Light Footed

Qingyi loves to read, and is immediately endearing to anyone who meets her. A good thing, then, that she works in a bookstore, and gets to meet plenty of interesting characters every day. “Customers, writers, creatives, story-tellers, karang gunis, children, cat-lovers…You name it, the bookstore has welcomed them,” she says. “I like how we’ve been privileged to give people that space that they can really feel at home in.” Describing her style as “comfortable, mood-dependent, and chapalang (local slang for ‘relaxed’)”, her one wish would be for flip flops to become socially appropriate for all occasions. “They’re amazing rain or shine!” she says. “Nobody likes wet feet.” Beyond flip flops, Qingyi has a love for sashimi, C.S. Lewis, collecting maps, and “attempting to bake well”, along with a strong passion for the arts. “People don’t understand how difficult it is to be working in the literary arts, or in any arts industry in Singapore. I don’t think anyone gets enough credit for what they’re doing,” she says. “We might just be a tiny bookstore on a tiny island, but I’d like to think that in some subtle way, that we’re contributing.”