Now in its third year, the annual event celebrating gender and sexuality will be held at arts venue 72-13 tonight.

Curating the event this year is poet and playwright Ng Yi-sheng (right), whose recently staged works include the musical Georgette and the play 251.

Ng, 27, who participated as a reader in previous years, says this year's event differs from past ones due to its even gender distribution.

He says the event was testosterone- driven in previous years but this time, five women and five men will be performing, including Stomp star blogger Maia Lee.

'There are more published writers and poets who are male than female, so I'm glad we've got more women readers this time,' says Ng, himself a published writer who will read from his debut poetry collection, Last Boy.

Another change this year is the absence of established writers such as Cyril Wong and Alfian Sa'at, who both participated in previous years.

Ng says: 'I want the focus to be on lesser-known artists, as well as people not traditionally considered writers.'

So, he has rounded up up-and-coming writers like Foyle Young Poet Teng Qianxi, musicians like singer-songwriter Iris Judotter and even bloggers such as Lee and Lee Gwo Yinn.

Another participant is civil servant Chan Sze Wei, who works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chan, 27, will be reading 'two little love poems' - one about falling in love and the other about breaking up.

An extract from a play she wrote last year with the Singapore Repertory Theatre's The Young Co, about teenage depression, will also be performed.

She hopes the audience will be touched by the stories: 'I hope that for each audience member, there will be something in the stories and ideas that will resonate with him, something that he'll take away with him as a new gift.'

Stephanie Yap

ContraDiction is on at TheatreWorks, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road, today at 7.30pm. Admission is free. Rated R-18.