Love in a hot country

Celebrities turned out to the Peony House cafe on Soi Sala Daeng 1 on Wednesday night to welcome the arrival of “Reung Khong Ai-Ya”, (“Ai-Ya’s Story”) a new book by young actress Vadfun Kunawong and her illustrator pal Pure Lokutaraphon.
Among the big names spotted in the crowd were singer Popetorn “Two” Soonthornyanakij, fashion designer and writer Panya “Au” Jitrmanasak and leading |illustrator ML Chiratorn Chirapravati.
Vadfun, the younger daughter of Sermkhun Khunawong, chief executive of event organiser CMO and owner of the Bangkok Sculpture Centre, has plenty of writing experience to her credit, having penned several short sto?ries as well as poems.
She also edited Cutto Poehanratanakul’s novel “A Timeline” and over the last few years has taken time out to star in a variety of home-produced musicals including Dreambox’s “Prisana” and “Koo Kham”.
“Rueng Khong Ai-Ya” is her first book and features illustrations by young artist Pure, an arts and graphic design instructor who also did the artwork for “Mud-Jai” by Pimdao” Mudmee” Panichsamai. A former journalism student, he also writes and edits for Orange Pumpkin publishing.
Writing obviously runs in the family as Vadfun’s older sister Muenfan is also a published writer. She penned “Dekying Nakprawatsad Silp” (“History of an Art Student”), an account of her education overseas, two years ago and is currently on summer vacation from London, where she’s pursuing her studies in drama and theatre at Goldsmiths College, London.
“Rueng Khong Ai-Ya” is a love story about a confident woman and her relationship with her boyfriend as she goes about her daily routine.
Vadfun denies that the lead character is based on her but says that that many of the settings were inspired by her own visits to the beach, supermarket and restaurants.
Published both as a pocketbook and an audio book, “Ruang Khong Ai-Ya” can be enjoyed on a smart phone or tablet with the narration handled by artist Pakamol "Pim" Jungpisan.
“The idea for an audio book came about from the fact that I used to read chapters to my friends on the phone rather than send them the content by e-mail. They told me that listening gave them a very different perspective of the book and that they could ‘feel’ the story,” she says.
Pure adds that he found it easy to illustrate the book as the settings were part of everyday life. “It’s not like doing sci-fi,” he says. “Here I was drawing restaurants, cafes, a library and school.”
Vadfun and Pure have also studied with ML Chiratorn and illustrator Somnuek Klangnok.
ML Chiratorn, who was also at the launch, says he’s thrilled at their success.
“I’m so glad for them. My advice to them was to ask themselves what they wanted to do and then proceed gradually. Vadfun and Muenfun have both done something that they love”, he says,