British Council celebrates six of Singapore’s most exciting storytellers in Writing the City 2015
The British Council celebrates its 2015 edition of Writing the City, an ambitious project to showcase and support creative writing in Singapore. Presented by the British Council, Writing the City aims to foster a community of new, emerging and established writers while showcasing noteworthy storytellers and writing inspired by city life.
The 2015 iteration of the ongoing program puts the spotlight on six of Singapore’s most exciting writers and multi award-winning UK writer, Bernardine Evaristo, through a new series of short interview films and book trailers, created in collaboration with video artists and illustrators. This is the first time that a project of this magnitude has been commissioned which features multiple artistic book trailers by visual artists for such a big amount of writers.
“These short films from Writing the City aim to capture the creativity, diversity and originality that distinguishes the best of Singaporean writing right now. From poetry to prose and comic panels, in English, Tamil, Malay and Chinese, together they comprise a unique Southeast Asian mosaic” says Melissa de Villiers, consultant, Writing the City.
Among the writers featured this year are Amanda Lee Koe, author of short story compendium The Ministry of Moral Panic and fiction editor at Esquire magazine; comic book author of The Resident Tourist, Troy Chin, and Chinese young adult fiction writer and journalist, Han Han.
Science fiction lovers will enjoy the short stories penned in Malay by Hassan Hasaa’ree Ali, while poetry readers will delight in works by Tamil poet and short story writer K. Kangalatha, as well as the irrevocable Madeleine Lee, whose poems have been translated into short films and dance productions for festivals around the globe.
Sarah Meisch Lionetto, Director of Arts at the British Council Singapore, adds, “The British Council’s work draws on the UK’s strengths in creativy and the power of arts in connecting people. Writing the City is our flagship literary arts programme which aims to promote Singaporean literature and cultivate a wider appreciation of the literary arts.”
On top of being a platform for writing talent, Writing the City also celebrates local visual artists and videographers such as ClogTwo, FROMPAMM, Benjamin Ong, Jillyn Koh and Brandon Tay, providing an opportunity for interpreting writers’ work via creative book trailers.
Besides finding out more about the background and motivations of the featured writers, aspiring local writers and members of the public can also log on to glean writing tips, connect with other writers via a monthly writers group, or sign up for writing competitions and creative writing workshops held in public libraries throughout the year.