Over the 3-4 August weekend, Poetry Festival Singapore hosted preview workshops for our new initiative, The Mindful Poet, a programme fusing mindfulness and poetry practice. In our August 2019 workshops, we investigated how mindfulness can be a powerful and inspiring tool to cultivate effective writing habits and grow as an individual. Our instructors, Gemma Pereira and Dani Van de Velde, guided participants through meditation practice and a writing activity. 

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The Mindful Poet will launch it's full programme of bimonthly workshops and contests in 2020. Sign up for the mailing list by sending us an email at poetryfestivalsg@gmail.com with the subject header "The Mindful Poet Mailing List".

Details:

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SESSION ONE
Saturday, 3 August 2019 from 5.30-7.30pm
Jurong Regional Library, Programme Zone
21 Jurong East Central 1
Singapore 609732

SESSION TWO - FULL
Sunday, 4 August 2019 from 2.00-4.00pm
Sing Lit Station
22 Dickson Road, #02-01
Singapore 209506

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Click here for original event website and instructor profiles.

Singapore Literature Conference 2019 is back again for its 2nd instalment.

Join this event to explore a wide range of perspectives and disciplines in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and drama!

Theme: Metamorphosis of Singapore Literature
Date: Sat, 27 July 2019
Time: 8:45am to 5:00pm
Venue: National Library Board, Level 16, the POD, 100 Victoria Street Singapore 188064

Registration encouraged, limited seats. 
Snacks will be provided for the morning session, subject to availability. 
Attendees should prepare some cash donation for print copies of programme booklet. The booklet is also available online at bit.ly/slc19bklet.
Recommended SGD $2.00 to cover printing costs. ​

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Original event website and full programme, click here.

"metamorphosis /ˌmɛtəˈmɔːfəsɪs/
noun
A change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one." 

This July, witness the transformative power and diversity of Singapore poetry at Poetry Festival Singapore 2019. Centred around the theme 'Metamorphosis', we take stock of how far we have come, while shining a spotlight on emerging talents and exciting new trends. Come celebrate the diversity of Singapore literature at multilingual readings and panels; be mesmerized by song at PALINDROMES, a poetic play with music; or unwind and let your inner words flow with Vicky Chong at a workshop on yoga and poetry. With a variety of both free and ticketed events, there's bound to be something for everyone. 

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Theme: Metamorphosis
Date: Friday, 19 July 2019 - Sunday, 21 July 2019
Venue: The Arts House

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Original event website, click here.

Join us in celebration as we reveal the winners of the National Poetry Competition (NPC) 2019, based on the theme "Metamorphosis". Featuring winning poems from three categories (10-14 years old, 15-18 years old and 19 years and above) in the four official languages. 

See the full list of winners and read the winning poems here!

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Event Details
Date: Saturday, 20 July 2019
Time: 2:45pm - 4:00pm
Venue: The Arts House, Living Room

Original event website, click here.

Workshop
 

On 16 June 2019, Poetry Festival Singapore had the honour of inviting poet Melizarani T. Selva to give a workshop on writing poems for the stage. The intimate session saw attendees learning about voice projection, confidence, owning one's space on the stage and more. The workshop ended with attendees applying what they learnt, performing for each other their own original works refined over the course of the workshop. 
 

SPARK! is being held in conjunction with our WRITE AND BURN! poetry challenge which will be held on 25 August 2019. Click here for sign-ups and more info! 

Event Details
Date: Sunday, 16 June 2019
Time: 2:00pm-5:00pm
Venue: Haque Centre for Acting and Creativity

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Original event website, click here.

Workshop
 

Writing personal stories may be a painful process involving the exploration of past experiences. Join this workshop for a chance to explore your life through poetry writing on the theme of 'Catharsis'.

Also, indulge in a literary weekend of music and poetry recitation by selected participants of the 2018 ‘Catharsis’ Open Call.

Open to ages 15 and above, all residents based in Singapore.

Event Details

Date: Sunday, 26 May 2019
Time: 1.00pm to 3.00pm
Location: Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity

About our Instructor

Elijah Chai is a teacher with a love for poetry and the English Language. He has some works floating in the Kindle ecosystem, and many others scattered on the Internet. Currently the Secretary for Poetry Festival Singapore, he nurses the vision that soon enough, everyman will step forward to share his personal voice and story.

Competition and Workshop
 

On 25 May 2019, Poetry Festival Singapore and the National Parks Board invited aspiring poets from primary schools all around Singapore to join us for Reflecting on Nature: On-the-Spot Poetry Competition, a writing workshop and competition themed around the topic of nature. Under the guidance of local author Christine Chia, participants learned to express their experiences with nature through poetry, eventually producing their own original works. Among all the unique and enchanting entries received, judges selected 3 top award winners, 5 merit winners and 1 special mention. View the winning entries here​!

Event Details
Date: Saturday, 25 May 2019
Time: 8:45am-1:15pm
Venue: Singapore Botanic Gardens

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Original event website, click here.

Performance and Workshop

Listen to poetry readings and watch performances to gear up for poetry writing on the theme of 'Catharsis'! Also, join a poetry workshop that will explore the same theme! 

Be mesmerized by live dance, music and poetry recitations in Bengali and English by migrant workers.

Featuring, "Price of Sweat Drop", a presentation by KOHON, A Bengali Recital Team!

This event is open to all members of the public and migrant workers in Singapore.

Admission is free!

Event Details
Date: Sunday, 5 May 2019
Time: 11am to 1pm
Venue: Choa Chu Kang Public Library

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Original event website, click here.

Spoken Word

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Date and Time: 16 & 17 Mar 2019, Sat & Sun 

Venue: Centre 42

Co-organised by: Matter.Less

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re: VERSE 3.0 is a poetry reading that is inspired by the linguistic tapestry of local poetry. Poems will take on different tongues, but instead of being lost in translation, they will be found and presented in a different light.

More often than not, translated literature conveys solely the content to non-native speakers. However, the translation of poetry, an oral tradition, which places emphasis on sound devices such as rhythm, rhyme, assonance etc., requires more than just interpretation of content. This project seeks to experiment with the distinctive phonetics of multiple languages and offer the audience an alternative way to appreciate literature from different cultures.

This is a multilingual showcase where works will be inter-translated among the four official languages of Singapore. Join us on a journey of discovery as we unearth and reimagine the hidden gems of local poetry and also get a chance to experience another sphere of poetry as our performers take on spoken word performances based on poems!

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Original event website, click here. 

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Tour and Workshop

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Date and Time: 9 Mar 2019, Sat 3.30pm - 6.30pm

Venue: National Gallery Singapore

Co-organised by: National Gallery Singapore

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Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore presents social and cultural narratives of Singapore in paint. Three generations of Singapore Poets will do the same in verse. The poets will reflect on bonds with their homeland through the visual and literary arts.

How does one verbalize intimate feelings about home? Art becomes a muse for the poets drawn from all the official linguistic traditions in Singapore. The poems engage in the imaginative act of narrating or reflecting on situations limned in paintings. In its latest iteration, this popular poetry tour will explore representations of home in the paintings of watercolorist Lim Cheng Hoe in National Gallery Singapore.

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Workshop

Members of the public can sign up for workshops on ekphrastic poetry, the same genre that will be showcased at the poetry tours. Join the workshop, "Ekphrastic Imaginings: Writing About Art in Singapore” which will be facilitated by Desmond Kon Zhicheng Mingde.

About Desmond Kon Zhicheng Mingde

Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé is the author of a novel, two hybrid works, and nine poetry collections. A former journalist, he has edited more than fifteen books and co-produced three audio books. Among other accolades, Desmond is the recipient of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, Independent Publisher Book Award, National Indie Excellence Book Award, Poetry World Cup, Singapore Literature Prize, two Beverly Hills International Book Awards, and three Living Now Book Awards. He helms Squircle Line Press as its founding editor.
 

Original event website, click here. 

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Talk

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Date and Time: 19 Jan 2019, Sat 4.00pm - 6.30pm

Venue: National Library, Possibility Room, Level 5

Co-organised by: National Library 

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Join Dr Dennis Yeo, Lecturer at the National Institute of Education, as he shares the finer points of poetry appreciation and analysis.

Dr Yeo will demonstrate how to effectively approach the unseen poem in exams through a range of Singapore poetry.

There will also be a curator's tour of the National Library Level 8 Arts Space and a sharing session on National Library's print & electronic resources for the Arts collection.

About Dr Dennis Yeo

Dennis Yeo has taught at primary, secondary, junior college and tertiary levels. His positions include Subject Head (Literature), Head of Department (Pastoral Care & Career Guidance) and Vice-Principal of Pioneer Junior College. He is currently with the English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education. His research interests include Gothic film, popular culture and literature pedagogy. He is the author of Hook and Eye: A Study Companion and the editor of Ku*lit: Asian Literature for the Language Classroom. He received the NIE Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013.

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Original event website, click here. 

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Tour

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Date and Time: 19 Jan 2019, Sat 5.00pm - 6.00pm

Venue: SAM at 8Q

Co-organised by: Singapore Art Museum

Explore the President’s Young Talents 2018 exhibition through an art and poetry trail, led by poets Charlene Shepherdson, Christine Chia, Chua Poh Leng, Manickavasagan Ashmita and Shivram Gopinath. From scars to nostalgia and spirituality, delve into the artwork topics and themes through live readings of multilingual poetry, written in response to the artworks.

Featured artworks during the tour:

“An Exposition” by Hilmi Johandi
“Pragmatic Prayers for the Kala at the Threshold” by Zarina Muhammad
“The scars that write us” by Yanyun Chen
“Soil Works” by Debbie Ding
“sft crsh ctrl” by Weixin Quek Chong

Featured poets during the tour:

Chua Poh Leng
蔡宝龙 Chua Poh Leng (Born 1964, Singapore) is Senior Lecturer with Fine Art Programme, School of Art and Design at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). He holds a MA in Art Education from University of Central England in Birmingham, UK, a MA in Buddhism from Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka. He began his artistic journey as an ink painter. He had participated in the 27th & 31st International Snow Sculpture Competitions in Quebec, Canada. Recent exhibition include the 2017 Taipei International Ink Painting Exhibition at National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taiwan.

Christine Chia (Yueh Chin)
Christine Chia is the author of The Law of Second Marriages and its sequel Separation: a history. She is also the co-editor of the groundbreaking poetry anthologies A Luxury We Cannot Afford, A Luxury We Must Afford and Lines, Spark, Code. Her work has appeared in Washington Square Review, Brooklyn Poets Anthology, Unfree Verse, The Arts House and the W!ld Rice play Another Country.

Charlene Shepherdson
Charlene Shepherdson is a poet who uses language in written, performative and visual forms to bridge communities and empower voices. Her words have been published in anthologies by Ethos Books, Math Paper Press, World Scientific Publishing and University of the Philippines Press, including From Walden to Woodlands and A Luxury We Cannot Afford. She is currently working on an interdisciplinary project combining text with textiles.

Shivram Gopinath
Shivram Gopinath is a writer and spoken word performer. His poetry has been heard at the Singapore Writers Festival, Singapore Heritage Fest, Lit Up Festival, Neon Lights and more. His most recent work is Mein Shaayar to Nahin (I Am Not A Poet) - a collaborative project that combines spoken word and music from Tamil and Hindi cinema as a way of exploring the Indian experience in Singapore. He conducts poetry workshops structured around identity and community at the Haque Centre of Acting and Creativity, and is the 2015 and 2016 Singapore National Poetry Slam champion. 

Ashmitha Manickavasagan
Manickavasagan Ashmitha is currently studying in Methodist Girls' Secondary School. She likes to write Tamil poems as a hobby and has joined many Tamil competitions since young. She finds joy in expressing her deepest thoughts and emotions through poetry as it is a platform that she can use to communicate her feelings to people around her without restricting herself. Through her poem, she hopes to voice out the opinions and the different perspectives of Yanyun Chen's artwork

President’s Young Talents Exhibition
Ongoing from now till 27 January 2019 at SAM at 8Q. Free for Singaporeans & PRs. Ticketing charges for Non-Singaporeans apply. Museum opening timings apply

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Original event website, click here. 

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Festival

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Date and Time: 7 & 8 Dec 2018

Venue: The Projector, Sing Lit Station & Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity 

Organised by: Pooja Nansi 

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Other Tongues is a Youth Poet Ambassador public programme and is the final programme in poet, Pooja Nansi’s tenure as the inaugural Youth Poet Ambassador (YPA) from 2017 to 2018.

Other Tongues is a literary festival that centers voices from minority communities in Singapore. The Festival is invested in promoting diversity by encouraging and empowering young people from minority communities across language groups to participate actively in the literary scene.

The festival runs over two days, from Friday to Saturday, December 7th to 8th, and features performances, panels and workshops in multiple locations around the Kampong Glam and Little India areas, including The Projector, Haque Centre for Acting and Creativity and our venue supporter, Sing Lit Station. Artists featured in the programmes range from established names such as Alfian Sa’at, Haresh Sharma, Balli Kaur Jaswal, Effendy Ibrahim, Bani Haykal, Siti K and Marc Nair, as well as upcoming names in the local spoken word and poetry scene, Zeha H., Atiq Lukman, Andre D’Rozario and Muslim Sahib. More than 35 artists will be featured in this festival.

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Original event website, click here. 

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Tour

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Date and Time: 10 Nov, Sat 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Venue: National Gallery Singapore, Supreme Court Wing's Foyer 

Moderated by: Eric Tinsay Valles, Genevieve Wong

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Writing about love is a challenge. How does one verbalise an intimate and inexpressible feeling? Art becomes a muse for the poets drawn from all the official linguistic traditions in Singapore. The poems engage in the imaginative act of describing, narrating or reflecting on situations limned in paintings or sculptures, expanding on the meanings that they evoke. The artworks in National Gallery Singapore offer an unparalleled vantage point for representations of love in Southeast Asia’s rich history and cultural heritage. 

This session is co-presented with Singapore Writers Festival 2018.

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Original event website, click here. 

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Reading session

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Date and Time: 7 Nov, Wed 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM 

Venue: The Arts House (TAH), POP Stage 

Moderated by: Elijah Chai

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Savour the winning entries of the National Poetry Competition 2018 in all of the island’s official languages as they reflect on the SWF 2018’s theme, 界 (‘jie’). This readings showcase diverse voices offering words which twist and draw out the linguistic threads, deftly crossing themes and styles in a buffet of new offerings. 

This session is co-presented with Singapore Writers Festival 2018.

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Original event website, click here. 

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Reading session

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Date and Time: 11 Nov, Sun 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM 

Venue: Funan Showsuite, Junction of Hill Street and High Street

Moderated by: Eric Tinsay Valles

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Increased trade and cultural exchanges between Singapore and the Philippines have led to shared experiences and stories in prose and poetry. This session continues a literary dialogue that has spawned joint anthologies and readings. Listen to the featured writers read excerpts of their works and join in the fellowship centred on what we love such as comfort food, cultural diversity and a good story.

This session is co-presented with Singapore Writers Festival 2018.

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Original event website, click here. 

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​The inaugural Poetry Walls-NUS FASS Singapore Literature Conference was held at LASALLE College of the Arts with the generous support of the National Arts Council and National University Singapore's Faculty of the Arts and Social Sciences. The guests of honour were Mrs Rosa Daniel, CEO of the National Arts Council, and Prof Robbie Goh, Dean of NUS FASS. Prof Edwin Thumboo, Emeritus Professor at the NUS Department of English Language and Literature, delivered the keynote lecture. A biennial event, Singapore Literature Conference is now organised by Poetry Festival Singapore. You can view photos from the inaugural conference here.

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Awards Ceremony - 29 July 2017

National Poetry Festival 2016 comprises fringe events and a main festival. NPF has planned poetry events in February and May that lead up to the main festival in July.