Singapore Writers Festival 2024
This year’s theme for Singapore Writers Festival was ‘In Our Nature’, prompting us to contemplate our relationship with our natural environment as well as within ourselves – as humans, writers, readers, and as global citizens – navigating our world. It is against this pertinent backdrop that the festival featured thought provoking sessions about literature and the arts, social issues, mental health and disability. I have found this and last year’s SWF to be inclusive in its diversity of speakers and topics, something that well-managed arts festivals often create room for.
Our therapist Simone Shu Yin Chan was thankful to have been invited to speak on the panel, ‘Beyond the Couch: Redefining the Role of Therapists’. Together with Baek Se-hee, Korean author of the novel, ‘I Want to Die But I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki’, life coach Tan Xing Jian (Stranger In a Bar), and moderated by writer Sunaina Suri (Our Own Voices: A Collection of Singaporean Mental Health Journeys).
Xing Jian and Shu Yin shared about their roles, and what each of them brought to their work with clients. Xing Jian shared that different clients have varying needs and preferences when it came to the type of support. Some found that titles such as ‘Dr’ and the educational qualifications that come with it to be assuring, while others look to life coaches for help, for example. Shu Yin emphasised the importance of having a variety of mental health approaches which suited different clients, expounding on bottom-up processing such as Somatic Experiencing and creative arts therapies, how they gave a sense of agency to the client, and how they might benefit neurodivergent clients
Se-hee offered a glimpse into her journey as a service user, reminding us of the struggles of our clients. Answering Sunaina’s question on her expectations when she first started therapy, Se-hee shared that she had expected a lot, as she had hoped that her therapist could offer a remedy to her mental health struggles. This led to her disappointment at the first meeting as she realised they were not able to help her, and she went on to see about 20 more different therapists before she found a suitable one.
The audience was attentive and appreciative, offering insights and thoughtful questions. One audience thanked the panellists for the work they do, and asked if they felt burdened by the weight of being role models. Shu Yin answered that she does not really consider herself one, and said that she was an imperfect human and not out to ‘save’ anyone. She shared that it is often the client’s own effort to help themselves and she is just there to facilitate that.
A member of the audience also came forward afterwards to ask about the definition of mental health as a disability, as she said it was not considered a disability in Singapore. Shu Yin had spoken about the Social Model of Disability being able to lessen the power difference between the therapist and client. It was also helpful to highlight that many barriers come about due to the lack of accommodations for disabled in society which results in inequity. However it is sometimes important to use the Medical Model of Disability to highlight the inherent struggles of disabled people especially those with support needs that might fluctuate, and also to get support for people who need them. Baek Se-hee also talked about her challenges with mental health as an invisible illness, and hoped that it could be taken as seriously as physical illnesses. This is an important distinction to make, as whether to use the Medical or Social Model of Disability depends on the context.
‘Beyond the Couch: Redefining the Role of Therapists’, a panel at SWF’24, The Arts House Chamber, 17 November’24, 5 - 6pm
Left to right: Sunaina Suri, moderator of the panel, writer of Our Own Voices: A Collection of Singaporean Mental Health Journeys
Simone Shu Yin Chan, art therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner & artist
Tan Xing Jian, life coach (StrangerInABar)
Baek Se-hee, Korean author of the bestselling novel, ‘I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki’ and its sequel.
Aside from the panel, I had a fruitful time learning from the other presenters, and here I’ll share about a few of them.
Your Heart of Darkness A play produced by Phan Ming Yen; Dramaturg Aidli Mosbit; as well as Performers Lezan Ariffin, and Rosezeli Omar (both are ex-offenders who were trained in Changi Prison’s Theatre Arts programme. Lezan and Rosezeli shared actual real-life past experiences of incarceration).
I was very moved by Lezan and Rosezeli’s performance of what it was like being incarcerated. I got a glimpse into what might have led to incarceration (involvement in gang-related crimes, robbery, drug and alcohol addiction, gambling and other vices), the hardship of being imprisoned and caned, the personalities of gang leaders, some of the trauma which preceded it all. Through the Theatre Arts Programme, the participants learned to turn their real stories into an artistic play. They had the chance to act out different roles such as the family members, and through repeated acting, gradually turned over a new leaf.
Through the play we were reminded that addiction and crime is often not straightforward, and is often the result of a complex web of systemic and intergenerational trauma. The key to the theatre arts practice in rehabilitation, was about the ‘turning point’, a feature we commonly find in literature and arts as well.
Left to right: Phan Ming Yen, percussionist Khaitama, Zeli, Lezan, and Aidli Mosbit.
I attended two talks by American poet and writer Gregory Pardlo, the first was After the Fire: Masterclass Talk with Gregory Pardlo and the second, Crossing Over: Navigating Poetry and Non-fiction with writer and educator Lawrence Ypil (pictured, right).
Gregory shared about how writing was a practice in self reflection although therapeutic in itself, he saw going for therapy as an important part of the process that influenced his writing. He also talked about his relationship with his therapist, and his own strained relationship with his father, which inspires his poetry.
Lawrence also shared about his own relationship with his father, and how his father’s responses to his column in the newspaper reflected his feelings about his work. The two writers’ work have parallels in how they negotiate their relationships with their fathers in their writing, which seemed to be therapeutic while also connecting with readers who shared similar struggles.
Writing Ecologies of Mental Health, featuring Philip Holden, writer, educator and Counsellor, Nicole K, founder of The Tapestry Project SG and Chan Li Shan, mental health advocate, writer and researcher.
The presenters shared about their work in the arts, literature, and narrative therapy, as well as how their own lived experience with mental health concerns shaped their journeys and what they do. At one point, the audience was invited to turn to the person beside them and share about our views on mental health. The elderly Indian man beside me said that when he was younger, mental health was a taboo topic and there were no avenues for discussion about negative emotions or feelings of insecurity among men.
Time After Time: Navigating Singapore’s Ageing Landscape, featuring Abhijit Visaria, Principal Research Scientist, Duke-NUS Medical School, Paulin Straughan, Professor of Sociology (Practice) and Dean of Students at the Singapore Management University (SMU) and Director of the Centre for Research on Successful Ageing. Moderated by Lin Suling, senior columnist at The Straits Times and affiliate faculty at SMU.
My main takeaway was about how society’s mindset of viewing aging as a burden needs to change, and about how having a purpose beyond economic productivity can shape the way one spends their senior years towards doing something more personally meaningful that can in turn benefit the community.
Tech Talks: exploring impact of AI on the literary arts, Featuring Arianna Pozzuoli, educator, author, poet, storyteller, Simon Chesterman, David Marshall Professor and Vice Provost at the National University of Singapore, Dean of NUS College and Senior Director of AI Governance at AI Singapore, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, poet, editor and translator. Moderated by author Victor Fernando R. Ocampo.
The speakers reiterated that much of generative AI was trained off stolen work without the permission of artists and writers. While AI can be useful in certain tasks or be used in a specific manner to complement creating, relying too much on it in arts and literature can end up staving creativity. For example when children do not develop their own ideas and imagination, but instead resort to using AI for quick fixes. As a creator who has been threatened by a collaborator to have my artwork replaced by AI, it is definitely reassuring to hear these viewpoints emphasising the importance of developing creativity and critical thinking skills.
Zeitgeist: Singapore's Zine Scene, featuring DJ and creative Robin Chua, Christy Chua, Editorial Director and Founder of The Slow Press, and Irie Aman, Editor-in-Chief of The Local Rebel zine. Moderated by writer CT Lim (pictured on the far left)
It was inspiring to hear the speakers share about making zines, which started out as fan zines such as about music artistes. Being ground-up self-published media, zines were a way for marginalised and minority voices to be heard, bypassing the middle man publisher. They are often self-funded and self-distributed, allowing authentic voices to reach its audience. Some zines such as The Local Rebel advocated for social justice, and some members of the audience at the talk voiced out about how an article in the zine really resonated and helped them feel seen.
The Zine Library featured zines curated by Sing Lit station. I was pleasantly surprised to find a zine I did several years ago about my experience with eczema, Surface Society, to be on the wall alongside those by other artists.
Sometimes in art therapy sessions and workshops, we make zines and comics as a way for the client to express and process their traumatic experiences, rewriting their own narrative. It is an activity that many teenagers and youths have enjoyed.
Thanks to The Book Bar for stocking my zines alongside the published books I illustrated. Thanks also to the friends and strangers who purchased them, your support means a lot.
Womanhood and Gender Roles in Fiction
Featuring authors Pilar Quintana, Meihan Boey, Vinita Ramani. Claire Betita de Guzman (pictured on the far left)
Thanks to the SWF for featuring events that highlighted the works of women authors and artists. British journalist Mary Ann Sieghart explains in her book The Authority Gap (Doubleday, 2021) that men are still reluctant to pick up works written by women. She found that while women are willing to read books written by an author of the opposite sex, men are less willing to do so.
Of the ten best-selling female authors, only 19% of their readership is male, compared to 81% female. This asymmetry is much less pronounced for male authors, with 55% male readers and 45% female for the ten best-selling male authors.
This panel was inspiring as we heard about empowering portrayals of women characters. One such character initially fell from grace but turned the tables when she became an influential social escort (by author Boey). Another story by Quintana fleshes out a character’s sense of desire, a conventional stigma for a woman to openly express.
She Draws the Line: Women Revolutionising the Comic World
Featuring comic artists and authors Yeo Hui Xuan, Erica Eng, and Sarah, moderated by Chong Lingying.
It was inspiring to hear about the journeys of women comic artists, as comics has conventionally been a male-dominated field, it was great that the festival had a panel dedicated to women comic artists. Hearing about their laborious processes and how they overcame their struggles, was eye opening and motivating for me as a creator. Learning from these artists, it taught me to keep making art and telling stories that are close to my heart.
X Marks the Spot: A Tribute to Chris Ho
Featuring musician Leslie Low, musician and writer Eddino Abdul Hadi, writer and editor Yeow Kai Chai, writer CT Lim, moderated by Melanie Oliveiro (radio anchor and producer, pictured far right).
The tribute to radio DJ, musician and journalist Chris Ho, three years after his passing from cancer, was a nostalgic blast from the past as the speakers recounted their memories of Chris Ho from the 70s, 80s and 90s up until his demise. For my teenage self who listened to Chris Ho on the radio in the 90s, the panel was an invaluable treasure like a time capsule from a past that nobody talks about anymore. The rendition of Chris Ho’s original songs by Leslie Low, was undoubtedly moving. Low was the vocalist of Humpback Oak, a Singaporean band whose music I loved.
Thanks to the SWF team and festival director Yong Shu Hoong for organising this memorable event, and all those I had the pleasure of being an audience of.