NON-FICTION
SINGAPORE, DISRUPTED
By Chua Mui Hoong Straits Times Press/Paperback/ 328 pages/$29.90/Major bookstores
In this series of essays, The Straits Times Opinion editor and political columnist Chua takes on the disruptive technologies that are displacing jobs and further entrenching social divisions, tackling topics from joblessness and social safety nets to elitism and leadership transitions.
THE NAYSAYER'S BOOK CLUB
By Simon Vincent Epigram Books/Paperback/ 386 pages/$26.64/Major bookstores
Vincent, a multimedia journalist, profiles 26 figures from local civil society known for challenging the status quo, from theatre-makers Tan Tarn How and T. Sasitharan, to academics Chua Beng Huat and Cherian George, to activist Constance Singam and journalist Kirsten Han. Each comes with a list of recommended reading in fiction and non-fiction (with some exceptions).
WAYSIDE FLOWERS OF SINGAPORE
By Kaw Jon Boon and Louise Neo Straits Times Press/Paperback/ 192 pages/$29.90/Major bookstores
This full-colour guide by photographer and graphic designer Kaw, and Neo, who conducts botanical research at the National University of Singapore, is meant to help the public identify 160 species of wayside flowering plants in Singapore, the kind one might usually pass by without a second glance.
CHILDREN'S
TIMOTHY AND THE PHUBBERS
By Ken Kwek, illustrated by Lolita Chiong Epigram Books/Paperback/ 232 pages/$13.80/Major bookstores
Timothy Pong is trying to survive Secondary 1 without a phone. He is too young to own one, according to his mother, and so, he has not spoken to his family in years, as they communicate with one another only via WhatsApp. Things get worse when he is caught with his pants down - literally - and it goes viral on Instagram.
This is film-maker Kwek's first children's novel, illustrated in a Quentin Blake-sque fashion by Chiong.
PLAYS
SISTERS & SENANG: THE ISLAND PLAYS
By Jean Tay Epigram Books/Paperback/ 206 pages/$14.87/Major bookstores
This volume brings together two plays by Tay about the satellite islands off the coast of Singapore.
Sisters blends the legend of Mina and Lina, the sisters after whom the Sisters Islands are named, with the real-life murder of waitress Jenny Cheok by her boyfriend Sunny Ang.
Senang, meanwhile, revisits the 1963 prison riots on Pulau Senang.
