The Singapore Writers Festival this year features a record 242 writers from Singapore, from contemporary stars to authors who broke new ground in the literary scene here.
Look out for these pioneers:
SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM
The Malacca-born writer of poetry and fiction was the first Asian and first woman to win the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1980 for her collection Crossing The Peninsula. She is best known here for her 1996 memoir Among The White Moon Faces:Memoirs Of A Nyonya Feminist and has also written the novels Joss And Gold (2001) and Sister Swing (2006). A research professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, her most recent collections of poetry are this year's Do You Live In?, Ars Poetica For The Day and The Irreversible Sun.
She speaks about her work in the panel below.
THE PLIGHT OF THE ASIAN-AMERICAN WOMAN WRITER
Where: Kumon Blue Room, The Arts House, 1 Old Parliament Lane
When: 8.30pm, Nov 2
Admission: $20 Festival pass from Sistic (go to www.sistic.com.sg or call 6348-5555)
For more information and other appearances go to www.singaporewritersfestival.com
SURATMAN MARKASAN
Poet and novelist Suratman Markasan has received multiple literary awards including the Southeast Asian Writers Award (1989), the Tun Seri Lanang Award from the Malay Language Council (1999) and the Cultural Medallion (2010). His novels include Tiada Jalan Keluar (Conflict, 1960, English translation 1978), about a son coming to terms with the fact that his mother works as a prostitute to support the family, and Penghulu (translated into English 2012), about a village headman adrift in a changing world.
He is featured in the session below, conducted in Malay and co-organised with the Malay Language Council of Singapore.
TUN SRI LANANG LECTURE SERIES
Where: Kumon Blue Room
When: 10am, Oct 31
Admission: Festival pass
For more information and other appearances go to www.singaporewritersfestival.com
KTM IQBAL
A prolific poet who received the Cultural Medallion in 2014, he has written seven collections of poetry and the lyrics to more than 200 children's songs for Radio Singapore programmes in the 1970s and 1980s. His Tamil poems are studied in schools here and one titled Water was selected by the National Arts Council for display in MRT trains in 1995 and for exhibition at Expo 2000 in Hanover.
He is featured in the panel discussion in Tamil below.
IS THE TAMIL LITERARY SCENE OUTWARD-LOOKING OR INSULAR?
Where: US Embassy Screening Room, The Arts House
When: 5.30pm, Oct 31
Admission: Festival pass
For more information and other appearances go to www.singaporewritersfestival.com
