programme download - Singapore Writers Festival

Paul Tan
Festival Director
We’re back! How time zips by – it seems like only yesterday when we were saying
hello to audience members at our festival district last year!
We were delighted last year’s programming and location proved a powerful magnet
and we were able to reach out to record numbers. Over 56,000 people attended the
panels, activities or saw the literature-inspired art installations.
But really it isn’t a numbers game because the Singapore Writers festival has always
been intended to be an intimate, cosy festival for book-loving friends and people keen
on thoughtful conversations about ideas.
i hope this year’s line up of writers will be as warmly received. international writers
such as michael cunningham, Pico iyer, Huang chun-ming, jimmy liao and Shin
kyung-Sook will share the stage with our best and emerging Singaporean writers.
do come and listen to them, and get your books autographed.
By now, i hope you are more familiar with how the festival Pass works and the types
of free or ticketed programmes the SWf has. this year, we bring another exciting
element to the table, the SWf fringe! Held at and curated by the arts House, we are
sure this late-night programme will tantalise audiences in more ways than one.
i would like to take this opportunity to thank our generous
and supportive sponsors, including lee foundation and
ilovebooks.com. a big thank-you goes out to our various venue
and programming partners including the Singapore management
university, for welcoming the festival in the heart of the city, the
national museum of Singapore, the Singapore art museum, the
national library and the Peranakan museum.
We hope you enjoy the festival and find your own unique
take on Origins.
SWF 2012:
ORIGINS
SWF’s 2012 theme returns to
the beginning. the beginning
of time, of language, of the
story, of our identities…
this year’s programming shines
the spotlight on story-telling,
biographies, and historical fiction
and traces the source of creative
inspiration - what is at the heart of
moving narratives, riveting characters
and memorable turns-of-phrase.
at the same time, in a world of mass
reproductions, new technologies
and endless iterations of old
stories, we reflect on what is truly
original in the first place.
as humanity hurtles forward, eyes
trained on the future, we also look back.
We imagine the lives of those before
us by drawing on shared and individual
histories. Origins allows us to revisit
our own identities, the multiple roles
we assume and the masks we put on.
What is at the innermost selves – our
ethnic origins, the faiths we profess or
the colour of the identity card we carry?
SWf 2012 promises debate, discussion
and insights as we celebrate the best
of the written and spoken word.
ABOUT THE SINGAPORE
WRITERS FESTIVAL
The Singapore Writers Festival is
one of asia’s premier literary events,
organised by the national arts council.
inaugurated in 1986, the festival serves
a dual function of promoting new and
emerging Singaporean and asian
writing to an international audience,
as well as presenting the world’s major
literary talents to Singaporeans. SWf
has delighted book lovers by featuring
literary luminaries such as Singapore
writers Shamini flint, meira chand,
alvin Pang, Suchen christine lim, you
jin, as well as international writers
such as Steven levitt, michael chabon,
neil gaiman, Bi feiyu, david mitchell,
Bei dao, f Sionil jose, taichi yamada,
andrew motion and marc Smith.
to date, it remains one of the few
literary festivals in the world that
is multi-lingual, celebrating works
in Singapore’s official languages –
english, malay, chinese and tamil.
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