgrading of slums in Yogyakarta, titled Housing for Urban Poor in the International Architecture Exhibition in the Venice Biennale. Eko also participated in Art of Bamboo exhibition in Yogyakarta in 2002 which showcased four artists from Denmark and four Indonesian artists doing an explorative art forms using bamboo as main materials.

A week after the big earthquake disaster in Yogyakarta in May 2006, Eko worked in a project that oversees the reconstruction of the houses. As he believed in accepting such a project which is about respecting the people, their cultural values and also their needs, this project received great publicity. A Japanese-based NGO in Kobe has also asked his help with another village project with the same design and approach.

Farish Ahmad Noor is a political philosopher by training and has written widely on politics, history and social issues. He has held numerous research appointments and is currently Research Fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University. Among his publications are Spirit of Wood: The Art of Malay Woodcarving: Works of Master Craftsmen from Kelantan, Tregganu and Patani (2003), The Other Malaysia: Writings on Malaysia’s Aubaltern History (2003), New Voices in Islam (2002) and Terrorising the Truth: The Demonisation of the Image of Islam and Muslims in Global Media and Political Discourse (1998).

Eugenio R. Gonzalez “Gene” is currently the President and Chef Patron of Café Ysabel, his first restaurant, which he started in 1981. He is also president and chef instructor at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies. Presently, Gino is the Commandeur Conseillier Culinaire des Philippines of the Confrerie dela Chaine des Rotisseurs and Vice Echanson of the Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Degustateurs. With other like-minded individuals, he helped organise Alta Cocina Filipna, a movement whose main aim is to preserve traditional Filipino recipes and promote new Filipino dishes for international acceptance. For his contributions, he was awarded by ex-President Fidel Ramos as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men Awardees for Culinary Arts. Gene, a Hotel and Restaurant Association Plate d’Or awardee, is the section editor for the Manila Bulletin’s Taste and is a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers. He is also the author of many well-known award-winning cookbooks. Being active in the television circuit, Chef Gene is a byword and leading resource on Filipino cuisine.

Eugenio S. Gonzalez Jr., “Gino”, represents the global character and energy of today’s young Filipino Chefs. Having graduated top of his class in culinary school, he is at present Head Instructor at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies and Executive Chef of the multi-awarded Café Ysabel. A Senator Cochran scholar of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its culinary program, he is a member of the Council of Chefs. Gino was the first Filipino to train at the ADF (Le Centre de Formation d’ Alain Ducasse) in Argentuil, France. He had participated in programs at the Culinary Institute of America, Callebaut Chocolate College and master classes in Thailand and Vietnam. Today, his line of Café Ysabel specialty products called Chef Gino’s Gourmet is currently offered at popular hypermarts and food markets. Gino is a mainstay guest and culinary demonstrator in several highly rated magazine and lifestyle TV shows shown nationwide in the Philippines.

Recipient of Singapore Youth Award for Arts & Culture 2005, Goh Boon Teck is the Creative Director for Singapore’s National Day Parade for year 2007 and 2008. A professional theatre director, playwright and production designer for nearly two decades, Boon Teck is the first recipient of the VISA
International Arts Scholarship to study Theatre Directing in London, United Kingdom.

He is leading one of Singapore’s most vibrant and productive theatre companies, Toy Factory Productions Ltd. Titoudao, a play written and directed by him, won five out of nine awards at the inaugural LIFE! Theatre Awards 2001. This play has toured Cairo, Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou. In the same year, he received the prestigious National Arts Council Young Artist Award for his contribution to the development of Singaporean theatre.

In 2003, he was commissioned by Japan’s Kageboushi Theatre Company to write and direct a six-country collaboration PRISM, funded by The Japan Foundation. This touring production premiered in Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space Theatre and toured to Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.

Hitomi Kanehara is the author of Snakes and Earrings which won the top Japanese literary award, the Akutagawa Prize. One of the judges, celebrated writer Ryu Murakami, said ‘her book was easily the top choice, receiving the highest marks of any work since I became a member of the selection panel'. In Japan, Snakes and Earrings has since topped the bestseller lists and sold over a million copies, making it the all-time best seller. After her debut book, Hitomi Kanehara also wrote Ash Baby, AMEBIC, Autofiction, Hydra and Falling Star.

Hu Linping graduated with a Bachelors Degree from Department of Sound Recording of the Beijing Film Institute in 1985. He began to work as a recordist in the Inner Mongolia Film Studio in August 1985. He started to shoot his first documentary Family on the Sky Lake in 2004 and finished in 2007.

James C. Liu has been working in various sections of the film industry since 1990, including rental house Arrow Cinematic Group, Sun Movie Channel, Spring International, during which he made his directorial debut with In One's Thirties. He launched Joint Entertainment in 2005 after completing his EMBA program, working on film production and film distribution. Some of his involvement as a producer includes Keeping Watch (2007) and For More Sun (2006), while his works as a director includes In One's Thirties (1997) and A Scent of Incense (1989).

Chef Janice Wong is the chef-owner of 2am: Dessertbar, a first of its kind in Singapore. Chef Janice Wong’s journey into F&B has been one exciting tale; with her basics built up in Le Corodn Bleu, Paris and the honing of her skills in top restaurants locally and abroad. Her vision and aspiration is striving towards ‘Dessert Excellence’, bringing to her guests Desserts as the Mains and Savouries as the Sides; a quality epicurean experience for a complete sensory indulgence within the designer-cool, chic and sleek surroundings of 2am.

Jeffrey Tan was appointed as the Resident Choreographer for Singapore Dance Theatre since October 2004 and concurrently is the Assistant Ballet Master and Senior Artiste of Singapore Dance Theatre.

Despite late start to his dancing career at the age of 21 with the Singapore Armed Forces Music and Drama Company, Jeffrey has grown to become one of Singapore’s most prolific and promising stars in the dance arena. He was awarded a scholarship to study at the Singapore Ballet Academy, under the mentorship of Anthony Then and followed by a stint at the London Studio Centre. He obtained his Royal Academy of Dance Examinations (Advance) with Honours and was a finalist in the Asia-Pacific Dance Competition, Tokyo in 1995. In 2000, Jeffrey was awarded the National Arts Council’s Young Artiste Award for Excellence In Dance.

One of his first works as the Resident Choreographer was Last Watch for the Ballet Under the Stars Season 2004 and more recently, Duet, Trio and The Little Mermaid with Ballet Master Paul De Masson in 2005. He also choreographed Breath of Love and also a Chinese musical by Toy Factory Shanghai Blues in 2007. He has also choreographed one of the mass displays for National Day in 2008.

Jereme Leung is the founding chef of the much lauded Whampoa Club located in the prestigious Three on the Bund complex in Shanghai. The internationally-acclaimed restaurant has been featured in the International Herald Tribune and Zagat Survey. In 2000, the American Academy of Hospitality Science conferred upon him the Five Star Diamond Award, naming him one of the “World’s Best Chefs”, joining the ranks of supernovas like Charlie Trotter, Paul Bocuse and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. He was only the 4th Asian chef to receive this award. Jereme’s contemporary culinary style has been refined into a carefully considered craft that remains sensitive towards the culinary history of China.

Born in Xi An, China in 1989, Jessica Lu was admitted into the Shanghai Music Conservatory where she majored in Sanxian at the tender age of 12. Under the tutorship of virtuoso Sanxian player, Zhang Nian Bing, she acquired such mastery over the instrument that she was invited to record a Sanxian duet with the famous composer and conductor, Yan Hui Chang. She won the Best Performer Award in the 1995 International Chinese Music Competition. In 1995, she was admitted into the China Music Conservatory in Beijing to major in Sanxian under Professor Zhao Cheng Wei. Over the next three years, Jessica was also taught the pipa, guzheng, ruan, liuqing and other plucked instruments.

Jessica became the first Sanxian player in the world to break the tradition by playing the instrument standing up, while blending contemporary world elements in her music. Her revolutionary performance has been featured in many regional and international media.

Born in Niigata, dancer and choreographer, Kota Yamazaki graduated from Bunka Fashion Institute in Tokyo, Japan. In 1977, he was introduced to butoh through the teaching of Akira Kasai; then in 1981 started studying classical ballet under the late Hirofumi in Inoue. In addition to founding two dance companies, Kota has been invited to hold residencies in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US and received grants from the England Foundation, Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan Foundation, Saison Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, The National Dance Project and Arts International.

During one of his residency in Senegal, Africa in 2003-2004, Kota created the work FAGAALA (2003) in collaboration with Germaine Acogny and her company Jant-bi. FAGAALA was received around the world as a masterpiece and was reviewed by Dance Magazine that "they have done things what seemed impossible." It has since been presented around the world for two years since its premiere. Kota has also collaborated twice with Singaporean director On Keng Sen in his works Hamlet (2002) and Sandakan Threnody (2004).

Born in Klang, Malaysia in 1953, Kumari Nahappan started painting when she joined the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts and graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Fine Arts in 1992. She became the first candidate from the College to obtain the Master of Fine Arts from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia in 1995.

Since she was named Shell Discovery Art’s Promising Artist in 1992, Kumari has won numerous awards and commendations. In 1998, she won first prize in the UOB Group's 17th Painting of the Year Competition (Abstract Category) and was awarded the Ksatria Seni Award 2004 by the prestigious Museum Rudana in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, in conjunction with its 8th anniversary celebrations.

Kumari has exhibited extensively in Asia, Europe and the United States. A collection of her chillis from her Nature Borne series were exhibited at the Mori Museum in Tokyo, Japan for Spotlight Singapore in 2006. In August 2008, she concluded a year-long solo exhibition Red, Hot on the trail of A Colour at the Museum of Cultures in Basel, Switzerland.

Lewis Pragasam has garnered international and critical acclaim as one of Asia’s leading drum/percussion exponents and an innovator of new trends in World Music. Lewis is the founder and moving spirit of the pioneering Asiabeat project, whose recordings and performances are now legendary in the merging of Asian and contemporary music styles. The project was conceptualised in 1979. He has performed at major festivals around the world including the Royal Command Performance for HRH Prince Charles (Prince Trust Concert) in Edinburgh. Lewis is also known to organise and produced percussion festivals all over South East Asia and working with a variety of percussionists and groups, both locally and internationally.

Lim Tian Wee is the man behind Gryphon Tea Company. Started in the business since the age of 12 as a part-time apprentice, Tian Wee has worked through various functions in the tea business and gathered experience in tea selection, tea sensorial evaluation and tea blending. Tian Wee was educated at Michigan State University, with an emphasis in food marketing and nutrition. Gryphon Tea Company lists some of the top chefs and restaurants in Singapore as their long-time customers including La Platane Shanghai, OSO Restaurante, Saint Pierre Group, Spinelli Coffee Company, TCC (The Coffee Connoisseur) and PS Café.

Manop Suwanpinta graduated with a Bachelor in Painting Sculpture and Graphic Arts from Silpakorn University in Bangkok and taught sculpture at the Support Foundation of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand and Sculpture of Fine Art Institute.

He has put up numerous exhibitions in Thailand since his first exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art in 1976. His most recent exhibitions include The Mysterious Sense of Human Beings at The Queen’s Gallery in 2007; The Figures in Landscape at his alma mater in 2003; and created a sculpture monument of Queen Saowabha at the Red Cross Society in 2000.

When he first began in 1976, Manop received an award in Tradition Painting and Drawing from The College of Fine Art in Bangkok. He later went on to win the 3rd prize in the 34th, 37th and 38th National Art Competition from 1991 to 2001.

Born in 1970, Manuel L. Quezon III is currently the host of the weekly program The Explainer on the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) in the Philippines, and has been an opinion and editorial writer and editor since 1994. Presently, he is also a columnist for the Arab News Newspaper; head of the Speaker’s Bureau; columnist and an editorial writer for The Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper; and Assistant Managing Editor and editorial writer for The Philippines Free Press weekly news magazine. He has received various awards for his professional work, including being named “Opinion Writer of the Year” in 1994 and 2005 by the Rotary Club of Manila’s Journalism Awards, the oldest journalism awards in the country.

Dr Mechai Virayaidya is the Founder/Chairman of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), one of Thailand's largest and most successful private, non-profit development organisations that initiated community-based family planning services, poverty reduction, rural development and environmental programs, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention activities throughout Thailand. He was appointed to the Thai Senate in 1987 and 1997; each term for three years. He was also a Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister in 1991 and 1992, and served as a Government Spokesman, Deputy Minister of Industry, and Ambassador for UNAIDS in 1999. Dr Virayaidya received numerous awards including the United Nations Population Award in 1997, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1994, the Paul Hoffman Award and the United Nations Gold Peace Medal in 1981. A Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Institute of International Development from 1988 to 1989.

Mian Mian is a young Chinese writer born in 1970. She writes on China's once-taboo topics and is a promoter of Shanghai's local music. Her publications have earned her the reputation as China's literary wild child. Her first novel Candy (糖) has been translated into English. Her other novels include Every Good Child Deserves to Eat Candy (个好孩子都有糖吃) and We Are Panic which was made into a movie Shanghai Panic and had a leading role as well. Mian Mian is one of the first writers to openly address China’s underworld of drug addicts and social rebellious misfits.

Having grown up in a family of chefs, Bao naturally adopted a strong curiosity in food as a young child. Right after graduating from high school, he took over the family's restaurant and that marked his starting ground to becoming a great chef later on in life. In 1988, he graduated as one of the top students at Ho Chi Minh's Tourism & Hotels Training School. Bao has also won awards at competitions such as the Hue Festival in Vietnam. He continued his culinary training by becoming the protégé of acclaimed Chef Do Quang Long, Head Chef of the First Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. With his mentor, Bao participated in food festivals around the world, flying to Belgium, Korea and Japan to promote Vietnamese cuisine. With an impressive repertoire to his name, Bao was invited to head the kitchen at Viet Lang restaurant here in Singapore in 2002. Since then, he has been widely featured on television shows and the press around the region, including Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Noo Muenwang began his career at Top-land Plaza as an assistant chef in his home town of Chiangmai (Tak) in Thailand. With nine years of culinary experience, Noo decided to leave Thailand for Singapore. He was then employed as the Sous Chef. Following a positive review by the press and customers, Noo Muenwang caught the attention of Andrew Tan of Restaurant 1827, who offered him the esteemed position of Executive Thai Chef at Restaurant 1827. Through the years, Noo has served a myriad of guests from the Emperor of Japan to Presidents and Ministers who have visited Restaurant 1827.

Prasenjit Duara is currently Director of Research In Humanities and Social Sciences at NUS and Emeritus Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Culture, Power and the State: Rural North China, 1900-1942, which won both the Fairbank Prize of the American Historical Association and the Levenson Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. He also authored Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China (1995) and Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (2003). His works have been widely translated into Chinese and Japanese. Duara has also contributed to volumes on historiography and historical thought including Transnationalism and the Challenge to National Histories and Re-thinking American History in a Global Age (2002), edited by Thomas Bender.

Associate Professor-and-sculptor Ramlan Abdullah graduated from Pratt Institute Brooklyn, New York, USA with a Master of Fine Art, majoring in Sculpture in 1990. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Public Sculpture from Universiti Technologi Mara (UiTM) in Selangor, Malaysia. As an artist, Ramlan has received many awards since 1981. In recent years, he won the Mekar-Citra Art Award by the Shah Alam Art Gallery in 2007 and the Visual Art Award – Sculpture 2006 which was awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage in Malaysia in 2006. He has a few solo exhibitions under his name – So What? (2005), Defining Divine Dimensions (2002) and Zain Azraai Art Award at the National Art Gallery, Malaysia in 2001. In 2008, his works were also exhibited at the Soka Gakkai Malaysia Cultural Centre, Gallery Chandan and World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Art for Nature 2008 Shifting Boundaries in Kuala Lumpur.

Born in Saigon and raised in Orange County, California, Stephane Gauger received a bachelor arts degree in theatre and French literature. His childhood love of cinema moved him away from the stage onto film sets, training in film lighting under Matty Libatique, ASC. Stephane subsequently worked in the camera and lighting departments on independent films in the US and Southeast Asia, including Sundance winner Three Seasons, all the while honing his writing and directing craft on short narrative and documentary films. Owl and the Sparrow is his feature debut.

Architect-turned-sculptor, Sun Yu-Li has been actively involved in the Singapore and regional arts scene for the last 20 over years. He works with bronze and his method of sculpting which he developed is unique. He uses cardboard shapes, stacking up layers, and slowly building and shaping them instead of the conventional clay. His sculptures and artworks can be found in many strategic locations around Singapore, as well as in various foreign countries. Among his most notable creations is the Harmony sculpture – a 12 meter high stainless steel piece – crafted for the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (CS-SIP) in 2001 to symbolise close bilateral relations. Sun Yu-Li has won numerous awards such as the China Modern Sculpture Award 1999 in Taiwan, Merit Award winner of the IBM Art Award 1990 and the winner of the prestigious 1991 Republic of China (ROC) Modern Sculpture Award.

Taiga Onitsuka is a 10-year old Japanese jazz prodigy. He is majorly recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “The World’s Youngest Professional Drummer” for releasing his first album TIGER! at nine years old through Columbia’s Savoy Records in April this year. He started playing the drums from five years old and played with big names such as trumpeters Terumasa Hino and Eddie Henderson, steel drummer Othello Molineaux and so on at six years old. Recently, he released his new trio album A Time In New York recorded in New York with the two world’s top jazz musicians, African-American bassist Buster Williams in his 60’s and 45-year old Caucasian pianist Benny Green. This three-generation cross racial trio will be performing on the World Tour in February 2009.

Tay Kheng Soon has been a professional architect since 1964. His academic involvements included being a Visiting Scholar under the Aga Khan Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986 and 1989. He was also a Research Fellow with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and had published a monograph Mega-cities in the Tropics. The monograph began a series of papers on sustainable mega-cities in the tropics. This activity led to an appointment to prepare a development guide plan for a fringe urban site in Singapore where he proposed the Tropical City Concept. The book Line, Edge and Shade by Robert Powell on his writing and work and that of Akitek Tenggara was released in June 1997.

Currently based in Dublin, Utsav Lal is one of India's youngest concert pianists. A Jazz & Western Classical pianist, Utsav drew inspirations at an early age from Indian music and breaking traditional barriers. Over 60 piano concerts at prestigious venues all over India and internationally, his unique piano playing style and original rendition of raga have endeared him to a worldwide audience, earning him the title of “Raga Pianist.” Recent concerts include The One World Music Evening, National Concert Hall at Dublin, Nehru Centre-London, Asia Pacific Week in Berlin, Taj Festival in Manchester, Music amongst Mosaics, Festival of World Cultures ’08 and etc.

Wang Liren studied in Beijing Film Institute and in 2006, Liren made his debut as a director, playwright and producer in his first feature film Weed. Weed has been selected in 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam and got the special support from the Hubert Bals Funds (HBF). In 2007, the film won the Best Maiden Film in the 4th Chinese Independent Film Fesitival. His next film Tattoo has received the special support from the Hubert Bals Funds (HBF) in the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Winston Choo graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Design from Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia in 2004. Currently, a Technical Support Officer for the School of Film & Media Studies in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, he has vast experience in multimedia having worked in several production houses in Singapore. He has worked as a 3D character animator with Tiny Island Production; a video editor for MediaCorp Studios; and 3D lighting artist with Silicon Illusions.

Yu Guangyi, born in 1961 in Heilongjiang Province now lives in the city of Daqing. A graduate with an Associate's Degree from the Department of Printmaking, China Academy of Art, Yu has been practicing printmaking for years. Yu started independent documentary filmmaking in 2005 and The Last Lumberjacks is his first documentary.

An entrepreneur and writer from Singapore, Zhang Lu is the author of two collections of essays, The Sparkles of Diamond and A Touch of Class. Both books have been well-received, with A Touch of Class ranking second in the Shanghai Book Mall literary section’s bestseller’s list. Presently working on her third essay collection Infinite Web which is slated to be published later this year, Zhang Lu is also currently involved in the making of a movie Happiness Knocking as a first-time producer and scriptwriter.

Zhuang Yuxin is an Assistant Professor of the Literature Department at the Beijing Film Academy. Graduated from Literature Department at the Beijing Film Academy in 1994, he became a member of the faculty in the same year. In 2003, he earned a Master's Degree in film and television dissemination studies at the same school. For many years, he has been active in the field of Chinese entertainment television as a screenwriter, producer, and distributor. The Teeth of Love is the director's first feature film.

Zita Law also affectionately known to her fans as Shen Xue believes inspiration comes in the spur of the moment, writes impeccable tales of love and romance. A history and law graduate from the University of Hong Kong, she gave up her profession as a lawyer to pursue a full-time writing career in love novels. Since her debut novel in 1991, she has since written 65 novels and counting. Her bestselling of all times The Pawnshop No. 8 was turned into a popular drama series in Taiwan. Her novels have developed a strong fan base of many young readers who are hungry for every captivating love story she writes.