Singapore Writers Festival 2009
Presents
UNderCovers
Find Your Passion and Dive Under Covers at this year’s Singapore Writers Festival!
Celebrating new and emerging Asian writing.
24 October – 1 November 2009
The Arts House
www.singaporewritersfestival.com
SINGAPORE, 17 September 2009 – The Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) goes under covers this year with a host of events and writers that are expected to raise a whirlwind at The Arts House from 24 October to 1 November 2009. While readers can look forward to meeting face-to-face with luminaries such as Neil Gaiman, Taichi Yamada, Qiu Xiaolong and John Ajvide Lindqvist, this year’s SWF will also see the launch of new initiatives.
For the first time this year, SWF is putting together several outreach programmes in schools and during the Festival, introducing children’s literature and children’s writers from Singapore (Adeline Foo and Shamini Flint) and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas’s John Boyne; and focusing prominently on emerging and established Singapore and Malaysia writers.
Says Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, Chairman of SWF 2009 Steering Committee: “The new initiatives are aimed at showing our young readers that literature is fun and thrilling. At the same time, we are continuing with our mission to promote new and emerging Singapore and Asian writing to an international and wider audience. With such strong emphasis on Singapore and Malaysia writers this year, we are also pleased that for the first time in our history, SWF will be holding a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on 15October to promote SWF to our fellow counterparts in Malaysia.”
The Festival also continues its strong Singapore focus with its Literary Pioneer series which will honour Professor Edwin Thumboo from National University of Singapore as the Literary Pioneer for 2009. As one of the early pioneers of Singapore poetry, Professor Thumboo has edited some of the earliest anthologies of English literature from Singapore and Malaysia and written five volumes of poetry: Rib of Earth (1956),Gods Can Die (1977), Ulysses by the Merlion (1979), A Third Map: New and Selected Poems (1993), and most recently, Still Travelling (2008). He received the Cultural Medallion in 1979 and the Meritorious Service Medal in 2006 in recognition of his contribution to the arts and culture scene of Singapore throughout his career as a lecturer, academic and writer.
Deputy CEO and Director of Literary Arts of the National Arts Council, Mr Khor Kok Wah says: “As an international literary arts festival with an Asian focus, the Singapore Writers Festival is more than just a platform for the most celebrated international and Singapore writers. The Festival also opens channels for emergent literary talent to develop and showcase their creative writings, and for the public to be inspired by the written word. We hope to continue to increase the reach of the literary arts through the various programmes and events SWF 2009 will offer, and establish the Festival as a worthy and meaningful literary festival in the Southeast Asian region.”
With its theme of UNderCovers and featuring more than 100 writers from Singapore, Asia and the West, SWF 2009 aims to explore a variety of genres that the theme evokes: from horror and thriller through children’s literature to emerging writers. Multidisciplinary events such as film screenings, a dramatised reading and book launches will continue to be a feature of the festival as well.
Says Mr Phan Ming Yen, Assistant General Manager of The Arts House: “Following our successful collaboration in 2007, The Arts House is pleased to work with the National Arts Council again on SWF this year. This is especially so for since The Arts House’s opening, literary arts has been a core focus of The Arts House and events such as SWF is very much in line with our mission.”
“As such, the theme for the festival this year has allowed SWF to present to readers a rich variety of authors whose works – ranging from horror through crime to ‘serious fiction’ - are at once accessible and fun but yet also serve as a metaphor for social and humanitarian issues. This in turn we hope will allow the Festival to reach out to a wider audience and share with them the transformative power of the text.”
Ms Ginney Lim, SPH's General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications and General Manager of SPH Foundation says: "SPH and the SPH Foundation are proud to be the Official Sponsors of the Singapore Writers Festival once again. As Southeast Asia’s leading media organisation, we are pleased that this year's Festival places a strong focus on the region's writers. We believe our sponsorship of the event will create greater recognition and appreciation for the literary arts. We also hope that the SPH-NAC Golden Point Award will discover and nurture a new generation of writers.”
Highlights of SWF 2009
Aimed at reaching out to a wider public and creating a greater interest in the literary arts, SWF 2009 will showcase notable writers such as Neil Gaiman whose The Sandman series, Stardust and American Gods have captured the imagination of thousands; the highly respected Taichi Yamada whose Strangers, In Search of aDistant Voice and I Have Not Dreamt of Flying in Awhile with the supernatural; Qiu Xiaolong’s award winning Inspector Chen series that combines crime wrapped in cultural history; and John Ajvide Lindqvist whose highly acclaimed debut vampire novel Let the Right One In was also adapted to a film recently screened in Singapore.
In addition to the international line-up, an outstanding group of writers from across the borders: Baha Zain, K.S. Maniam, Mohd Nor Bin Khalid (Lat), Muhammad Haji Sallehand Anwar Ridhwan who have become household names in Malaysia will partake at Sharing Borders: Singapore/Malaysia Writers Symposium on Monday, 26 October. The symposium brings together scholars and writers to address the engagement of the two countries’ literatures through plenary sessions, workshops and panel discussion.
Another programme highlight in Asian writing and more specifically Singapore writing, Dissecting the Merlion will have eight writers from different backgrounds andg enerations to expound on the topic of the Merlion. Alfian Sa’at, Desmond Kon, Leong Liew Geok, Ng Yi-Sheng, Alvin Pang, Adrian Tan, Teng Qian Xi and Ovidia Yu will beon the panel moderated and hosted by Eleanor Wong. Also to be launched at the eventis a poetry anthology inspired by the Merlion across the four national languages.
Aspiring young writers and readers from the ages of 10 to 16 can also look forward to the School Outreach Copywriting programmes and get the chance to meet some of thehighly-talented and known writers such as Kate McCaffrey, John Boyne, Wena Poon,Haresh Sharma, Stella Kon and many more.
1 September 2009
English literature in Singapore
How many Singaporean English writers have you studied? Or even read?
While English writers from countries such as India, China, the Philippines and the West Indies have received critical acclaim, Singaporean writers generally have yet to make a significant international mark.
But some experts say that Singapore has only itself to blame in this regard.
Devika Misra has more.
The earliest evidence we have of English literature in Singapore dates to the nineteenth century.
It began, some say as early as the eighteen thirties thanks to the Straits born Chinese community in the colonial era.
Dr Kirpal Singh is a writer, English literature teacher and critic.He characterises much of the early writing as imitative.
"I think towards the end of the nineteenth century the writing becomes a little bit more robust and then in the twentieth century the first world war probably impelled a few Singaporeans to jot down their sentiments mainly in poetry, couple of short stories but then after the first world war we see a more sort of enlightened approach to writing in English, this becomes a little more dominant as the depression takes over and then we are poised for the second world war."
Much of that writing was set against the backdrop of foreign occupation-both by the British and the Japanese.
But since then Kirpal Singh says that although there has been a fairly robust body of Singaporean literature in the genres of drama, fiction and poetry it has not gained much recognition...at home or abroad.
He says it’s not due to the relatively small number of English readers, its more about a lack of recognition.
Professor Neelam Aggarwal says that Singaporean writers are coming into their own, it’s just a matter of time.
"You know we are a very young nation and compared for instance to the USA right? I mean it took American literature centuries to find a place. I would say that in a way Singaporean literature is slowly coming on its own. Increasingly in other universities in other parts of the world, many universities in other parts of the world are looking at Southeast Asian literature and they are looking at Singapore literature."
That is exactly the issue, argues Professor Singh.
While the works of some Singaporean writers such as Gopal Bharatam, Edwin Thumboo and Dr Goh Poh Seng are recognised and studied abroad they are not read enough at home, he says.
"When Singaporeans read they don't read us, they continue to read outsiders. I think the nub of the issue is that we haven't been given the pride and the recognition that we rightfully deserve within Singapore. We are our own, you know as the old cliche would have it our worst enemy."
He points out that it has been an uphill task to get local schools and colleges to teach their own literature.
"Teachers of literature in Singapore are very few in terms of those who encourage even the reading of Singapore literature. It is very clear that the Ministry of Education has taken quite a while to become very pro active or even markably pro active in terms of spreading and promoting Singaporean literature."
This is because, he says, there is what he calls a colonial hangover.
"We have our own pundits in Singapore who believe that unless you write like the native speaker, in other words unless you're an ape then you're not much of a human being. People tend to think if you develop your own voice then you're an aberration rather than the norm. Well, ironically they're right. I mean all original poets are aberrations. I think in our desire to conform and speak the way native speakers want to speak and write the way they want to write we just become imitators."
He says that until the local parlance, the local voice, the local idiom is appreciated within Singapore it will never be able to produce what is generally regarded as good, even great literature.
Professor Aggarwal agrees that local writers establishing their own voice remains an open issue.
"Critics of Singapore literature would want to look at this grappling with literary identity and that certainly is an issue, you know, to be able to establish your identity in Singapore for writers. I think over here theres a certain ambivalence in that sense. Do you look inward? Or do you look outward which means looking globally, having that global perspective."
Both Professors Kirpal Singh and Neelam Aggarwaal were participants in a recent seminar organised by SIM University.
The forum focussed on the teaching of language and literature in multi-lingual Singapore.
Straits Times, LIFE!, 21st February 2008
Five Arts Group get Funding
Reported by Adeline Chua
THE Sculpture Society of Singapore used to hold meetings in members’ homes, studios and even coffee shops.
Now with an injection of cash from the Asia Pacific Breweries (APB Foundation), the seven year old group will finally have a proper office at the Fort Canning Park, housed in two air conditioned containers.
There, the 50 members who are dedicated to raise the standard of the art form in Singapore, will hold monthly workshops for the public, start a new artist-in residence programme and have a place for regular society meetings.
The society is one of five arts groups which have been “adopted” by the foundation, a charity funded by the brewer of Tiger Beer.
Called APB Foundation Inspire Programme, the scheme grants each group $30,000 a year for a maximum of three years.
Besides the Sculpture Society, the other groups chosen are Indian arts group Asparas Arts, Malay literary arts group Angkatan Sasterawan’ 50, Chinese orchestra Ding Xiaoyan Ruan Ensemble and theatre company Cake Theatrical Productions.
At a ceremony at Traders Hotel yesterday, Mr Huang Hong Peng, APB’s regional director said that the groups were chosen because they demonstrated “strong creative potential, clear vision and a passion to grow their art”.
They also were unable to grow their art the way they wanted to due to lack of resources.
The National Arts Council (NAC), which matched the arts groups to the sponsor, also launched a new Arts Adoption Scheme yesterday. It will match make arts groups and corporate bodies which are like-minded and who share the same vision and values.
NAC chief executive Lee Suan Hiang said that arts sponsorship averaged about $40 million each year for the last five years, and he plans to grow this further.
He added that NAC is already in talks with a few corporate sponsors.
Meanwhile, arts groups already have exciting plans for their new grants.
Cake Theatrical Productions, for example, is using the money to set up a new arm called Paradise Alley, which will put on a free outdoor spectacle annually. The section will be headed by artist-performer Rizman Putra, who has just joined Coke as an associate artist.
Natalie Hennedige, 33, Cakes’s artistic director, said: “It will be experimental theatre meets outdoor parade meets installation art.:
Asparas Arts will introduce Neo Bharatham, an Indian dance technique built on classical dance principles with contemporary influences, which is not available locally.
With the money, it has hired a guest choreographer from Malaysia, Ajith Bhaskaran Dass,artistic director of Suvarna Fine Arts, who will train the Apsaras dancers here.
Neila Sathyalingam, 69, Asparas’ creative director, said: “The feedback we got from all the corporate bodies we perform for is that they like something contemporary. Now we have the resources to do so.”
Or as Ms Oscar Ng, 32, a Sculpture Society member, puts it: “It’s like winning the lottery. We don’t have to hold discussions at kopitiams any more.”
Youths-at-risk under pilot biblio-therapy programme publish "Black Diary"
By Nurfadhilla/ Riz Sunawan, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 28 February 2009 2135 hrs
SINGAPORE: Family planning, how to choose a friend and being money-wise before marriage are some of the issues explored in the "Black Diary". The "Black Diary" is a collection of short stories, produced under a pilot biblio-therapy programme for youths-at-risk.
It is a novel approach which uses literary materials as a therapeutic tool to help such youths overcome their problems. The book features the works of 13 girls from Pertapis Centre for Women and Girls.
It is the result of the programme by the Malay literary group, Writers Movement of 1950s, and the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation. The girls committed their painful experiences to paper after attending 12 workshop sessions from May to September last year. - CNA/vm
Full article: http://www.asas50.com/biblionews.jpg
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