By Yong Shu Hoong, in Gothenburg

When Catherine Lim appeared at the Singapore booth at Sweden's Gothenburg Book Fair, she attracted the attention of book lovers and, thanks to her fiery-red cheongsam, curious onlookers too.

On the second day of the fair, which took place at the Swedish Exhibition and Congress Centre from Sept 24 to 27, the 67-year-old writer explained how the Chinese has made the cheongsam a 'seductive instrument' before reading a racy excerpt from her novella, Meet Me On The Queen Elizabeth 2!.

The largest literary event in Scandinavia with over 100,000 visitors each year, the Gothenburg Book Fair offered more than 400 seminar events this year, with Chilean-born author Isabel Allende among its invited speakers.

On top of speaking about writing and Singapore's literary scene, other featured Singapore authors, including Edwin Thumboo, 75; Wena Poon, 35; and Isa Kamari, 49, also talked about what is unique about Singapore culture.

In a session last Saturday, Dreaming Singapore: Literature From The Little Red Dot, Thumboo talked about the Singaporean identity to a packed room of around 60 people. Flanked by Poon and Lim, he also touched on Singapore poets' fascination with the Merlion, before reading his seminal poem, Ulysses By The Merlion.

'The talk is marvellous,' said Swedish retired teacher Leif Bruce, 67, who snapped up several of the Singapore books on sale. 'It lets me gain a better idea of Singapore culture and literature.'

Mr Khor Kok Wah, the National Arts Council's deputy chief executive officer and director of literary arts, said the Gothenburg trip is part of the council's active push to connect Singapore writers with their readers, both at home and overseas, by collaborating with industry players such as translators, publishers and literary agents.

'Sweden has a lively literary scene, where people are fluent in English and have shown much interest in Singaporean authors' works,' he said. 'There is also strong potential for artistic exchange with Swedish writers.'

Singapore publishers Ethos, Epigram and Marshall Cavendish also sent representatives to the book fair to foster distribution deals and sell rights.

An example of Singapore-Sweden collaboration is 35 For Gothenburg, a compilation of 35 poems by Thumboo in English with corresponding Swedish translations, which Ethos published for the fair. Swedish publishing house Ellerstrom has ordered an initial batch of 25 copies for distribution in Sweden.

Isa was pleased with the interest in Intercession, an English translation of his controversial 2002 Malay novel, Tawassul. 'Perhaps they found the subject matter of the cloning of Prophet Muhammad provocative, but I hope the book will present them with an intellectual challenge,' he said.

Still, the Singapore delegation would agree with Lim, who described the mainly Swedish audiences as 'warm, friendly and attentive'. She added: 'And nobody left while I was reading.'

Yong Shu Hoong is a poet and one of the Singapore writers featured at this year's Gothenburg Book Fair.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.