The annual Singapore Writers Festival (SWF), that brings authors and the reading community together, is back for its 27th edition featuring more than 200 over programmes engaging in themes and concerns exploring this year’s theme — In Our Nature.
From 8 to 17 November 2024, you can expect to experience multifaceted lens that urges you to consider what it means to be human as well as our relationship with the natural environment with offerings by over 300 local and international presenters.
These authors include Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan, multi-award-winning Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka, 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Gregory Pardlo, American academic and author Cat Bohannon, Malaysian Eisner Award Winner Erica Eng, best-selling Filipino horror writer Rin Chupeco, and Young Adult writer Krystal Sutherland.
Here’s a closer look at some of the programme offerings.
Country Focus: Korea
Supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), this year’s Country Focus will be on Korea, profiling Korean authors who cover a range of topics from translation to mental wellness and webtoon comics.
Invited speakers include multi-award-winning translator and author Anton Hur who will also be conducting a masterclass on how to pitch translations and get them published.
Careful, We Bite: Manifesting Girl Rage in a Supernatural World
It’s not easy growing up as a girl, especially when you are living in these authors’ supernatural world. This panel discussion talks about the unflinching yet often underestimated girls who rage against all odd to find their place in world while also fighting it.
Festival Closing Debate: This House believes that life in plastic is fantastic
As a popular favourite of SWF, this debate will see a group of authors and creatives split into two teams — The Plastics and The Authenticators — to debate on whether we can live without plastic and what are the contradictions between fake and real.
Festival Keynote Talk: Cat Bohannon
Embark on an epic journey through 200 million years of evolutionary marvels. The talk will delve into Cat Bohannon’s bestseller Eve which spotlights the incredible evolutionary saga of the female body. This isn’t like your average lecture though as it will challenge conventional history to offer you brand new perspectives on how the female form has shaped the success of humanity.
Fright Night: Tales from the Unknown
Fans of horror would enjoy this panel discussion that ventures into the dark corners of the unknown with master mystery and horror storytellers who will peel back the layers of fear to reveal how they write tales that haunt the mind and keep readers on edge.
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me: A Swiftie’s Guide to Confessional Poetry
Curated by Sing Lit Station, this programme is ideal for fans of Taylor Swift’s music as you’re invited to go on a deep dive into her most iconic lyrics to explore how the personal becomes universal.
The panellists will also take you inside their own writing processes to discuss how they draw inspiration from their lives to turn moments of heartbreak, joy and self-discovery into meaningful narratives.
Your Heart of Darkness
Based on an original script based on personal accounts, this is a theatrical production that features individuals with past experiences of incarceration who were trained in Changi Prison’s Theatre Art programme.
It is inspired by prompts from novelist Joseph Conrad’s famous novella, Heart of Darkness, which explores the essence of human nature such as the theme of civilisation versus savagery, and how the level of civilisation is related to a physical and moral environment.
TICKETING INFORMATION
The Festival Pass is priced at S$30 while the Youth Pass is priced at S$15. The Festival Pass gives you access to all SWF programmes excluding the Single Ticketed Programmes while the Youth Pass allows access for all Festival Programmes except the ones with content advisories.
A valid student card is required for Youth Pass holders for on-site verification.
Selected Single Ticket Programmes are not accessible with the Festival Pass and are priced from S$10 to S$30. Tickets for selected programmes are already on sale on SWF’s website while details for the other programmes will be announced at a later date.
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