#swfinsider

[sgwritersfest]

Super excited Marie Lu fans at their book signing! . #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

“Science fiction is about the dreams of the future. It is for me the search for your soul. It is less of a specific idea or cause but a broader theme going on - what does it mean to be Singaporean, be it now or in an alternative future.” - Victor Fernando R Campo • “The perennial sg lit theme is the relationship of the citizen to the stage, and i think spec fic gives you a lot more flexibility and fluidity to play with and explore the citizen's role and relationship with the state.” - Jon Gresham • Also, moderator Gene Tan gave out books to those who asked the first three questions! 😊 • [Brave New World: Speculative Fiction in Singapore] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider #sciencefiction #speculativefiction #booklovers (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

It’s Day 4 of SWF! We kicked off tonight’s events with these sessions: • [The Fruits of Mentorship] “Does this writer’s work move me? It’s not about how many awards the writer has won, how famous the person is...” - Cyril Wong on the key criteria to choosing the right mentor • [Book Launch of Pulp Toast / Roti Baker #3: (Not) The Chosen One] "I want to write stories that people don't see as often." -- the team from Pulp Toast / Roti Bakar on the launch of their latest issue. • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

>>SWF 2017 UPDATES (5 NOV)<<< • Good morning everyone, it’s the third day of the Festival! Stay tuned to our social media for important updates. Also, check out the right side of The Arts House at The Old Parliament's entrance for daily notices. • DON’T MISS OUT ON THESE HIGHLIGHTS: . - Aram Conference: An Intercultural Dialogue at 11am . - SWF Classroom: Undercover in North Korea with Suki Kim at 11am . - performance by Sholeh Wolpé: The Conference of the Birds at 11.30am . - exclusive meet and greet with the Moomins at the Tent@Empress! 2.30pm . - Malam Sastera Literary Night: The Icons of Music. 8pm . - Special Reading and Performance: We Can Be Heroes, Just For One Day at 8pm • SELLING FAST . - Literary Pioneer Lecture: Not By Bread Alone or Choice: https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cswf2017g . Pioneer poet Anne Lee Tzu Pheng shares how her journey of more than 30 years as a writer reflects her own identity and growth as a person. . - The Citizen Project: Man Booker longlister Richard House's class will stretch the boundaries of your creativity: http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cswf2017n • SOLD OUT - What To Leave In And What To Leave Out By Rae Armantrout - How Fiction Works By Claire Keegan - Writing Funny Stories for Children by Phillip Ardagh - Writing For Comics By Marjorie Liuu - How To Write A Bestseller By Tony Parsons - Creating The Poetic Mind By Li-Young Lee - How To Build A Fictional Universe By Jay Kristoff - When Fiction Becomes Fact: Sci-Fi And The Fate of Humanity by Ken Liu - How to Write a Short Story in Three Steps with Lu Min - Creative Writing in Malay Literature with Suratman • #SWF2017 #sgwritersfest #swfaram #swfinsider (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

“I think most critics know to keep their distance from the people they write about. I think if they’re professional enough, they’d not bother you about the reviews you write too.” - Dennis Lim • “The editors have a lot more of a role in what goes out, largely because they’re kinda like ventriloquists. They choose the critics to write the reviews and they kind of know what the critics they choose will write.” - John Mateer • “Critics are minds reading other minds. When we read the critic, we are a mind reading a mind reading other minds.” - Li-Young Lee • [SWF 20: The Role of a Critic] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

“The key to writing is to reach a level of authenticity that you don’t usually show in real life... Like how you can kiss all the people you want to kiss or slap all the people you want to slap... Everything that you were taught in your childhood taught not to go there. What’s embarrassing in real life can be very liberating in writing.” • “When I write I don’t really think of writing a story of an Israeli or Jewish person. With me, I was never really good with differentiating these things.. At the core I deal with things that are very universal. About thinking in my language... yeah there’s something about the language to create the story... One thing I can’t deal with [in my stories] though is arbitrariness.” • Etgar Keret, [The Absurdity of Everyday Life] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

CLOSING DEBATE TICKETS • Hi everyone, a gentle reminder to head to Victoria Theatre to get your tickets now while they’re still available! • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider (at Victoria Theatre Singapore)

[sgwritersfest]

Dennis Lim in the house discussing the cultural impact of David Lynch’s films and his filmmaking style. • “Eraser head was the film that put Lynch on the map, it played for years as a midnight movie in NY, in Paris...” • “The thing to remember about Lynch is that he started as a painter.. and painters have complete control over what they do. That’s not the case in filmmaking. By necessity, filmmaking is a collaborative process. So he struggled a bit with that.” • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider #dennislim #davidlynch (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

“I thought to myself, would anything change if this character was female? And the answer is no. The motivations remain the same, the character development arc remains the same... I do surround myself with women who’d call me out on this sexist bullshit. My publishing team is full of women who’d call me out on them.” - Jay Kristoff • “There is no one experience that is any more authentic than another’s. There’s no hierarchy to this.” - Marjorie Liu • “Even for cultural gender stereotypes. Like in the yin and yang concept - how yin is ascribed to women and yang is ascribed to men. I would really question that. Because everyone of us has yin and yang within us.” - Lydia Kwa • [Superheroines: Female Protagonists in Speculative Fiction] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider #speculativefiction (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

More highlights from Day 9 - Stella So's Drawing Urban Landscape Tour; So going over each participants' sketch piece after the walk and sketch tour around Empress Place • Epic International Reading Night 2 • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider

[sgwritersfest]

“I think I’m actually a very optimistic person. We’ve changed the world in talking about violence... people always ask me why I talk about violence and how I shouldn’t talk about violence.. but no, look at feminist movements, class struggles, queer movements. All these movements are talking about violence... It’s in talking more about violence that we can create more beauty in the world we live in.” • "What I wanted was for my father to not be ashamed of me. That was my only dream." — recalling his harrowing childhood and the dream that kept him going • [Edouard Louis: The True Story of a Survivor] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider #edouardlouis (at The Arts House at The Old Parliament)

[sgwritersfest]

“We are exposed to media regimes that we don't normally expose our worst enemies to.” • “The world has been the way it has always been - large, complicated and messed up. We are just puny individuals. When has that ever been different? There are always excuses for us to despair. It’s important to remember that we are not being asked by the universe to redeem it, to be messiahs... Just to leave the world slightly better than how we came in.” • “Community work is excellent for resilience. ... Resilience is a long muscle. It takes a lot of work to build resilience.” • “I’m not good at teaching people to whom the knowledge is instrumental. ... I’m good at teaching people to whom the knowledge is a burden. ... For every student - I’m trying to make you more critical than you were before when you walk out of my class. That’s all.” • “You cannot apply logic to someone’s closely held fantasy. No matter what you argue, facts can’t awaken fantasy.” • “Do people of colour not have white supremacist tendencies? The conversation needs to start at home... y’know even when we say things like this person looks mixed, or what race this person is... you need to stop sounding like Hitler.” • “Art is by its nature not instrumental... The relationship between the artist and the art is often very quantum. Art will do what art will do. But being an artist doesn’t excuse you from doing your civic labour. Your art is not your civic labour.” • “Writers don’t need further encouragement. Don’t get me wrong - Nobody will argue that the existence of writers are threatened... I will tell you what is threatened - and that is readers. Readers are what is crucial to the industry now. One must read.” • Junot Diaz, [Hope and Resistance in an Age of Despair] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider #swfstage #swflecture #junotdiaz (at Victoria Theatre Singapore)

[sgwritersfest]

【互联网时代、实体书店何去何从】吉井忍，陈浩基和许小丹详细地解释和讨论了在日本，香港和新加坡不同模式的书店，还有不同卖书的方式和技巧。 · ”台湾跟香港有一个很大的不同。恐怖小说很多小孩子会看，而且台湾会看到很多学生追作家像追名星一样。就是台湾的阅读习惯，阅读文化会比较好，孩子们从小都会把看书看成是娱乐活动。” - 陈浩基 · “其实我书店从来就只有两次偷书的状况。因为我卖的书不是每一个人都会欣赏吧… 我的书店呢，活动的空间比书架的地方比较多，人家说什么我都听得到。可能小型书店并不会那么容易偷书吧。” - 许小丹 · #新加坡作家节 #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider

[sgwritersfest]

“A three-page text conversation between two best friends tells you more about someone than chapters and chapters of exposition.” — Jay Kristoff on using text chats as a device for characterisation • “Trust your readers.” — Jay Kristoff on using broad strokes to describe a story’s setting without too much granularity • “Think of writer’s block as a wrong turn. The best way to deal with it is to go back to where you last knew where you were going, and choose another direction.” — Jay Kristoff in response to a question on how to overcome writer’s block • [SWF3 MTA with Jay Kristoff: Constructing Fantasy Worlds] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider #swf3 #swfforfamilies #swfYA #youngadultfiction (at Funan SG)

[sgwritersfest]

What a fantastic start to Day 9 of SWF! • "All really good writing is about rewriting. You don't have to get it right the first time." -- A.L. Tait, [Unleash Your Writing Superpowers] • “Before I start with literature as a medium for advocacy, I would like touch on the danger of creating camps claiming what is real literature.” - Fahd Pahdepie, [Sastera Sebagai Advokasi, Literature as Advocacy] • [CindeRilla goes to the Party] CinderRilla was written as a sign of friendship between Indonesia and Singapore, in celebration of ASEAN 50 • [Bunny Slopes and other Fun Stories with Claudia Rueda] • [Women Voices in Tamil Literature with Kutti Revathi • "Languages are filled with history and culture. If you want to know people, you should know their language." - Nhã Thuyên [Translating Asia] • “Each of us had to read all 900 (shortlisted) poems.” — Stephanie Dogfoot, on editing SingPoWriMo at the Math Paper Press book launch IV • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider

[sgwritersfest]

“You all heard that T4 has a heritage themed toilet? So literally everyone in the world will be shitting on our past..” - Rishi Budhrani • “Singapore’s birth rate is low cause sex is not an exam subject...” - Jinx Yeo • [Sons of Singapore Rishi Budhrani, Fakkah Fuzz and Jinx Yeo feat. Daughter of Singapore Sharul Channa] • #sgwritersfest #swf2017 #swfaram #swfinsider (at Victoria Theatre Singapore)