Goodbye, Flying Inkpot

(This article was written for the SIFA Blog, which is currently undergoing technical difficulties.)

As some of you will have recently heard, the Flying Inkpot Theatre Reviews has closed down after 19 years of operation. It was Singapore's oldest (and at times, only) arts magazine, founded at the dawn of the nation's Internet history, in 1996.

This is pretty personal for me. I've been one of the writers for the website since 2005, although less active of late. Hell, I used to hang out with Jeremy Samuel and Seow Yien Lin, when they were covering TheatreWorks revue of its Writers Lab program, 30 Plays in 30 Days, all the way back in 2001. 

I got to know editors Kenneth Kwok and Matthew Lyon around that time too, back when they were both still at NIE, when we were participating in a playwriting workshop called Playwright's Cove, organised by The Necessary Stage. Back then, both of them were still skinny and eating meat, and Matthew had all his hair. I was an NS boy, mind you, and they'd been to study in the UK, so they seemed so much older.

When I graduated and was hanging around Singapore, looking for a job, I found out they were reviewing shows. So I wrote a trial review for W!ld Rice's Second Link and joined up. (Weird to think that their current show, Another Country, is essentially an extension of that old project.)

Back then, the rest of the team was Deanne Tan, Malcolm Tay, Eugene Tan, Musa Fazal and Nadia bte Ibrahim (whom I never met). Of that lot, I'm the only one left. Oh, and back then, I was reviewing like a maniac. Two, sometimes three plays a month, local and foreign, avant-garde and conventional, Stage Club and Agni Koothu, even a few dance productions, everything, pao ka liao, I was there. I'd catch a show at eight, catch a bus at ten, maybe hang out at Borders till midnight reading plays for free, then get the last bus home and bang out the review before the dawn. Or maybe within three, four days, a week tops. I had energy then. And focus. I think YouTube wasn't a big thing yet, and I had a lot to prove.

Because of my reviews - which were painstakingly detailed and justified, since I was part of the theatre community and couldn't hurt anyone's feelings without explaining exactly why, which were more lyrical than were necessary because I am, after all, a poet - I ended up reviewing for other sites. The Substation Magazine, Singapore Art Gallery Guide, The Online Citizen. And of course, the Straits Times, eventually. 

And oh boy, was I furious at the limitations on style I got from the Straits Times. No "I" statements, even though theatre appreciation is subjective! No contractions, even though my natural writing voice is casual and conversational! And just 500 words to express everything I wanted to say! I'm just glad ST never called me out on those times when I emailed them a review for print, then proceeded to submit a more detailed review of the same show for the Inkpot.

I had a great sense of pride as an Inkpot reviewer. Part of it was the vintage of the website, but another thing was the fact that theatre people really appreciated the efforts the editors and (most of) the writers. They felt we were more balanced, when really, we just had more space and time to explain what we thought, and any negative things we said were easily forgotten. 

We were an obscure site, you see. At one point, most of the theatre community may have known about us, but as the years rolled by, and audiences grew wider and more mainstream, it became clearer and clearer to us that we were a trade magazine, appreciated principally by insiders. We knew there were other review sites popping up - Buttons in the Bread, Just Watch Lah, QLRS - and we welcomed them, even recruited a few people based on their blogs.

But as time went by, I think we started to sense we were that much less relevant. We couldn't keep up with the huge calendar of today's theatre (let alone dance), and these days, everyone with a Facebook or Twitter account is a reviewer of sorts. If we wanted to really matter, we had to devote more time to it. But we were getting older and busier, and attempts at renewal (such as when I tried taking over parts of the site maintenance) turned out to be less than effective.

So, I get Matthew's explanation for why he and Kenneth decided to pull the plug. (Mayo Martin's entire article for TODAY is worth reading, btw.)

'Lyon said: “Internet technology, along with the public’s expectations of websites, has progressed greatly since The Inkpot started. We realised there is so much more we could be doing — for example, videos, podcasts, social media and feature articles. I get frustrated when I feel I’m not doing something to the best of my ability, and that’s the feeling I have with the site ... it can’t continue as it is.”'

But I'm not content. I'm really hoping that the flag is carried on somehow - perhaps The Online Citizen could simply adopt the name for their meagre theatre reviews? Or perhaps some earnest new NIE grads could shoulder the responsibility themselves?

So yeah, I'm putting a call out: does anyone want to take over the Flying Inkpot? I'll still write for it off and on.

I'm also making this call out of guilt, because I overslept (jet lag) on the evening we were supposed to meet for our last photo shoot. We hardly get to meet in real life, you see. We're virtual colleagues.

But here's (clockwise from top left) Kenneth Kwok, Karin Lai, Jocelyn Chng, Naeem Kapadia, Selina Chong and Matthew Lyon, for your viewing pleasure. Just imagine me curled up behind them in the back, preparing to say boo.

P.S. This is relevant to SIFA because Inkpot used to review stuff at the festival diligently. And now this fest will be post-Inkpot. Another empire gone.

Queer performance in London. Sat 31 May

The UEA Library still hasn't managed to bring in my Netherlands book, so here's an advert for an event I'm doing this Saturday:


Jay Bernard and Evan Ifekoya present "Get off my back will you and give someone else a chance", a workshop and evening event about queer activism, art and performance.

Date: Saturday 31 May 2014
Time: Workshop at 2pm, performance 7:30-10:30pm
Venue: Institute of Contemporary Art, ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH
Free workshop, £5 for evening performance

During the day we're running a free workshop based on the work of David Robilliard, whose retrospective is currently on at the ICA. We'll discuss the state of LGBTQI affairs, radical approaches to social change and the way artists have used their work to tackle injustice. There will be writing, discussion and performance. All participants will have the opportunity to devise a piece that will then be performed at the evening event in the Theatre space alongside a host of other great artists:

Ollie O'Neill
Ng Yi-Sheng
Olumide Popoola
Evan Ifekoya
Andra Simons

Alongisde the performances we'll be showing two short films that challenge the political and aesthetic status quo: "Feed/Kill" by Tejal Shah and "AfroOdyssey III" by Adejoke Tugbiyele

Book here: http://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/get-my-back-will-you-and-give-someone-else-chance

And find out more on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1497193430504568/

The workshop is free and begins at 2.00pm (all participants get free entry to the evening event)

The evening event is £5 and begins at 7.30pm.

POETRY THINGY #4 featuring STEPHANIE DOGFOOT, JERROLD YAM, and special appearance by NG YI-SHENG

I'm hosting a poetry event with London-based Singapore-culture-dissemination group Platform 65. Come come!

POETRY THINGY #4 
feat Stephanie Dogfoot, Jerrold Yam and Ng Yi-Sheng
Date: Wednesday 4 December
Time: 7pm
Location: Woolfson & Tay Bookshop, 39 Bear Lane, London SE1

Platform 65's Poetry Thingy is a series of casual poetry + music open-mic sessions featuring poetry, spoken word, and live music by Singaporean artists. Each event features a headline artist (or two), but the mic’s open to everyone! Bring your friends, your poems, and your songs.

____________________________________________________

█ STEPHANIE DOGFOOT

Stephanie Dogfoot, also known as Stephanie Chan, is a poet and sometime law student from Singapore, currently based in London. In 2010, on a summer holiday home, she won the Singapore Slam Championships and represented Singapore in the Indian Ocean Slam Championships on Reunion Island in December that year. In 2012, she won the Farrago UK Slam Championships and represented the UK in the European Slam championships in Antwerp (where she came 2nd runner-up). In June 2013, she represented the UK in the Poetry Slam World Cup in Paris and got into the semi-finals.

She performs and organizes spoken word nights around London, sometimes other parts of the UK, and (when she gets to go home) Singapore. She has also performed at the Glastonbury Festival, Small World Festival, Nozstock Festival, the Poetry Cafe, Southbank Centre, various squats in London, and many cities around the UK from Birmingham to Oxford to Aberdeen.

http://stephdogfoot.wordpress.com/

█ JERROLD YAM

Jerrold Yam (b. 1991) is a law undergraduate at University College London and the author of poetry collections Scattered Vertebrae (2013) and Chasing Curtained Suns (2012) by Math Paper Press. His poems have been published in more than seventy literary journals and anthologies across twenty countries. He has won first prize and three honorable mentions in the National University of Singapore’s Creative Writing Competition 2011, first prize in the British Council's History and the City Competition, and is the youngest Singaporean to be nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He has been featured at Interrobang, London Book Fair and Singapore Writers Festival, among others. His poems have recently been translated to Spanish.

Jerrold will also be launching 'Scattered Vertebrae' at Poetry Thingy #4, with a short discussion moderated by Ng Yi-Sheng.

http://jerroldyam.com/

█ NG YI-SHENG

Ng Yi-Sheng is a full-time writer of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and drama. Since 2006, he has curated the annual LGBT literary event ContraDiction, and also co-edited "GASPP: a Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose". His books include "SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century" and "last boy", which won the Singapore Literature Prize. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Norwich, UK.

____________________________________________________

Directions: Woolfson & Tay Bookshop is 5min walk from Southwark Tube station. (Follow the orange Tate Modern lamp-posts onto Union Street, turn left onto Great Suffolk Street, and turn left again once you see The White Hart pub.)

Buses: 45, 63, 100, 381, RV1.

** Open-mic slots up for grabs! For enquiries, send Platform 65 a private mesage on FB or email cui@platform65.org.

I won't be at the Singapore Writers Festival...

... but my books will! Gonna take this opportunity to publicise the book launches I'm part of. (Sadly, Diary of a Stone Monkey is still being delayed at the publishers.)

The Last Lesson of Mrs De Souza by Cyril Wong | Ministry of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe | The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume One
2 Nov, Sat
 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM, 
Free 
Festival Pavilion, Campus Green, SMU

The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories is a new biennial anthology series, with this premiere volume showcasing the best short fiction from Singaporean writers published in 2011 and 2012. Join Jason and five notable contributors—Alfian Sa’at, Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, Alvin Pang, Stephanie Ye, and Wei Fen Lee—in a discussion of their works.

Featuring: Alfian Sa’at , Alvin Pang , Amanda Lee Koe, Cyril Wong, Jason Erik Lundberg

The Substation Fairytales: Stories in The End
6 Nov, Wed
 7 PM - 8 PM, 

Free

Binary Pavilion, Campus Green, SMU

The Substation Fairytales: Stories in The End are modern tales of love, identity, and belonging for adults. Reasons for the Rain is a poignant tale of serendipity and chance, of two strangers crossing paths in the concrete jungle. The Crocodile Prince is about a boy finding himself in a magical jungle of mystery. Jack and Alice is a story built from inner thoughts and how the lives of the title characters are built both parallel and divergent from that of each other and in the fairy tales. There will be readings followed by a book signing, Q&A session and reception.

VIDEO & PRESS RELEASE: ASEAN SOGIE Caucus launches regional campaign criticizing declarations on women and children

By ASEAN SOGIE Caucus

On October 14, a regional network of LGBT rights organizations launched a video in response to the exclusion of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression (SOGIE) from the language of two recently adopted declarations protecting women and children from violence.

The video is part of a bigger campaign called “We are #ASEANtoo!” which was launched a week before the 23rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on October 9 to 10, in Brunei. The Declarations on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Elimination of Violence Against Children (DEVAW and DEVAC respectively) were set to be adopted at the said summit.

The campaign also included an ASEAN-wide virtual conversation using the micro-blogging site Twitter. Dubbed “#ASEANtoo! Queer Tweets,” the virtual conversation coincided with the ASEAN summit. It drew Twitter users from all over the region and aimed to raise their awareness of issues related to SOGIE. The virtual conversations also aimed to expose the lack of transparency of ASEAN processes.

“The ASEAN Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression Caucus (ASC) started this campaign because of the many challenges we faced in ensuring that the two declarations explicitly mentioned SOGIE. Even with the help of our allies, we felt there was a high possibility that SOGIE would be dropped,” said Ron de Vera, ASC spokesperson. “When we saw that the officially adopted declarations didn’t mention SOGIE, we were very disappointed. We are also deeply concerned that there is an emerging pattern of SOGIE exclusion from human rights declarations in the ASEAN,” added de Vera. This is the second time SOGIE was not mentioned in the language of an ASEAN declaration. The first was in the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration adopted by the ASEAN on November 18, 2012.

The process of drafting the two declarations required national consultations by each country’s women’s caucus. This was meant to ensure participation of civil society organizations (CSOs). However, the drafts were not widely circulated, prompting CSOs to call out the ASEAN for its lack of transparency.

Discrimination, harassment, and violence against individuals of diverse SOGIE continue to be a heightened human rights issue in the region where laws related to SOGIE vary from one state to another. According to Social Action For Equality (SAFE), a Manila-based organization that monitors hate crimes against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people, there have been more than 164 LGBT killings in the Philippines since they started monitoring media reports in 2009. Figures on violence against LGBT people remain underreported due to poor protection mechanisms and legislation in the region.

“Lesbians, bisexual women, and trans women (LBTs) in all ASEAN countries face violence too. Their experience is further aggravated by the hate and stigma that come with their gender and sexuality, and that is why we need SOGIE to be explicitly mentioned in ASEAN declarations. Why exclude them? They are productive members of the ASEAN community too!” said de Vera.

The (ASC) is a network of activists and organizations in ASEAN member states who work to ensure people of diverse SOGIE are not marginalized from ASEAN-level mechanisms and processes.

The video may be viewed by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/aseantoo-video

For further information please contact ASC spokesperson Ron de Vera at rondevera@gmail.com
###

I've got a gig in London!

It's going on next Wednesday! I'll be taking the train down from Norwich, performing 15 minutes of slam with some UK artists in Forget What You Heard (About Spoken Word). 

The Facebook page is here.

My fellow Singaporean poet, Stephanie Dogfoot, programmed me in - she recently represented the UK in the World Cup for Poetry Slam in Paris! It's also her farewell gig, 'cos she's returning home soon - hopefully developing our own scene.

Date: Wednesday, 9 October

Time: 19:30-23:00

Venue: Ryan's Bar, Stoke Newington Church St N16, London

That's the best photo I took of Steph when we met up in London the second day I was here. The blurb for the event's below!

Autumn is upon us, cold weather is approaching, the year 2013 is drawing to a close so what does this mean?

NOTHING! Except that the October edition of Forget What You Heard is round the corner and its the LAST ONE where we'll have co-host Stephanie Dogfoot before she moves back to Singapore....
So come down and join STEPHANIE DOGFOOT and MATT CUMMINS and celebrate/commiserate/bid farewell, and October's three spell-binding features you will definitely remember for a long time coming..fireball Anna Kahn, one of the most exciting & funny & accomplished young poets from Singapore today Ng Yi-Sheng and the tender yet ferociously compelling Alex Etchart.

and of course, YOURSELVES on the open mic! As always, entry by donation.
p.s. Since our open mic is so consistently packed out nowadays, we'll only be letting half of the open-mic slots go BEFORE the night, so that there's still room for people to rock up on the day and take part. So that means there are SIX spots up for grabs to you eager social networkers. Go, go, go!

ANNA KAHN Anna Kahn writes letters for a living and poems because apparently thinking about words for eight hours a day is not enough thinking about words. She once beat Scroobius Pip in a Golden Gun contest judged by a lady with questionable taste (true story). She writes everything from PG-rated poems about sexual deviancy to firmly 18-rated poems about her own grandmother, but she promises that if you'd ever met her grandmother this would make perfect sense. She's never been published, partly because she's one of those dreadful spoken-word impostors the Independent says is killing poetry by never actually submitting anything to anyone.

NG YI-SHENG Ng Yi-Sheng is a Singaporean poet-playwright-journalist-fictionist and LGBT activist. He's the youngest ever winner of the Singapore Literature Prize, which he received for his debut poetry collection "last boy". Recently, he co-edited two literary collections: "GASPP: a Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose" and "Eastern Heathens: An Anthology of Subverted Asian Folklore". For the past few years, he has taught in his country's only university-level creative writing program and co-organised the monthly multi-disciplinary arts event SPORE Art Salon. Right now, he's based in Norwich, doing his Masters in Creative Writing (Prose) at the University of East Anglia. He was possibly the first slam poet Stephanie ever saw and got inspired by in one of the first queer literary readings in Singapore in 2005.

ALEX ETCHART Alex Etchart is a community musician, folk singer, poet, activist, clown, drama teacher, workshop facilitator and all-round decent human being. He has been involved with and inspired by Occupy London, Friern Barnet library and Balcombe anti-fracking Community Camp. Taking a page from folk singers from Woody Guthrie to David Rovics, his poetry is urgent and unapolagetically critical of the world as we know it, and unflinching in its call to unfuck-it-up, with a solid dose of heart and humour.

ContraDiction's tomorrow!

TheatreWorks, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore 239007

7:30pm, Sat 31 August.

And here's my lineup of writers!

I'm also doing Southeast Gaysia, a talk on ASEAN gay culture and rights, at 4pm, same venue!

IndigNation notes

Just for everyone's info: Akka is all set for Thursday night! It seems it's going to be a full-on performance rather than a staged reading. Here's a photo I took on site of Sonia Pravinaa (a transgender dancer and DSC volunteer) and Suresh Subash (actor), who'll be playing the characters Kamini and Vijay.

That's the playwright G. Selva hiding in the foreground btw!

Might as well regale you with some shots of the very successful queer sci-fi reading, Gaylien Invasion, while I'm at it:

My persona for the evening was High Priestess Marikita Pondan-Pondan, a being from an alternate dimension where gender is optional and sex is compulsory.

Audience!

My partner-in-crime for Eastern Heathens, Amanda Lee! (The other presenting writers were Nicholas Deroose, Joel Tan, Jeremy Tiang [in absentia] and the genuine sci-fi writer JC Yang.)

Did I mention I made rainbow cake balls for the event? Arduous task.

IndigNation 2013!

August is here, so I'm gonna talk about the various literary and political events I'm doing for the IndigNation LGBT Pride Festival. (Click here for the full calendar!)

THURSDAY 15 AUG // 8PM

Gaylien Invasion : A Night of LGBT Science Fiction (Facebook)

Imagine what queer life might look like in the future… or on different planets… or with robots! Join us for readings of new short stories by local writers like Amanda Lee, Joel Tan, JY Yang and Jeremy Tiang. Curated and hosted by Ng Yi-Sheng.

Venue: Select Books, 51 Armenian Street

FRIDAY 23 AUG // 8PM (SOLD OUT!)
Akka (அக்கா): a reading of Singapore’s first queer Tamil play


Organised by Avant Theater and The Purple Alliance. In 1990, the playwright G. Selvanathan wrote and starred in Akka, a short play in Tamil about the life of a transgender woman. Join us for a staged reading of this play, followed by a discussion on language, race and gender. English subtitles will be provided.

Venue: Artistry, 17 Jalan Pinang

SATURDAY 24 AUG // 6PM

To Russia With Love

In July, the Russian parliament adopted legislation banning the dissemination of information on “non-traditional” sexuality. The government claims that the law is meant to protect children and young people from information and propaganda that are harmful to their well-being and development. There has also been widespread increase in the number of violent incidents, assaults, harassment and bullying of Russian LGBT people and their allies. A few days ago, a young man died as a result of being tortured by an anti-gay group.

Join us at Hong Lim Park to take a stand against the homophobia that is sweeping across Russia and express solidarity and support to our LGBT comrades there. There will be speeches from activists, poetry readings and the signing of a petition which will be submitted to the Russian embassy in Singapore. Come with a placard, or a message and let your voice be heard!

Venue: Hong Lim Park

SATURDAY 31 AUG // 4PM
Southeast Gaysia! 

Organised by Sayoni. We all know about LGBT problems in Singapore, but have you heard about the queer rights revolutions happening in Cambodia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations? Jean Chong and Ng Yi-Sheng, members of the ASEAN SOGI CAUCUS (sexual orientation and gender identity) group, will talk about different regional trends in queer rights.

Venue: 72-13, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Rd

SATURDAY 31 AUG // 7:30PM
ContraDiction: an evening of LGBT literature

Our annual reading of LGBT Singaporean writing is back to close IndigNation 2013! We’ll be featuring poetry, fiction, drama, essays and more from an eclectic bunch of Singapore’s queer writers! Curated by Ng Yi-Sheng and Jasmine Seah.

Venue: 72-13, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Rd


Ooh, and one extra thing that only got just added to the calendar: a queer art exhibition!

THURSDAY 15 AUG  // 6PM OPENING... EXHIBITION UNTIL SAT 31 AUG
No Approval

Grey Projects presents 'No Approval', an exhibition in conjunction with Indignation 2013. Works by Ezzam Rahman, Khai Rahim, Sarah Choo, Guo Yixiu, Marla Bendini, Loo Zihan, Ghazi Alqudcy, Elvin Ching, Lee Gwo Yinn, Farah Ong, Angela Guo, Felicia Low. Please see our Facebook page () and our website for directions and hours.

Venue: 6B Kim Tian Road,  Tiong Bahru,  Singapore 169246

Eastern Heathens at BooksActually tonight, Thu 25 August 2013, 7:30pm

We're doing another launch of Eastern Heathens tonight at BooksActually!

Eastern Heathens BooksActually launch
https://www.facebook.com/events/491354880943039/
Thu 25 August, 7:30pm
BooksActually, 9 Yong Siak Street

 Readers will include Amanda Lee Koe, Bryan Cheong, Jennani Durai and Li Huijia.

Lit Up: PROGRESSION, 19-21 July

I'm involved in the Lit Up Indie Arts Festival, coming up this weekend - click here for the website, or below for the programme.

And how am I involved, you ask? Why, I'm helping performance artist Lee Wen carry out an idea he's had for a while: a durational 24-hour reading of Singapore literature, from Sat 20 Jul 7pm to Sun 21 Jul 7pm at the Courtyard!

We're also putting together an installation made of local lit books - am preparing to bring over my collection soon (below is a small portion thereof).

If you're a local writer, please come to me (if I'm on duty at the time) and give me some of your own writing, and I'll read it for 3 minutes or so. Or you could bring work from one of your favourite local playwrights, poets, fiction or non-fiction writers - I'm not picky.

I may, of course, be woefully sleepy when the time comes. Hope I can still do your treasured work of literature justice!

UPDATE: In total, I'm bringing 390 individual books in five suitcases and a backpack. Count
'em!

PinkDot's tomorrow!

Praying that there's gonna be no haze. Will bring surgical masks just in case.

SPORE Art Salon Tuesday 25 June!

Advertising my schtick! Do take note of the Stephen Black book giveaway.

6 months into the year brings us the 31st Edition of SPORE Art Salon!

What's happening this 25 June at the 3rd floor of BluJaz Cafe - poetry by Tania De Rozario,

Sivaraj Pragasm's short film screening, wonder tunes using a seldom seen guitar technique from Yan Neil Chan, and a very special giveaway treat for our salonistas
inspired by writer/poet Stephen Black!

Don't forget to bring your materials for the drawing sessions we have
in between stage performances! See you then!

WHERE : BluJaz Cafe (3rd Storey)
WHEN : Tuesday 25 June 2013 7:45PM onwards
RSVP : https://www.facebook.com/events/669025896447422/
$10 / guest --- includes 1 drink
proceeds benefit BluJaz and SPORE Art Salon featured artists

----------------------------

FOR OUR SALONISTAS -

the "I Ate Tiong Bahru" giveaway!

by Stephen Black

http://glossi.com/bookmerah/4447-book-merah

Photo credit: Books Actually

We are putting up 2 of these perfect bound paperbacks to give away! Here's what you need to do...
1 Share your thoughts and memories about Tiong Bahru with us! Anything from a one liner to a thesis essay long is acceptable!
2 Find us on our Facebook event page here - https://www.facebook.com/events/669025896447422/
3 Post your writing, the last entry should appear on the Facebook event page
before 11:59PM of Saturday 22 June
4 ...That's all!

SPORE Art Salon and Stephen Black will pick the 2 most kickass pieces, winners will be informed via Facebook and we will present the books (...perhaps a reading too?) during the 31st Edition happening on Tuesday 25 June! Good luck and have fun!!

-

Unlike most of the island country of Singapore, the Tiong Bahru estate looks like it did when it was built over seventy-five years ago. Its distinctive Art Deco architecture and famous food have delighted Singaporeans for generations.

From swamps and kampungs to colonial public housing experiment to wi-fi'd cosmopolitan community, Tiong Bahru represents many of the changes which have occurred in Singapore and throughout Southeast Asia.

I Ate Tiong Bahru is a fact-based, lyrical documentary. For more info, visit
http://www.scribd.com/doc/143782854/i-Ate-Tiong-Bahru-SAMPLER
To buy, visit
http://booksactually.bigcartel.com/product/i-ate-tiong-bahru-by-stephen-black



----------------------------


FEATURED ARTISTS

YAN NEIL CHAN (guitarist)
www.youtube.com/yanneilchan
Neil, specialising in 'fingerstyle guitar', was awarded a full scholarship at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music to pursue a Bachelor of Music (Honors) Degree in Recording Arts and Science in 2011.

Neil has also performed at many major events such as the Mosaic Music Festival, NUS Arts Festival, ‘Esplanade Presents: National Day Celebrations,’ ‘Tones 2012,’ ‘Noise Singapore
2011,’ and the ‘Singapore Youth Festival 2009.’

He recently emerged champion at the ‘Singapore Street Festival Band Competition’ in 2012. Neil has been featured live on radio stations 98.7FM and Radiopulze. He has also been showcased on ‘Clicknetwork.tv’ under the music show ‘Playlist,’ featuring local musicians performing their original music.




SIVARAJ PRAGASM (filmmaker)

http://sivarajpragasm.wix.com/film
"I started off as a musician, then became a writer, then became an editor and then eventually realized that I have always loved story-telling. I never realized that having visions or dreaming up entire scenes of make-believe films was actually something that only a few people would do during their free time.

So that's how I started my journey as a filmmaker. But I wanted to be different. I didn't want to be remembered as just another filmmaker but as someone who tried something different."

About the film -

Purgotory 2011, 16 mins
A re-interpretation of the poem, Elephant In the Room by Terry Kettering; Purgatory is a place - a dark place where your past is read out to you. Dr. Terry Ward found herself there after an unfortunate accident. However, the sequence of events leading up to that is what really matters. Is she willing to confront the elephant in the room or continue living in denial about what she really did?

Director's Statement -

"Purgatory is my 5th short-film and my 1st after graduating from a film school. This would also be my first film that is based on an adaptation of an existing poem.

The Elephant in The Room by Terry Kettering is essentially a poem that deals with bereavement and denial and since my body of work has consisted mainly of themes that revolve around the human psyche and fragility of the mind, I felt that denial would be an ideal theme to work on in this project.

The main character, Terry Ward was created by combining the characteristics of some of my friends and incorporating her into a World where she plays a person with immense responsibilities, something she isn’t really ready to cope with. By structuring the film in a non-linear form, my intention is to play it in 2 different dimensions, one in Purgatory where she plays a victim and one in real life, where she plays the aggressor of sorts and how her actions in real life, eventually led her to Purgatory.

The other character, named Peter is modelled after a teacher I once had who often used condescending and sarcastic terms to punish and humiliate his students. Somehow, when I crafted the idea, this character came to mind and I thought it would be interesting if I could put these 2 together and observe the dynamics and the conflict that could potentially arise.

By putting these characters into play and reinforcing the theme of denial into their dialogue, actions and their existence, I hope to bring about a resolution that will allow viewers to react to not only the elephant in the room that is revealed in the film but also, the vicious cycle of the system in today’s society that blurs the line between the puppet master, and the puppet.

What happens in Purgatory, stays in Purgatory. "

TANIA DE ROZARIO
www.taniaderozario.com
Tania De Rozario is an artist, writer and curator interested in personal stories and their connections to larger issues of gender and sexuality. Author of Tender Delirium (Math Paper Press, 2013) and Reasons for the Rain (forthcoming, Nov 2013), she is currently penning her third book, And The Walls Come Crumbling Down. Recipient of the 2011 SPH-NAC Golden Point Award for English Poetry, she has undertaken writing residencies at Hedgebrook (USA) and Sangam House (India).

As a visual artist, Tania has been exhibiting for over a decade. Her first solo exhibition, A Language of Longing, opened at The Substation Gallery in 2011. Her curatorial portfolio includes Landing Places (Objectifs Centre for Photography & Filmmaking, Singapore, 2012) and Only Breath (Café Kunst Sappho, Amsterdam, 2009.)

She is also a co-founder/curator of EtiquetteSG, a multidisciplinary collective focused on platforming women’s voices. Including its upcoming anthology, it has showcased work by over 70 artists, writers, curators, filmmakers and academics.

Tania currently serves as an Associate Artist at The Substation, where she is working on Making Trouble, a two-year project investigating relationships between art and activism in Singapore. On the side, she teaches Contemporary Contextual Studies at Lasalle College of the Arts.

Busy weekend!

I've been neglecting this blog for a while, but no longer! Just wanna advertise two readings this weekend:

REGRESSION

https://www.facebook.com/events/457556820998597/?fref=ts

A day-long festival of music and spoken word in partnership with the Lit-Up Festival, featuring folks like Marc Nair, Deborah Emmanuel, Bani Haykal and Ila, etc, etc...

Date: Sat 15 June

Time: 3:00 - 9:00pm (I'll be up between 5 and 5:45pm)
Venue: 13 Wilkie Terrace 
Admission: Recommended donation of $8 (all proceeds will go to supporting the Indie Arts Festival this coming July) 

Part of Displacements, a month-long festival from 2 to 23 June, marking the closure and demolition of the house at 13 Wilkie Terrace.

IMAGINARY NUMBERS

http://portal.cohass.ntu.edu.sg/TransculturalImaginaries%20-%20Festival/Documents/Festival_Programme.pdf

A reading by faculty of the NTU Creative Writing Department, including Jen Crawford, Grace Chia and O Thiam Chin (yes, we've just hired him!).

Date: Sat 15 June
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Pitchstop Cafe, NTU
Admission: Free

Part of the Transcultural Imaginaries Festival from Fri 14 Jun to Mon 17 Jun, a literary festival and conference organised by the NTU English Department. (There are visiting writers like Yang Lian and Merlinda Bobis coming!)

Launch of "Eastern Heathens", Sat 23 August, 6:30-7:30pm!

Hey guys! Eastern Heathens is FINALLY going into print!

What is it? Well, it's an anthology of stories inspired by Asian folklore - there's realism, fantasy, historical fiction, oriental steampunk, horror, comedy, sex... and I'm one of the editors! Mind you, it's mostly drawn from the inspiration and the sweat of my co-editor Amanda Lee Koe - and from the contributors. (I tried submitting a story, but we agreed it wasn't good enough.)

We sent stuff to the print shop yesterday and we're holding the launch next Saturday, at the Arts House, aka The Old Parliament House. It's part of the Literally 9 festival to celebrate the arts centre's ninth anniversary. Alfian Sa'at, Cyril Wong and newcomer Bryan Cheong should be reading! I'm hosting, methinks.

Venue: Arts House, Living Room
Date: 23 Mar 2013
Event Timing: 6.30-7:30pm
Free admission
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/442375729179327/?fref=ts

The authors, btw, are:

Bryan Cheong (Singapore)
Hoa Pham (Australia)
Cyril Wong (Singapore)
Jeannine Hall Gailey (USA/Japan)
Alfian Sa'at (Singapore/Malaysia)
Amanda Lee Koe (Singapore)
Jon Gresham (Australia/Singapore)
Anila Angin (Singapore)
Chan Ziqian (Singapore/Poland)
Jennani Durai (Singapore)
Li Huijia (Singapore)
Abha Iyengar (India)
Zeny May Recidoro (Philippines)
Jason Erik Lundberg (USA/Singapore)

Seeya there!

Several Announcements for January!

1. Flying Circus Project!

I'm going to Myanmar from 3 to 15 January, to be part of the Flying Circus Project! Here's the blog I'm maintaining at Weebly.

2. OH! Marina Bay

This means I'm gonna miss Evil Empire's OH!: Open House at Marina Bay, a series of interactive art tours that are happening this weekend and next weekend - that's 5, 6, 12, 13 Jan - at Marina Bay. I contributed a short story to their program, titled Block Quotes. If you wanna go, better go early - lines are kuh-ray-zee.

3. Campaign City

I actually designed a poster for Evil Empire as part of their Campaign City: Life in Posters exhibition. It's showing at the National Library, Level 11, from 9 January onwards - huge light boxes on the walls, each featuring an artist's reinterpretation of one of the PAP's propaganda campaigns! I worked with the Speak Good English campaign in a way that celebrates local experimental writing.

4. Choice Cuts

And there's actually already an exhibition I'm involved in on show, at Jurong Regional Library, called Choice Cuts - a little installation by my friends at Studio Kaleido that gives you personal recommendations for Singapore literature, by Singaporean writers. As you can see, I'm featured as a recommender (not as a recommendee), as are Boey Kim Cheng, Wena Poon, Enoch Ng, etc, etc. (Gwee Li Sui is both a recommender and a -dee, ugh.)

The show will move from library to library until it opens in Central Lending around March. I should be able to make it for that launch.

That's all for now. I think!

Archiving Cane/Microcosmos

I´ve written material for two art exhibitions opening this Thursday. Sadly, I can´t attend either of them because I´m in Scandinavia - I´m a blogger for the ILGA Conference in Stockholm next week!

This means you´ll have to attend in my stead. Pop over to the Substation for Loo Zihan´s Archiving Cane, which I´ve written an essay for:

Archiving Cane

Date: Fri 7 Dec to Sun 16 Dec

Venue: The Substation

Reception: Thu 6 Dec, 7:30pmPlease note that this exhibition contains material that is rated R21

Then get a cab to Goodman Arts Centre for Amanda Lee´s Microcosmos, a photography exhibition for which writers like myself have written poetry and stories inspired by the art:

Microcosmos

Date: Fri 7 Dec to Wed 12 Dec

Venue: Goodman Arts Centre, Block B, 90 Goodman Road

Reception: Thu 6 Dec, 8pm to 10:30pm

Click the links if you want to find out more!

But Is the Book Better?: Eating Air, Wed 28 Nov, Sat 1 Dec

I'm off to the Georgetown Literary Festival in a bit, but before I do that, I'd like to advertise a little something I've got coming up. It's a screening of the fabulous 1999 motorcycle gangster movie at the Arts House, after which there'll be a talk about my novelisation thereof!

But Is the Book Better?: Eating Air
Venue: Screening Room, the Arts House
Date/Time: 28 Nov, 7.30pm; 1 Dec, 3pm.
Free admission
(on a first-come-first-served basis)

My talkback is on 1 December, with director Jasmine Ng! More info here.

'Tis the Festive Season!

And no, I don't mean Hari Raya Haji and Deepavali. I'm talking about the Singapore Writers Festival and the Georgetown Literary Festival!

Just bussed back from the SWF opening, in fact, where Math Paper Press did a twin launch of Alfian Sa'at's The Invisible Manuscript and Cyril Wong's Straw, Sticks, Brick. 

My book, Diary of a Stone Monkey, was supposed to come out too, but alas, there were printing problems. Seems like this is my year of stymied book launches. One of my stories is featured in the Sunday launch of Fish Eats Lion, though. Come, come!

Launch of Fish Eats Lion: New Singaporean Speculative Fiction

Sunday 4 November

4pm-5pm

ilovebooks.com Pavilion, Campus Green, SMU (Singapore Management University)

FREE ADMISSION

Quite a few prominent names are featured in the fest, including Michael Cunningham, Monique Truong, and the author of my Korea book, Shin Kyun-Sook. Will see if I can get interviews and autographs. :)

But, more importantly, I've been invited to Penang!

See that upper left hand corner portrait? That's me! I'm actually being featured in the opening ceremony, where I'll be performing my poetry right next to A. Samad Said and Omar Musa. Can you believe it?

These are the events I'm involved in:

Poetry Workshop with PELLTA and Arts

Friday 23 November

8-9pm

Sekeping Victoria

Writers: Ng Yi-Sheng, Omar Musa and Nii Ayikwey Parkes

FREE ADMISSION

Official Opening Ceremony by Chief Minister of Penang, Y.A.B. Lim Guan Eng

8-9pm

Friday 23 November  and Nii Ayikwey Parkes

Sekeping Victoria

Readings and performances by A. Samad Said, Ng Yi-Sheng and Omar Musa
BY INVITATION ONLY

Poetry Rant: Mad As Hell!

Sunday 25 November

12:30-1:30pm

Sekeping Victoria

Five poets get angry. Watch them get mad - and bad!

Writers: Ng Yi-Sheng, Omar Musa, Alfian Sa'at, Shivani Sivagurunathan and Nii Ayikwey Parkes

Host: Jasmine Low
FREE ADMISSION - seating on first come, first served basis

Reading and Panel Discussion: Taboos or Travesties

Sunday 25 November
2-3pm
Sekeping Victoria
How do writers go about saying the unsayable? How do they deal with issues and themes that may cause scandal and uproar? See how these writers deal with challenging issues that simply need to be said.
Writers: Ng Yi-Sheng, Reggie Baay, Dina Zaman, Linda Christanty and David Van Reybrouck
Moderator: Bernice Chauly
FREE ADMISSION - seating on first come, first served basis

... and then from 3 to 20 December I'll be in Stockholm for the ILGA Conference. More about that later. :)

Singapore/Malaysia Book Launch at Silverfish Books, 5:30pm

Will be speaking at Silverfish Books in Kuala Lumpur this evening, 5:30pm, to promote my translation of "The New Village"! Three books to be promoted, in fact:

1. Robert Yeo’s ROUTES. Robert Yeo, a.k.a Yeo Cheng Chuan, (b.1940, Singapore -), is a poet and playwright, novelist and newspaper columnist on the arts, literary and theatre essayist advocating the establishment of a distinctly Singaporean tradition in writing. He was for many years a lecturer in the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University and was a proponent for the greater inclusion of the study of Singaporean texts in the school curriculum. Poet and critic Aaron Lee has described Yeo as being “the most Singaporean of Singaporean writers”.
2. Dr Wong Yoon Wah’s THE NEW VILLAGE. Wong Yoon Wah (b. 13 August 1941, Perak, Malaysia - ) is one of the few Singaporeans who excel as an international poet, critic and scholar. Prolific in both creative and academic writing, he has published over twenty collections of prose, poetry, and academic writings on Chinese and comparative literature in Chinese or English. For his commitment to promoting literature regionally, he has been awarded the Southeast Asia Write Award (1984), the Cultural Medallion (1986), and the ASEAN Cultural Award (1993).
3. Wong Phui Nam’s THE HIDDEN PAPYRUS OF HEN_TAUI. Wong Phui Nam's poems are regarded as among the best Malaysian ones in English, unsurpassed in their eloquence and linguistic richness. Most of them are contemplative and draw their images from the local landscape. Wong Phui Nam's poetry explores the experience of living in multi-cultural Malaysia. "Before the British set up this country, Malaysia was a totally agrarian society," he says. "Suddenly we get this commercialism and development of plantations to supply a metropolitan power. Even for a writer in Malay, whether he is a Malay or a non-Malay, he has to reinvent the language. All the more so for Indians and Chinese. For a Chinese, when we write in Chinese, we cannot pretend that nothing has happened and try to write Tang poetry. So for us to write in English, we are exiled three times, culturally and spiritually from China, culturally from the indigenous Malay culture, and then writing in English. We cannot claim that it is a tradition. I would say we have appropriated the language. So, in a way, it is a much more interesting medium to work with, to work with the language against the tradition."

Professor Mohammad Quayum, of the International Islamic University of Malaysia, will moderate the event, which will include discussions with regards to the development of Malaysia/Singapore writings in English. 

Venue: Silverfish Books, 

28-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, 

59100 Kuala Lumpur. 

Date: Saturday, 22 September 2012 

Time: 5.30 pm

Admission is free. All welcome, but seats are limited.