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Rise of the machine? SWF 2024 contemplates literature in a changing world
Themed “In Our Nature”, the 27th edition of the annual, multilingual literary festival prompted writers and readers alike to reflect on humanity and our connection to Earth’s natural environment.
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Korean wave: A crowd of festivalgoers gather at a book signing event on Nov. 16 at the Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) 2024 for South Korean author Baek Se-hee, writer of the bestselling ‘I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, a semi-autobiographical nonfiction work. (Moonrise Studio/handout/Arts House Limited) (Moonrise Studio/Courtesy of Arts House Limited)
“Writers, they say, are either architects or gardeners,” Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka told an audience of over a hundred people that had gathered on Nov. 10 at the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore’s Central Region.
Karunatilaka was referring to the two types of writers introduced by popular United States novelist George R.R. Martin: architects, who plan things ahead, and gardeners, who let their stories grow slowly.
But both types of writers are facing more complicated challenges amid today’s technological advances, a topic that the Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) tackled in its 27th edition, which ran from Nov. 8 to 17 at multiple venues across the city-state.
One of the biggest literary festivals in Southeast Asia, SWF 2024 featured over 200 programs led by 300 Singaporean and international presenters, including writers, poets, musicians, performance artists and even scholars.
The theme of this year’s festival, “In Our Nature”, prompted writers and readers alike to reflect on human nature and its connection to Mother Nature.
“During the pandemic, I rediscovered the simple joys of being in nature, just walking around [Singapore’s] Park Connectors and public gardens,” SWF director and famed local poet Yong Shu Hoong said on Nov. 8, the festival’s opening night, explaining how he found personal inspiration in nature.
“There, I found [...] a sense of freedom and reflection. The seed of the idea for the festival’s theme then began to take root,” Yong added.
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