Kick off the new year with a bold celebration of words, creativity, and collaboration as VERSE 2026 returns to The Arts House at the Old Parliament from 9 to 31 January 2026. Far from a traditional literary festival, VERSE transforms the historic civic space into a multi-sensory playground, where literature meets visual art, music, performance, and digital innovation.

Curated by Arts House Group, VERSE 2026 brings together over 18 partners across 15+ programmes, ensuring that creativity is fully accessible to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. This year, the festival dovetails with Light to Night 2026 and Singapore Art Week 2026, creating a vibrant, city-wide celebration of artistic exploration and literary expression.

VERSE 2026 is a festival of unity, collaboration, and transformation, inviting visitors to engage with literature in ways that are interactive, playful, and unexpected. Expect a visual and literary feast of arts at every corner:

Larut’s Tears & Start Here: From Every Vantage Point

The façade of The Arts House becomes a canvas for storytelling with two striking installations. Larut’s Tears reflects on ecological grief through the eyes of Larut the elephant, while Start Here: From Every Vantage Point amplifies the voices of NEET youth, turning unseen struggles into vibrant patterns and animation.

brumblings

Step onto the lawn for brumblings, an outdoor, tactile installation inspired by Singaporean poet Wahidah Tambee. Playful alphabet blocks collide, rearrange, and misbehave, inviting audiences to experiment with language and discover new forms of expression. Thinking about the mysterious way language works, you just might find brand new words in the mix.

Pass the Mic

Part conversation, part performance, Pass the Mic pairs emerging writers and musicians for intimate evenings of dialogue and live snippets, including Q&A sessions. Participants explore their shared inspirations and love for the city while audiences get up close with Singapore’s rising literary and musical talents.

VERSE 2026 also offers ticketed experiences that transport audiences into imaginative worlds:

The fifth and largest edition of Arts House Group’s celebrated horror theatre series, Cherita Hantu: Quwwa, directed by Hafidz Rahman, presents three immersive multi-sensory stories that explore grief, secrets, and supernatural forces across Singapore, Jakarta, and Jordan. Departing from previous shorter vignettes, this edition deepens the storytelling with layered narratives, heightened theatricality, and an expanded cast from Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Performed in English and Indonesian Malay with English surtitles, it transforms The Arts House into a chilling, unforgettable stage for tales of power, fear, and connection.

Step into the near-future world of SomniTech, where sleep is optimised, monitored, and monetised, but participants begin disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Adapted from Victor Fernando R. Ocampo’s Book of Red Shadows, this 50-minute immersive theatre experience lets audiences go undercover, solve puzzles, and navigate experimental trials while exploring how sound and technology shape consciousness. With interactive storytelling and tech-driven suspense, Neural Echoes is a thrilling, multi-sensory journey into the unknown.

Beyond performances, VERSE 2026 hosts exhibitions and installations that explore identity, resilience, and the power of words:

Read on the Go hides 16 stories in plain sight, celebrating the strength found in everyday moments.

A View of Things to Come merges visual art and poetry, spotlighting works by ex-offender artists and senior poets in a conversation about change and possibility.

Turning Points 3 presents transformative journeys of neurodiverse artists, while The Looking Glass of Language invites audiences to interact with dynamic projections of letters and symbols.

AfterForms: Metaverse amid Climate Grief & Memory confronts ecological loss through immersive installations and digital experiences, pairing physical and metaverse environments.

Behind the Pages: Evolution of Publishing in Singapore traces the history of local publishing from the 1800s to the post-independence literary boom, honouring the pioneers of Singapore literature.

Every Friday and Saturday from 7–10pm, visitors can also browse The Corner Bookshop pop-up by Chio Books, featuring arts, lifestyle, and Sing Lit titles. Nearby, the Screening Room showcases Golden Point Award 2025 winners in video form, bringing exceptional local writing vividly to life. VERSE 2026 proves that literature doesn’t live only in books, but provides an immersive, collective experience that resonates across the senses, the city, and the heart.

“At Arts House Group, we are committed to supporting the literary arts in ways that go beyond the page. By collaborating with multidisciplinary artists and partners, we create fresh opportunities for audiences to experience the written word – whether through immersive installations, collaborative performances or digital innovation. VERSE 2026 is a testament to our belief that literature can connect, inspire and transform communities, no matter the medium or approach,” said Sharon Tan, Executive Director, Arts House Group.

Photo Credit: Arts House Group

VERSE 2026 runs from 9th to 31st January 2026 at The Arts House. Tickets and more information available here