Plot twists, unexpected combinations and unlikely connections are ahead as the Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) returns for its 26th edition from 17 to 26 November 2023. Organised by Arts House Limited (AHL) and commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC), SWF 2023 embraces the unpredictable in a series of mould-breaking and genre-bending programmes for all audiences, familiar and new, and asks, what happens when you put things that seemingly do not have anything in common, together?

Brace yourself and get ready to gasp as this year’s Festival will be brimming with surprises. From unpacking familiar genres and themes through new and unconventional lenses, to tracing unlikely connections between topics and disciplines, Festivalgoers may choose from an eclectic array of close to 200 in-person programmes featuring about 250 local and international presenters — best experienced with curiosity and an open mind. While holding on to the key literary pillars of the Festival with programming entrenched in literary traditions and beloved SWF signature series, such as the Literary Pioneer series, Southeast Asian Focus, Youth Fringe and SWF Playground, SWF 2023 sets the stage for unlikely combinations and connections, expanding the possibilities of the written and spoken word. This edition also shines a special spotlight on Asian-American authors.

Festival Director Pooja Nansi will return to helm SWF this year for the fifth and final time, making her the longest-serving Festival Director. She reflects, “With most of my tenure spent navigating unprecedented changes due to the pandemic, my time as Festival Director has been atypical to say the least. Throughout the challenges and bouts of uncertainty, I have been inspired by how the Festival team and the wider literary community have continued to show up year after year for the Festival, be it virtually, physically or both. I thought it would be apt to conclude my chapter as Festival Director with the theme, Plot Twist, which shows our emboldened spirit as we become more daring with the areas of interests and conversations that the Festival engages with. By expanding the playing field of what the Festival addresses, we hope more audiences can find a common ground with the literary arts, in all its diverse and multilingual forms.” 

In line with its spirit of diversity and inclusivity, the Festival continues to make every effort to ensure that its events are as accessible as possible. The main Festival ground is wheelchair-friendly and assistance dog-friendly while sign language interpreters and note-taking services can be arranged upon request. Across the hundreds of programmes taking place, Festivalgoers may contact the Festival team to request access support. 

Watch out for curveballs with this year’s line-up of Festival commissions and multidisciplinary programmes that go beyond the expected genres at a literary festival. Key highlights include 50 Years of Bars, Flows and Beats, a special line-up of programmes in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of hip hop featuring music critics, rappers, musicians, and cultural historians in programmes ranging from conversations to performances that celebrate the iconic genre and culture while illuminating how hip hop and literature are intimately intertwined. Turn up the heat and bust the rhymes with We Never Thought Hip Hop Would Bring It This Far, an SWF one-time exclusive where five writers spit surefire reads and vibe with a live DJ on decks in response to their favourite hip hop song from each decade. Under the Festival’s In A Tiny Room series, spend an evening with iconic hip hop historian Jeff Chang, whose 2005 book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop won the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award. Start them young with Fresh Raps: Create Your Own Hip-Hop Alter Ego with BGourd, where kids will meet with Singapore’s very own herbaceous hip hop sensation and find themselves spitting juicy raps to crunchy rhythms. Those looking for an entertaining way to clock in some steps can join in Walking Tours through Lost Singapore that explore seemingly familiar and lesser-known places in Singapore. This Festival commission will take participants on routes such as Bukit Brown and Lost Cinemas through responses from writers and the eyes of researchers and historians who know these places inside out. 

In favour of spontaneity and surprises, sign up for a programme with no description. Unexpected Pairings is a wildcard programme with one secret topic, two mystery writers, and zero guarantee of how the programme will turn out. Festivalgoers can expect to be entertained up to the very end with unique closing programmes guaranteed to end the Festival with a bang. Be serenaded by writers with songs you least expect them to love at the Festival Community Karaoke, and as the title suggests, be sure to sing along as the tunes draw the Festival to a melodic close. Wrap things up with Festival Closing Reading: An Unlikely Beginning, for a final reading which will leave loose ends untied and stones unturned for an alternative ending. 

Festival favourite programmes have also been given a refreshing revamp in both format and content. This year’s Literary Pioneer Exhibition spotlights the late Goh Poh Seng, a poet, dramatist, novelist and a visionary ahead of his time. He is known as one of the pioneering figures of the local arts and culture scene, from his involvement in the building of some of Singapore’s best known national arts companies to being the first writer to introduce Singlish to the stage with his play When the Smiles are Done. A Cultural Medallion recipient, Goh’s works and contributions have been widely celebrated. To put a spin on how Goh has already been commemorated in the past, SWF focuses on Goh’s rebel spirit, which had served as the fuel to his groundbreaking legacy. Titled Tell Bowie He’s Only A Rock Star. I, However, Am A Poet, the Literary Pioneer Exhibition kicks off ahead of the Festival opening for the first time from 26 September 2023, and will tour various neighbourhoods. Festivalgoers can also look out for programmes happening in conjunction with the Literary Pioneer Exhibition, such as There’s No Cause for Grief: Reading Goh Poh Seng in 2023, which reimagines Goh’s club from the 1980s called Bistro Toulouse-Lautrec and features contemporary performances interpreting Goh’s unpublished poems by poets Ang Kia Yee, Cyril Wong, and Zeha alongside musicians led by pianist, organist, and composer Chok Kerong.

Further expanding the Festival’s outreach to communities and strengthening community-led curations, guest curators have been invited to take on a more active role, working closely with key members of the different language communities as well as the SWF team to curate programmes that vary in format and target audience. The Chinese language programmes are led by guest curator Yap Seow Choong, a travel writer from Singapore who has published and has served as a consultant for the Lonely Planet guide books in China. Chinese language programme highlights under his direction include The Qing Dynasty in Singapore 《在新加坡的清朝》 in partnership with Qing History Society, which maps the unexpected affinities between the Qing Dynasty and Singapore; Welcome To My Space!《欢迎来到我的空间》, where Festivalgoers step into the writers’ work spaces and personal sanctuaries and understand how their interests or career inspire their literary works; and The Crystal and the Cloud 《水晶与浮云》, a unique interlingual presentation where an English-reading audience gets to experience the poetry of Cultural Medallion award recipients Lin Gao and Xi Ni Er through surtitles and live interpreters. 

Malay language programmes are helmed by Aqmal Noor, a poet and musician who has been an active part of Singapore’s literary arts circuit. Some of the programmes curated by him include Layar ke Teks bersama Jamal Ismail dan Asnida Daud, featuring award-winning writer Jamal Ismail in conversation with Asnida Daud on his latest work Ombak Selatan; and Terapi Redari – Rhythm and Rhyme Therapy, a performance of Singapore Malay poetry by new generation singers and speakeasy poets such as Nurjannah, Syurga Jeffrey and Shahril Samri, who will introduce their own unique flair to each of their selected poems. Celebrate the performing arts form of dikir barat through the Dikir Jam workshop, where aspiring poets and lyricists learn and riff from established dikir barat writers. Watch these writings come to life as members of established dikir barat groups in Singapore present these pieces in a performance on The Arts House lawn.

SWF’s Tamil language programmes are led by Chitra Ramesh, writer and president of the Vasagar Vattam, a local Tamil readers’ circle, who received the Singapore Literature Prize (Merit) for Tamil Fiction in 2018. Under her curation, Festivalgoers can look forward to programmes such as Twists & Turns in the History of Tamil Fiction (திருப்புமுனை: தமிழ்ப் புனைவிலக்கியங்களின் திருப்பங்களும் வளர்ச்சிகளும்), a keynote lecture co-presented with Vasagar Vattam, to be delivered by critically acclaimed writer Perumal Murugan from India on the various turning points in the history of world Tamil fiction. They can also take a trip down memory lane in Path Through History: In Memory of Bala Baskaran & Subbiah Lakshmanan (வரலாற்றின் வழி: பால பாஸ்கரன், சுப்பையா லெட்சுமணன் குறித்த உரையாடல்), co-presented with the Centre for Singapore Tamil Culture to spotlight the two deceased local Tamil historians who contributed immensely to the preservation of Tamil cultural heritage in Singapore.

The presence of other international authors such as Lat, Fabian Fom and K Balamurugan from Malaysia, whose programmes span a range of topics, from cartooning to journalism, will further energise the Chinese, Malay and Tamil literary arts scenes. Festivalgoers can also look forward to multilingual programmes such as Nusantara, Thinai & Nanyang: Loss in our Landscapes, which discusses the three paradigms to situate the diasporas of the Chinese, Malay, and Tamil communities in Singapore and around the world; and Who Says We Don’t Care: Role of Content Creators, where content creators come together to share why and how they are promoting their respective languages and cultures through social media.

This year, SWF also revived the Open Call for programme submissions and will present 40 shortlisted programmes out of 150 submissions, making this the highest number of community-led initiatives to be included as part of the Festival through an open call to date, serving as a testament to the vitality of Singapore’s arts and literary community. 

Highlights from the Open Call include Bubble Bubble, Toil and Battle: A Powerpoint Karaoke, where presenters Joses Ho, Andeasyand, Nessa Anwar, Jean Seizure and Lauren Ho face each other in a battle of wits and charm their way through a presentation they have never seen; a panel discussion Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Writing the Combat Sports Narrative, featuring athletes including Royston Wee, Singapore’s first Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter, Amanda Chan, WBC Asia Featherweight Champion, and Jed Foo, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion who lives with an eye disorder, on narratives of triumph and loss and the unexpected affinities between martial arts and the literary arts in a pragmatic nation like Singapore; and They’re Here… a series of experiential readings by Noel Boyd, Singaporean ghost hunter, author of ‘Ghost Files’ and host of the Ghost Files TV show, who will recount his experiences as a paranormal investigator. Audiophiles can also listen out for music-related programmes, such as The Story of Punk Rock and Poetry, a performance lecture featuring American-based touring artists Chris Bernstorf and Kyeong Mo who offer a brief history on the colliding worlds of punk rock and poetry alongside personal stories of how they have carved their own paths straddling the line between these two seemingly irreconcilable worlds.

Festival headliners for SWF 2023 include powerhouse academic legendary scholar, literary theorist and feminist critic Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Vietnamese-American professor and multi-award-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose novel The Sympathizer is a New York Times bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and has a HBO television series on the way that is directed by the prolific South Korean film director Park Chan-wook; British author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay, who was also previously the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics; and American writer and comic book illustrator John Patrick Green, who is best known for his graphic novel series InvestiGators. They will be joined by other international speakers such as fiction writer Vivian Shaw, who is renowned for her critically acclaimed Greta Helsing trilogy; American historian Arkady Martine, whose first two novels won the Hugo Award for Best Novel; American writer, scholar and cultural organiser Eve L. Ewing, whose body of work includes books such as Electric Arches and Ghosts in the Schoolyard, as well as comic books including Ironheart and Black Panther; and New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces, You’d Be Home Now, and How to Make Friends With the Dark, Kathleen Glasgow.

Befitting the theme of the Festival this year, the thrilling line-up of international speakers is further embellished by the inclusion of exceptional presenters such as Charlie Dark, a writer, producer and DJ who is known in the United Kingdom’s poetry and performance scene. He also forms one third of the hip hop-inspired trio Attica Blues, and has toured around the world both independently and with the band. American professor, record producer, and sound engineer who served as the legendary late Prince’s staff engineer during his commercial peak, Susan Rogers will also make an appearance at SWF 2023. Internet sensation and “resident librarian”, and author of The Uni-Verse: The Ultimate University Survival Guide, Jack Edwards, is another exciting presenter to look forward to.

Supported by the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, this year’s Spotlight on Asian-American Authors builds on the recent prominence of Asian-American narratives and voices to spotlight Asian-American writers, including headliner Viet Thanh Nguyen; American historian, journalist, and music critic on hip hop music and culture Jeff Chang; South Asian American poet, screenwriter and co-creator and writer for Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girls, Fatimah Asghar; New York Times bestselling American author of young adult fiction, Emily X.R. Pan, and Jeff Stuckel, a spoken word poet and hip hop musician performing under the name ‘Kyeong Mo’.

Ambassador Jonathan Kaplan, U.S. Embassy Singapore, who is excited that the Embassy is supporting the Festival as a Major Sponsor this year, said, “American contributions to the global literary scene have been part of the Singapore Writers Festival for years. U.S. Embassy Singapore is proud to work closely with Pooja and the Festival team to foster U.S.-Singapore exchanges through the literary arts. The Spotlight on Asian-American Authors at this year’s Festival, and its celebration of hip hop and the written word, showcase the importance of diverse perspectives in the arts and how words can inspire and empower us to make the world a more inclusive place.”

Drawing closer to home, SWF joins forces once more with Singapore Book Council for its Southeast Asian Focus (SEA Focus) programme, championing the literature, culture and the arts of the region — but with an exciting twist. SEA Focus this year aims at subverting expectations in narratives to challenge audiences, with programmes such as Show Me the Funny: A Comedy Workshop with Shamaine Othman, a workshop exploring how humour can empower storytelling and improvisation; Ladies, Let’s Get In Translation: The Women Making SEA Heard, which explores literary translation as a tool for defying conventional norms and creating narratives that empower and captivate; and Revealing The Kebaya: Past, Present, Future, and Beyond, a panel discussion that delves into the historical and contemporary significance of the kebaya in the region through the lens of globalisation, feminism, and postcolonialist ownership and appropriation. Featured Southeast Asian authors under SEA Focus also include writer and literary translator Tiffany Tsao and novelist Jesse Q. Sutanto, both hailing from Indonesia. 

SWF 2023 will also continue to co-present the SWF Youth Fringe alongside Sing Lit Station, an initiative that Festival Director Pooja Nansi has introduced and nurtured during her tenure to cultivate a passion for literature in the young and give youths a sense of ownership in the literary arts. Since its inception, the initiative has drawn a growing community of youths that has fervently supported the Festival. While the initiative continues to feature programmes designed by the youths, SWF 2023 takes it up a notch, further developing and training Youth Moderators to moderate programmes outside the Youth Fringe, including those involving the participation of international authors.  

Parents and young children can enjoy a range of educational and family-friendly programmes under SWF Playground, organised in partnership with Closetful of Books. Children can get in on the fun of this year’s Festival theme with Spoiler Alert, a series of pop-up readings of all-time favourite plot twists, as well as delight in Jiggle Like A Jellyfish!, an interactive music and movement session by Katherine Wallace filled with songs and dance that take children on an under the sea adventure. Fossil finder and author Andy Chua will also share his knowledge of prehistoric predators and his fossil collection in Dinosaurs: Fact or Fiction?. 

Sim Wan Hui, Covering Director, Programming & Producing at AHL said, “The excitement leading up to the opening of the Singapore Writers Festival is as palpable as ever this year, and we are grateful for the consistent outpouring of support from the literary community. As Pooja’s tenure draws to a close, we would like to thank her for her inspiring creative stewardship since 2019. She has championed the accessibility of SWF through collaborations with guest curators and literary partners and helmed the first fully digital festival in 2021 amid the pandemic challenges. We look forward to experiencing the unexpected adventures this year’s Festival will take us on with Plot Twist and engaging with Festival regulars and welcoming new audiences, as we continue to nurture, inspire and enrich communities through the arts.”

Low Eng Teong, Chief Executive Officer of the NAC said, “Singapore Writers Festival continues to define what it can be for writers, thinkers and audiences as the region’s literary festival. Its multilingual nature and innovative programming have brought together diverse communities through a shared love and appreciation for the literary arts. Our lively arts scene has also been energised by the exchange of ideas and meaningful conversations between literary talents from Singapore and beyond, creating fertile ground for the next generation of writers, poets, playwrights and readers to grow. We look forward to creating an inclusive, vibrant arts sector that is filled with opportunity.”

Image Credits: Arts House Limited

Singapore Writers Festival 2023 runs from 17th to 26th November 2023. Tickets and more information available here