Textures 2022 Celebrates All Things Singaporean Literature Right in The Heartlands

by Malini Pannirselvam March 08, 2022

This year Textures will be bringing you into the imaginative terrains of Singapore Literature!

Last updated: 8 Mar 2022

Venue: Various neighbourhoods and online
Date: 4 Mar - 3 Apr 2022
Fee: Free

Textures by Arts House Limited (AHL) is an annual literary festival that
celebrates Singapore literature (Sing Lit) and those in the literary arts industry. Themed The Great Escape, this year's festival is curated by critically-acclaimed, multi-disciplinary artist Jason Wee for a second consecutive year. Following The Bottled City in 2021, the festival continues to bring Singapore writing to the heartlands. The Great Escape invites audiences to let their imaginations run free and escape into the imaginative terrains of Singapore Literature.

You can look forward to a variety of family friendly activities, from visual installations, to interactive workshops, and even digital programmes like storytelling videos and podcast episodes casting a spotlight on SingLit.

A Sing Lit adventure in the heartlands

Festival Pavilion

  • Ang Mo Kio Public Library: 4 Mar - 21 Mar | 10 am - 9 pm
  • Community Plaza at Oasis Terraces: 4 Mar - 20 Mar | 10 am - 10 pm
  • 256C Sumang Walk – in partnership with Punggol West Community Centre: 23 Mar - 3 Apr | 10 am - 10 pm
  • Plaza at Canberra Plaza: 22 Mar - 3 Apr | 10 am - 10 pm

Immerse yourselves in Singapore writing right in the heartlands, as Textures 2022: The Great Escape heads to the public libraries and community spaces in Ang Mo Kio, Punggol, Sembawang, and Toa Payoh.

Textures 2022 features a series of programmes in English, and offers a broad range of Sing Lit with a focus on genres which speak to the theme such as speculative fiction, fantasy, travel writing, crime and thriller novels, and culinary writing.

Designed as roving art installations and taking inspiration from home-grown literature, the Festival Pavilion features artworks from eight local artists and their reinterpretations of stories from four Singaporean authors. Presented for the first time, the artworks include artist Elvin Ching’s adaptation of Cyril Wong's short story The Dragon Prince's Letter to his Father from his book Let Me Tell You Something About That Night, artist Loh Xiang Yun’s interpretation of Meihan Boey's The Formidable Miss Cassidy, designer HAFI’s work inspired by Khir Johari's book, The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels through the Archipelago, and object maker Masuri Mazlan’s reimagination of Singa Pura Pura edited by Nazry Bahrawi.

Visitors can also easily search and borrow electronic library books with the on-site QR codes via the NLB mobile app. Families can also sign up for parent-and-child storytelling and craft workshops. Other on-site activities include ‘Spot the Difference’, and colouring contests where participants can stand to win book vouchers.

Onsite Programmes and Activiites

  • Make Your Own Gunungan Workshop
    Venue: Programme Zone at Ang Mo Kio Public Library | Date: 12 Mar | Time: 4 pm - 5 pm

  • “The Adventures of Mooty in Space” Storytelling for children
    Venue: Programme Zone at Ang Mo Kio Public Library | Date: 19 Mar | Time: 11.30 am - 12 pm
  • Read with a Storyteller: Parent-child storytelling workshop
    Venue: Programme Zone at Ang Mo Kio Public Library | Date: 19 Mar | Time: 1.30 pm - 2.30 pm
  • Read with a Storyteller: Parent-child storytelling workshop
    Venue: Programme Zone at Sengkang Public Library | Date: 20 Mar | Time: 11.30 am - 12 pm
  • Two sessions of Read with a Storyteller: Parent-child storytelling workshop
    Venue: Classroom 2 at Blk 256A Sumang Walk S(821256) | Date: 26 Mar | Time: 11 am & 2 pm
  • Textures Pop-up Bookshop
    Venue: SAFRA Toa Payoh (Level 3 Function Room) | Date: 26 Mar | Time: 11 am - 7 pm
  • Proletariat Poetry Factory
    Venue: SAFRA Toa Payoh (Level 3 Function Room) | Date: 26 Mar | Time: 4 pm - 6 pm

Arts and literature at the House

  • The City Beneath The City
         Venue: The Arts House | Date: 14 Jan - 3 Apr 2022 | Time: 10 am - 10 pm
  • Singapore Literature Book Bazaar
         Venue: The Arts House | Date: 7 - 20 Mar 2022 | Time: 11 am - 6 pm

At The Arts House (TAH), the public can view The City Beneath The City, a whimsical installation inspired by Jason's short story in Best Singapore Short Stories Volume Three. Produced in collaboration with Singapore and design firm WY-TO, The City Beneath The City imagines a fantastic copy of our island-city growing and building under our present one. The installation, which will be up until 3 April, showcases the festival’s theme, The Great Escape, which looks at the landscapes of our fantasies, our desires for travel and escape, and our dream adventures.

Singapore Literature Book Bazaar

Visitors are also welcome to read and purchase Singapore literature at the Singapore Literature Book Bazaar organised by Singapore Book Publishers Association. As part of the Sing Lit: Read Our World movement, the bazaar is a hybrid event offering physical book sales at TAH as well as on the online virtual platform at bookbazaar.sg .

Bringing established and independent publishers under one roof to offer a wide selection of local literature, the book bazaar will also be accompanied by curated programmes which will be live streamed to social media platforms to reach a wider online audience.

Onsite Programmes

  • PenMeetsPal
    Venue: The Arts House | Date: 4 Mar - 17 Apr 2022 | Time: 10 am - 10 pm
  • Proletariat Poetry Factory
    Venue: The Arts House | Date: 12 Mar | Time: 4 pm - 6 pm
  • Reading Room - Open for visitors who want to sit and enjoy a Sing Lit book
    Venue: The Arts House | Date: 12 - 13 & 19 - 20 Mar 2022 | Time: 11 am - 6 pm
  • Sing Lit Book Bazaar and Programmes (registered participants only)
    Venue: The Arts House | Date: 12 - 13 & 19 - 20 Mar 2022 | Time: 11 am - 6 pm

Travel through local literature digitally

Complementing the in-person programmes is a series of digital programmes including storytelling videos and podcast series that celebrates local literary talents.

Adapted and performed by master storyteller, Kamini Ramachandran, Wildest Dreams: Stories Adapted from Singa-Pura-Pura will comprise a set of four videos featuring retelling of extracts from the Malay speculative fiction collection Singa-Pura-Pura edited by Nazry Bahrawi.

Lovers of the performing arts can tune in to the second edition of podcast series People, Places, where three acclaimed local actors, Erwin Shah Ismail, R. Chandran, and Lim Yu-Beng will perform and narrate personal stories based on three Sing Lit works directed by Samantha Scott-Blackhall.

Audio listeners can also look forward to reflective dialogues between Daryl Qilin Yam, Jennifer Anne Champion, and Clara Chow in CrossTalk as they respond to recordings by senior writers from the National Archives with their own works.

Writing workshops for schools

To develop literary arts interest among the youth, AHL will be offering writing workshops to schools for primary to upper secondary students from 7 to 25 March. Facilitated by local authors, students can look forward to learning how to plan and write exciting story plots and creative non-fiction from renowned writers A.J. Low, Felix Cheong and Dr. Yeo Wei Wei.

Textures 2022: Chef-In-Residence Series

Working with Country Food's experience in food logistics and culinary expertise, chefs Mary Gomes, and KKI Sweets’ Kenneth Seah and Delphine Liau, will present a special culinary experience along the theme within Country Food's Research & Development space in the Annex building of The Arts House.

Chef Mary Gomes will explore the gastronomy of Eurasian food and it will be paired with reflections by writers who have written about food as well; and tea on a Sunday afternoon for Textures audiences. Second chef-in-residence, local brand KKI Sweets, has developed a loyal following since their early beginnings in 2009 on Ann Siang Hill, and have created an intimate long-table dining experience in their current Seah Street space tucked right into the Raffles Hotel.

For more information on Textures 2022, you can stay updated at AHL's Facebook or Instagram page.

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