Poetry Festival Singapore 2018
Poetry Festival Singapore (PFS), formerly The National Poetry Festival is a recipient of the National Arts Council’s Seed Grant from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2019. It is also supported by Our SG Fund. It promotes poetry and the other arts through programmes that include public readings, keynote addresses, craft workshops and panel discussions.
PFS's primary aim is to promote literary excellence in a multilingual, multicultural, multi-generational setting.
Click here for more information and register!
27 July 2018 - Poetry Festival Singapore Events
27 July 6.00pm – 9.30pm: Opening Ceremony @ Blue Room
27 July 8.30pm - 9.30pm: BENCHES - A Poetic Play @ Play Den
28 July 2018 - Poetry Festival Singapore Events
28 July 9.30am - 10.30am: Keynote Address by Chandran Nair @ Blue Room
28 July 1030am - 1130am: Authorial Meditations: Engaging with Religious Narratives @ Blue Room
28 July 11.00am - 12.00nn: Lecture: Puisi Melayu Singapura dan Serantau by Mr Hamed Ismail @ Screening Room
28 July 11.30am - 1.00pm: Children’s poetry workshop by Felix Cheong @ Living Room
28 July 12.00nn - 1.00pm: Forum: “Masihkah Ada Semangat Puisi?” by Mdm Noridah Kamari & Mr Djohan Abdul Rahman @ Blue Room
28 July 12.00nn – 2.00pm: Screening of Poetry Films @ Screening Room
28 July 12.00nn – 4.00pm: Poetry Proletariat Factory @ Chamber
28 July 1.00pm – 2.00pm: Lunch with Poetry Reading by Crispin Rodrigues: An Author Prepares @ Blue Room
28 July 1.30pm – 2.30pm: Young Women Poets @ Living Room [No lunch provided]
28 July 2.30pm – 3.30pm: History of Spoken Word with poets Ng Yi-Sheng and Stephanie Dogfoot @ Living Room
28 July 3.00pm - 4.00pm: Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves in English and Tamil @ Screening Room
28 July 3.30pm - 5.00pm: Spoken Word Workshop with Amber Lin @ Blue Room
28 July 4.00pm - 5.30pm: Panel discussion on Tamil Poetry @ Screening Room
28 July 4.30pm - 5.30pm: BENCHES - A Poetic Play @ Play Den
28 July 5.30pm - 6.30pm: Migrant Poetry Reading @ Screening Room
28 July 5.30pm - 6.30pm: National Poetry Competition Award Ceremony @ Living Room [Free Entry]
28 July 6.30pm – 8.00pm: Spoken Word Poetry Reading hosted by Elijah Chai with Amber Lin’s students @ Blue Room [early reg required, free entry]
28 July 7.30pm - 9.00pm: Panel discussion on Tamil Poetry @ Screening Room
28 July 8.30pm - 9.30pm: BENCHES - A Poetic Play @ Play Den
29 July 2018 – Poetry Festival Singapore Events
29 July 11.00am - 12.30pm: Forum on Chinese Poetry and Music @ Blue Room
29 July 11.00am - 12.30pm: Video Poetry in English and Tamil @ Screening Room
29 July 1.00pm - 2.00pm: LUNCH with Poetry 『WITHOUT RHYME OR REASON』by S@ber @ Blue Room
29 July 2.00pm - 3.00pm: A Reading Showcase by the Creative Arts Programme @ Screening Room
29 July 3.00pm - 4.00pm: In Spirit and In Truth Spiritual Poetry Reading @ Blue Room
29 July 4.00pm – 8.00pm: Screening of Poetry Films @ Screening Room
29 July 4.30pm - 5.30pm: BENCHES - A Poetic Play @ Play Den
29 July 7.00pm - 8.00pm: Poetry Reading Performance by Shivram Workshop Students from HCAC @ Blue Room
Click here for more information and register!
Paid Events List
BENCHES
A Poetic Play
27 JULY | FRIDAY
8.30PM-9.30PM
Play Den, The Arts House
$20.00 - Get your tickets here!
28 JULY | SATURDAY
4.30PM-5.30PM
Play Den, The Arts House
$20.00 - Get your tickets here!
28 JULY | SATURDAY
8.30PM-9.30PM
Play Den, The Arts House
$20.00 - Get your tickets here!
29 JULY | SUNDAY
4.30PM-5.30PM
Play Den, The Arts House
$20.00 - Get your tickets here!
BENCHES - A Poetic Play
A girl, in search for her identity, returns to the park that her grandfather used to take her to when he was still alive. He appears, and together they embark on a journey spanning five decades, meeting faces both old and new along the way, sharing tales that become an allegory to her future.
Benches is a coming-of-age, two-person poetic play on love, loss, and what it means for some stories to stay with us forever.
This is the Singapore premiere of an international collaboration, supported by the Poetry Festival Singapore.
Written by GIOVANNI ORTEGA (USA)
Poetry by RANICE TAY (Singapore)
Performed by GIOVANNI ORTEGA (USA) and RANICE TAY (Singapore)
Stage Manager: GENEVIEVE TAN
Children’s Poetry Workshop by Felix Cheong
What Rhymes is Fine
28 JULY | SATURDAY
11.30AM-1.00PM
Living Room, The Arts House
Tickets at $8.00 - Click here to register!
In this fun workshop, poet Felix Cheong will play games with participants using rhymes and word association. The aim is to allow them to create poetry freely, to enjoy the creative process without fearing that it is "wrong" or "difficult" to understand.
Nationhood
Poetry Proletariat Factory (PPF) Programme
28 JULY | SATURDAY
12.00NN-4.00PM
Chamber, The Arts House
Donation Basis - Click here to pre-order your poems!
12.00pm- 4.00pm / Performance and poetry production
12.45pm, 1.45pm, 2.45pm, 3.45pm / Poetry readings (15 min sessions)
Watch as the Servile Poets produce poems on analogue typewriters, in mental submission to the Supreme Controller’s productivity-maximising soundscape. Place your order by giving them a word and they will commit to their labour of reflecting and creating from their specific thematic realms. In exchange, pay as you want for the poem product.
Nominated Members of Poetry (NMPs) will be on site to recite your poem at the end of every one hour shift.
Poems will be written as per your request and performed at the timings below. Collect your poems at The Arts House from 1.00pm.
An Author's Prepares
Lunch with Poetry Reading by Crispin Rodrigues
28 JULY | SATURDAY
1.00PM-2.00PM
Blue Room, The Arts House
Tickets at $6.00 - Click here to register!
Crispin Rodrigues is learning to be a poet. He has just launched his first collection of poems, Pantomime, but he’s afraid that it might not make the cut. Based on Konstatin Stanislavki’s An Actor Prepares, join Crispin as he speaks his mind in a part reading, part performance and part Q&A as he tries to blur what it means to be a poet on his own terms. Lunch provided.
『WITHOUT RHYME OR REASON』
Lunch with Poetry by S@ber
29 JULY | SUNDAY
1.00PM-2.00PM
Blue Room, The Arts House
Tickets at $6.00 - Click here to register!
A Poetry Reading by Literary Collective / S@ber/Max Pasakorn
Catch the members of writers' collective /Stop @ Bad End Rhymes (/s@ber) in a public reading! From heartfelt confessions to mindboggling literary experiments, you're guaranteed a variety of written and spoken works that will leave a rich and flavorful aftertaste.
/s@ber members have appeared individually in live poetry performances and literary publications in Singapore and overseas. /s@ber is supported by local literary charity Sing Lit Station.
This event is hosted by /s@ber member Amber Lin, and features Andy Winter, Joshua Lim, Lune Loh, Valen Lim, Ianna Chia, Iain Lim Jun Rui, Pranamika, Anurak Saelaow , Carissa Cheow, Andrea Ong and Max Pasakorn.
Poetry Reading Performace by Shivram Workshop Students from HCAC
29 JULY | SUNDAY
7.00PM-8.00PM
Blue Room, The Arts House
Tickets at $10.00 - Click here to register!