As an old saying goes, “Death also deserves our attention, like what life does.” Matters such as life, aging, illness and death are stages that everyone is doomed to experience. In the face of the eventual death, one might be fearful, shocked or sorrowful. Yet how to figure out the true meaning of life and appreciate its value from death deserves our action, thinking and sharing.

In this feature, we invited three interviewees to describe their own experiences and share with us stories of their dying relatives, feelings of rebirth after a serious illness and lessons given in life and death education courses. Readers may gain a brand new understanding of the distance between life and death from their sharing.

The interviewee for this edition of Author’s Say, Ieong Weng Hong, explores the challenges faced by students with special needs in her works. “Cage” and “butterfly” are two images that constantly appear in her books. Confronting my inconveniencies in their life and constantly suppressed by the “cage”, representing social norms and values, students with special needs never give in and their “butterfly”, a symbol of their own values will never be crushed. What is displayed in the face of hardships are strong will that never giving in to adversity and positive attitude towards life. In her words, we can feel that being alive by itself is something worth celebrating.

Library Handbook introduces one of the activities in the “Book Sharing” Reading Promotion series, “Breathing and Reading in the Mountains”, held at Taipa Pequna and Coloane Hac Sá Reservoir Natural Park Trail. In this event, participants learned about basics of hiking by walking through the hills. They also read books related to nature under the guidance of counselors so as to savour the beauty of the mother-nature form different perspectives. 

The warm spring breeze chases away the coldness and brings us a scene full of liveliness. Let us restart our journey and think about the value of life through reading.