Next year's Singapore Writers Festival will run from Nov 1 to 10 under the leadership of incoming festival director Pooja Nansi, the National Arts Council said yesterday at a thank-you lunch held at Chijmes.

The festival, which is organised annually by the council, drew a record 27,000 people to its programmes this year, up from 25,500 last year.

There was also a 90 per cent jump in the number of people who went to ticketed events, which rose to nearly 7,000 from 3,700 last year.

Welcoming the growth in interest, this year's festival director, Mr Yeow Kai Chai, said: "Popular events this year included topical ones related to the #MeToo movement, the post-truth era and history.

Next year, Ms Nansi, a recipient of the Young Artist Award in 2016 and Singapore's first Youth Poet Ambassador, who is known for her poetry and spoken-word performances, takes over from Mr Yeow, who helmed the festival for four years.

The 37-year-old said: "I feel equal parts excitement and terror. I think the terror is good. It means that there is a lot at stake."

Olivia Ho