"Poetry by Heart: Harnessing the Power of Poetry Recitation"

 

Learning poems by heart offers multiple benefits for a happier and more fulfilling life —it can enhance oral communication skills and improve one's memory, besides honing deeper concentration and focus.

Targeted at primary and secondary school students, this workshop will share basic principles and strategies for poetry memorisation and recitation, including retrieval practice, learning by drawing, and embodied learning approaches.

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Participants will select their favourite poems to learn by heart and practise techniques that they can use to learn and recite poems out loud. By activating the transformative power of recitation, participants can deepen their understanding of poetry while developing a keener appreciation of voice, rhythm, tone, and articulation.

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In the process, participants can enjoy the process of connecting with their favourite poems, with one another, and with themselves.

 

Date/Time: 9 June 2023, Friday, 10AM–12PM or 2PM–4PM 
(participants can choose from either 1 of the 2 sessions)

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Venue: National Library, The Pod,
100 Victoria Street, Level 16, Singapore 188064

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Click here for posters and visuals about the competition

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Register here:

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• 10AM—12PM session: https://go.gov.sg/nlb-poetrybyheart1

• ​2PM—4PM session: https://go.gov.sg/nlb-poetrybyheart2

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About the Facilitator:

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Ow Yeong Wai Kit  is an educator and editor of four poetry anthologies.

A recipient of the Outstanding Youth in Education Award by the Ministry of Education, he holds a master's degree in English from University College London, and has served as a judge of the National Poetry Competition (Singapore).

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This workshop supports the inaugural National Poetry Recitation Competition (NPRC).

Poetry Festival Singapore (PFS) is organising the inaugural National Poetry Recitation Competition (NPRC) in 2023. Celebrating poetry in all four national languages, this multilingual competition and showcase aims to promote the appreciation of poetry in the classroom and the community by encouraging students and the public in Singapore to learn poems by heart. Finalists will recite their selected poems in person during the finals on 29 and 30 July 2023 at the National Library and the Arts House.

 

Objectives

 

The objectives of the competition and showcase are as follows:

 

• To promote the appreciation of poetry in Singapore by learning poems by heart and reciting them aloud

• To celebrate the diversity of poetry in all four of Singapore’s official languages

• To provide an opportunity to hone oral communication skills through poetry recitation

 

Languages

 

• The competition and showcase comprises four language categories: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil.

• Participants are permitted – and indeed encouraged – to participate in more than one language category if they would like to do so (e.g. English and Chinese / Malay / Tamil).

• For the English and Chinese categories, NPRC involves a competitive format, with prizes presented – please refer to the rules and regulations of the respective language categories.

• For the Malay and Tamil categories, NPRC involves a non-competitive format, and instead adopts the structure of an open-mic event, in which participants are invited to showcase their recitations without any evaluation of performances.

 

Click here for posters and visuals about the competition

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English Category:

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• Memorise 1 poem, and submit a video-recording of your recitation – bonus points if you can memorise 2!

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Click here to view the rules and regulations of the National Poetry Recitation Competition (English) 2023.

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Click here to submit your entry for the National Poetry Recitation Competition (English) 2023.

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Click here for the list of poems you can select to recite!

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Chinese Category:

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Click here to view the rules and regulations of the National Poetry Recitation Competition (Chinese) 2023.

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Click here to register for the National Poetry Recitation Competition (Chinese) 2023.

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Malay and Tamil Categories:

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Please stay tuned for more updates!

WRITE AND BURN! is Poetry Festival Singapore's annual spoken word poetry challenge, open to all students aged 15-18! Join us at the finals of the competition - all are invited!

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Click here to register and attend the finals of Write & Burn 2023 Finals. 

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A workshop was also held at National Gallery Singapore for all participants and friends of "Write & Burn". Find out more about what happened behind the scenes and the takeaways of inspired participants here.

From 29 July to 10 August 2022, Poetry Festival Singapore (PFS) presented the 8th edition of its eponymous festival, centred around the theme of "Resurgence". This year’s festival combined in-person live-streams, film screenings, workshops, online poetry readings, and performances. 

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Click here for a full list of programmes scheduled during Poetry Festival Singapore 2022. 

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Click here to view the programme videos from Poetry Festival Singapore 2022.

WRITE AND BURN! is Poetry Festival Singapore's annual spoken word poetry challenge, open to all students aged 15-18! Come let your words take flight and stand to win attractive prizes as well!

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Click here for more details.

Hosted by Low Kian Seh

 

“But tragedy always has a glorious thing happen at the end of it. That's what the catharsis is.” This phrase sums up what the word “catharsis” means to Derek Walcott.

 

What does catharsis mean to you? If you have a poem on the theme 'Catharsis', send it to us and be part of our Catharsis poetry open call! We want to read your works!

 

The best submissions may be featured on Instagram and those with the most likes will be performed on July 30, 2022 at LASALLE College of the Arts.

 

Deadline for submission: 31 May 2022 

View a full list of finalists name here.

 

Requirements:

- Only English-language poems are accepted at this point.

- Between minimum 8 and maximum 40 lines

- Open to all in Singapore (even non-citizens and non-PRs)

- You may submit 1 to 2 entries

 

 

Catharsis was created by Elijah Chai. 

From 30 July to 8 August 2021, Poetry Festival Singapore (PFS) will be presenting the 7th edition of its eponymous festival, centred around the theme of "Community". This year’s festival will combine in-person live-streams, film screenings, workshops, online poetry readings, and performances. 

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Click here for more details.

The Singapore Literature Conference is back for its third installment, centred around the theme of “Community".

The conference explores the theme in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and drama about Singapore from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines.

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The sessions will be on the following sub-themes:

1. community and ethics,

2. literature and the community,

3. teaching literature; and

4. community building on social media.

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Click here for more details.

From workshops to poetry readings, learning about spoken word poetry, to melding calligraphy with the written word, we hope these poetry-centric activities will be able to present Literature in a different, more interesting perspective.

 

Intrigued? Click here to book a workshop!