The Singapore Writers Festival goes digital with lots of programmes.

 

The 23rd Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) is going digital this year from October 30 to November 8, 2020 and will be an international gathering of writers and ideas. There will be headliners gracing the Festival like UK’s Zadie Smith (English author best known for “White Teeth”), US’ Art Spiegelman (cartoonist, comics advocate and former contributing artist to “The New Yorker”) and China’s Liu Cixin (science fiction writer of “The Three-Body Problem”).

Audiences can look forward to hearing from literary titan Margaret Atwood of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and 2019 Booker Prize-winner “The Testaments”; award-winning journalist and columnist Naomi Klein who wrote the seminal books “The Shock Doctrine” and “No Logo”; acclaimed author Sarah Lewis of “The Rise”; and prodigious novelist, critic and photographer Teju Cole. Audiences can also interact in real time with Atwood and Klein in the question-and-answer segment of their programmes.

Let’s not forget Singapore’s literary talents. You can catch a glimpse into the lives of Singapore’s Indian community as portrayed by three seminal Tamil writers (including P Krishnan, Rama Kannabiran, Singai Ma Elangkannan) whose prolific careers span short stories, novels, poetry and radio. From the WWII to Singapore’s development in the ’60s to ’80s, uncover the anxieties and aspirations they had through the years.

There is also a session called “Connections – Original Monologues From Our Homes”. From love, to family, to growing old in Singapore, five seniors who are first-time writers capture the intimacies of life in their respective short monologues filmed from their homes. Join these seniors and the programme’s director and producer for a chat as they talk about their creative process and the life experiences that have inspired their writing.

The Festival is being organised by the National Arts Council. For more information, visit the festival website at: www.singaporewritersfestival.com/. Tickets for seniors are priced at S$12 and can be purchased through SISTEC.