PUBLISHED March 1st, 2019 06:00 am | UPDATED March 26th, 2019 04:45 pm
Murakami? Kundera? Kafka? These are all great writers, but none of them are Singaporean. It’s time to dispel the notion that Singapore doesn’t have quality wordsmiths — because it absolutely does. And there’s no better platform for that than #BuySingLit, which returns this year with an extra weekend of literary activities.
Taking place from 8 to 17 March, the third edition of the #BuySingLit movement is set to present over 50 programmes offered by local publishers, retailers, and non-profits. Grab lunch and fan over homegrown literature with a local writer, try your hand at writing workshops, and watch the best local works come to life through theatre adaptations all over the island.
Unique partnerships to boost SingLit’s accessibility to a more diverse audience include Grab SingLit, a collaboration between Localbook.sg and Grab Singapore that allows Grab users to redeem selected SingLit books with their GrabRewards points. 8,000 books will be up for grabs, with titles including Lieutenant Kurosawa’s Errand Boy by Warran Kalasegaran and Balik Kampung by Verena Tay.
Another programme making its debut this year is Sing Lit Cloud, which sees special self-order machines with printers installed in three heartland locations, such as Our Tampines Hub. The Sing Lit Cloud machines will dispense bite-sized excerpts of local bestsellers to take home with you for free.
“We took an idea from France and spun it in a way that we hope will entice, entertain and enthral Singaporeans who have yet to hear about the many stories our local authors have been writing for a long, long time. ”
– Daryl Qilin Yam, Sing Lit Station
One of #BuySingLit 2019’s anchor events is the Yong Siak Street Party by independent bookshop BooksActually, who have activated their neighbours to bring SingLit to life along this Tiong Bahru street for one weekend. Look forward to book launches, panel discussions, and even search for the elusive writer roving around to score a personalised flash fiction story. Feel like you have green thumbs? We All Step On Snails: A Poetry & Terrarium Experience is an activity by Ethos Books that lets you fight those urban blues while crafting your own terrarium — all during a poetry performance by poet Marc Nair.
Other programmes you’ll want to check out include Pesta Buku Melayu, Singapore’s first ever Malay-centric book fair held in the heart of the Malay community Geylang Wisma Serai, and The Arts House’s Textures — A Weekend with Words, returning for the second year with performances and book-themed exhibitions under the theme ‘Love and Loss (and some things in between)’.
#BuySingLit 2019 is happening from 8 to 17 March 2019 at various locations around Singapore.