Celebrating Singapore’s vibrant literary landscape, Textures – A Weekend with Words will explore and champion Singapore writing in over 30 programmes from 9 to 11 March. The inaugural three-day festival also puts a spotlight on the literary community in Singapore — from writers, publishers and booksellers, to translators, editors and more.
Textures invites everyone to dive in, appreciate, and enjoy the power and beauty of words. Festival-goers can choose from a gamut of activities including dramatised performances of iconic Singaporean works, panel discussions, film screenings, workshops and other programmes that traverse genres and forms.
Here’s our pick of what festival-goers should look out for:
1) Trade Secrets
Bringing together a publisher, a book buyer and a literary agent, the panel discussion Trade Secrets is a rare behind-the-scenes introduction to the world of books. Launched in November 2017, the book Kiasunomics follows the life of Teng from birth to adulthood, and examines the influences and outcomes of the decisions many Singaporeans make everyday. At Textures, two of the three professors-turned-authors will share excerpts from their research findings, and how the fictional characters in the book aid in explaining and presenting the results.
2) Out of Print and Room of Recommendations Exhibition
At Out of Print exhibition in Gallery I, visitors explore and uncover the historical importance of 16 Singapore titles published between 1965 and 1995, and discover how contemporary reinterpretations of their covers inject fresh energy, curiosity and interest in past literary works.
Also within the Gallery I, Room of Recommendations is a showcase of local favourites titles: page-turners recommended by writers, publishers and thinkers in the Singapore’s literary scene. Visitors can also check out Room of Lost Books and Wandering Writers, an exhibition that introduces books published between the 1960s and 2000s.
3) The Page on Stage
Produced by award-winning actress and producer Tan Kheng Hua, The Page on Stage features two actors performing excerpts from memorable stories by some of Singapore’s most popular writers. Characters from stories written by Gopal Baratham, Colin Cheong, Philip Jeyaretnam and Simon Tay leap off the pages and onto the stage with direction by seasoned theatre practitioner and television host Brendon Fernandez.
4) Making Comics! Working with others in the Sequential Arts
Making Comics! Working with others in the Sequential Arts is a three-hour workshop for ten writers and ten artists who will collaborate in pairs under the guidance of Lim Cheng Tju and Benjamin Chee, the writer and artist team of Guidebook to Nanyang Diplomacy, and Dave Chua and Max Loh of We’ll Eat When We’re Done. Through practical exercises, each pair will explore how writers and artists work together to produce comics and try their hands at creating their own sequential stories.
At Textures, budding writers will also get to engage with other established writers, editors and publishers to take their passion further
