SWF 2019: thoughts
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by @crooked.talks on Dec 3, 2019 at 7:27am PST
(Accidentally took the youth pass whoops)
I purchased an all-access pass to the Singapore Writers’ Festival 2019 in late October on a whim since many of my friends were getting it too, and since I’ve never been to a writers’ festival before I was a little curious and also apprehensive about how it was going to be like; the thing about literary circles is that I often don’t feel like I’m qualified to be there, as someone who can barely read 10 books in a year and who has never achieved all of her yearly reading goals. The lineup however was amazing, with prominent names like Danez Smith, Marlon James, Roxane Gay and more attending, so I was hopeful. I may have also bought a ticket out of support of the local arts scene and quite a bit of spite after the whole “poem-quoted-out-of-context-to-devalue-literature-and-repress-criticism-and-dialogue” fiasco (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a link on what happened and a few more links), which also made me worry about how much of the discussion on “taboo topics” like sex, gender, politics and mental health that more conservative Singaporeans (and perhaps the government) like to pretend don’t exist are going to be policed and censored. I'm glad that I gave SWF2019 a chance though, and I did enjoy my experience there although obviously there are some criticisms that have to be said. After this experience, I’m really looking forward to the festival this year which I would most likely be attending.
I didn’t manage to attend all the panels that I wanted to go for, but out of the few that I managed to attend, my favourites were In Search of Monsters and It was a Dark and Stormy Night, while my least favourite was easily The Future of Science Fiction (which me and my friends walked out of in the middle of the panel...for a good reason). The panelists for In Search of Monsters were diverse, engaging and open, and really tried to add to the discussion and contribute to each others’ jokes with their own experiences and their funny anecdotes. There was a certain chemistry and rapport and you could tell that they were having fun with the panel, which made it fun to watch them and see how they responded to the questions posed by the audience and the moderator as well. The diverse backgrounds of the panelists also meant that the discussion had enough breadth as well.
It was a Dark and Stormy Night was interesting to me mainly because of the topic of discussion (as someone who loves noir and scandi-noir tv shows) but it was really interesting to hear about the thought processes that goes on behind the scenes of crafting a crime story and its characters, as well as how that can differ between different sub-genres of crime fiction and between writing for the screen (in this case, TV) and writing for a novel. It was really fascinating (and I guess educational) to hear writers talk about their craft, and I gained a lot from that.
My main criticism of the festival was that the panels were a little too short for my liking, since most of them are just an hour long. It takes some time for guests and panelists to be introduced and for attendees to settle down, and by then the time left for the panel wouldn’t be enough for a more satisfying, deeper dive into the topic at hand. In my opinion, a half and hour more would allow the discussion to hit its sweet spot without seeming too dragged on.
My other criticism is that moderators need to do a better job at doing their homework on the panelists and the topic of discussion before the panel to be able to introduce the panelists efficiently and facilitate the discussion such as by asking good questions at appropriate moments, encouraging panelists that were more reserved to contribute more and preventing the discussion from being dominated by any panelist, etc. Also, moderators also need to be better at being, for lack of a better word, socially appropriate; I don’t mind the use of slang and colloqualisms, even swear words and vulgarities if they add to the discussion in any way, but I do draw the line at tone-death attempts at jokes including the prostitute joke that was made by the moderator, no less, at The Future of Science Fiction panel.
I did buy online Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith before the festival but sadly my copy didn’t arrive until after. I got 《林叶的四季》 by 黄怡 at the festival bookstore, as well as a little pamphlet of her work that was given out after her panel. Really excited to get to those two books since I’ve heard so many good things about Don't Call Us Dead (which won the Forward Prize for best collection in 2018) and 《林叶的四季》 which kinda gives me 西西 vibes (unsurprising since she did say 西西 was one of her sources of inspiration during her panel).
I still have a couple of draft posts on stuff that happened in 2019 that I want to finish writing as soon as possible (I’m aiming to get them out by mid January). I do want to post more this year (says me every year lol) and hopefully I will be able to do so after my graduation (!!!11) Hope you folks had a great start to the new year, and happy reading vibes to all!
