Raffles Institution
2023 Creative Writing Festival
"The Past is Now"
Day 3
Students report at 0850
0900-1000 Workshopping in Mentoring Groups
1015-1030 Break
1030-1130 Writing Feedback (For Other Groups)
1130-1200 Writing Session
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1530 Workshops
1530-1615 Festival Conclusion
(Click on 'Workshop Registration' tab in the menu to sign up)
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Workshop F:
(Re-)writing Histories:
The Personal and the Political
By Laura Jane Lee
How do we write our histories, individually and as a collective? This workshop will explore the writing of historical narratives through poetry – from personal history and family history, to the history of the political events which we inherit or bear witness to. We will also look at how these histories intersect meaningfully in poetry, and how to respectfully represent and engage with these narratives whilst lending a sense of authenticity. This workshop will also incorporate Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies as a springboard for ideas and a tool in the editing process.​
Speaker Bio
Laura Jane Lee is a Hong Kong-born, Singapore-based poet. She is a winner of the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize and her work has been featured in The Straits Times, Tatler Asia, Poetry London, Ambit, QLRS, and the 52nd Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam. Her most recent pamphlet "flinch & air" was published with Out-Spoken Press in 2021.
Workshop G:
Discovering Personal History: Building A Character's Backstory
By Euginia Tay
Behind every character beckons a world of questions and encounters. Where did they come from? What have they gone through? What do they need to face in order to move on? Writer Euginia Tan will be sharing her play Fortunes (developed under The Necessary Stage Playwrights' Cove 2020) to discuss her process of discovering personal history and building character backstory with playwriting. She will also be reading (alongside the participants) from a work by Japanese playwright Hideo Tsuchida's Stop Hitting Yourself, a play about a group of people arguing over self-imposed borders and circumstances.
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Speaker Bio
Euginia Tan writes poetry, creative non-fiction and plays. Her third poetry collection, Phedra (Ethos Books) was nominated for the 2018 Singapore Literature Prize. Her play-writing credits include Holidays (under mentorship of Joel Tan), Tuition (Twenty Something Theatre Festival) and Modest Travels (produced by Tan Kheng Hua for Uniqlo). She also pens curatorial essays and contributions for visual artists in Singapore.
Workshop C:
(Re-Run from Day 1)
“Telling It Like It Could Have Been” – Historical Fiction & Dramatic Theory
By Roshan Singh Sambhi, Andas Productions
In this workshop, we examine dramatization as a frame and process by which we capture the human essence of existing stories, and structure them in such a way as to preserve and amplify their universal qualities. In examining common conceptions of dramatic structure, students will be given both problem-solving tools for their own work and an understanding of the fundamental craft used in storytelling industries around the world. This session will use the historical epic Temujin (Andas Productions, 2020) as a case study for independently-produced work by Singaporean artists that garnered international acclaim.
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Speaker Bio
Roshan Singh Sambhi is a New York City-based writer and multimedia producer, and the founder of Andas Productions. His debut work, the historical epic Temujin (2020), was recognized at the Webby Awards (2021), Audio Production Awards (2021), and Asian Podcast Awards (2021). In 2022, Roshan worked as a screenwriting assistant to Philip LaZebnik, writer of Prince of Egypt and Disney’s original Mulan, on a slate of upcoming major animated films. Additionally, as a game developer, Roshan’s work has premiered at the Manhattan SPRING/BREAK Art Show (2021), Sing Lit Station’s Blk Party (2022), and the National Gallery Singapore's Gallery Children’s Biennale (2023).