SING LIT STATION

Translating Culture to the Page with Prasanthi Ram

2 Aug 2026, 1pm - 4pm

How do you translate a culture that your reader may not share or fully understand? How do you stay true to lived experience? What happens if you yourself are an outsider looking in? Participants will read excerpts from local texts including Balli Kaur Jaswal’s Sugarbread and Fairoz Ahmad’s Neverness, that engage with notions of culture, identity and community and work through a series of generative exercises designed to give them more confidence in translating culture to the page.

Keep it Short and Simple with Bertha Henson

Session 1: 25 Jul 2026, 10am - 1pm
Sessions 2 & 3: 1 Aug 2026, 10am - 3pm

Bertha Henson, author of five books, draws on her long experience in journalism, to show how short and sharp writing is more effective in putting across a message than a long and belaboured treatise. The class will be taught how to engage in critical reading as a way to hone language and logical thinking skills, before moving on to shaping content for the different audiences/readers via different mediums, online or offline. Bertha will introduce her diamond approach  - cut, clarity and colour - as a guide to good writing. Resource materials will be drawn from news publications and other sources which purport to engage in public communications.

Inexpert Investigation: Letting the Real World in with Documentary Poetry with Wahid Al Mamun

18 July 2026, 10am - 1pm

Participants will learn how to transform primary source materials (e.g. letters, news articles, speeches) and give them new voice with poetic intervention. Participants will read contemporary examples of documentary poetry from Singaporean poets and more, to understand the traditions of docu-poetry, and how the genre can be mobilized within the context of Singapore and beyond. We will turn to several generative prompts to see how docu-poetry can place a critical investigative lens on everyday life, to provide poets with an accessible, everyday form of journalism.

The Long Game: Writing a Novel with Balli Kaur Jaswal

Session 1: 27 June 2026, 10am - 12pm
Session 2: 4 July 2026, 10am - 12pm
Session 3: 11 July 2026, 10am - 1pm

This intimate novel-writing course is designed for developing to advanced writers who want to dedicate time and attention to their work. Across three workshops, you will explore the essential building blocks of long-form fiction: character, setting and conflict. You will work directly on your own project through guided writing exercises and craft discussion, with strong emphasis on connection between you and your work, and within the group itself. You will receive tailored guidance and feedback from the facilitator throughout. By the end of the course, you will have generated new material, gained confidence in the direction of your novel and developed a clearer sense of how to move forward.

Spoken Word: Sass and Substance with Don Shiau

First Course Run: 11 Oct (This date comprises two sessions) & 18 Oct 2025
Second Course Run: 22 Nov, 29 Nov, & 5 Dec 2025

If you’re new to spoken word, it may surprise you. This direct, energetic form of poetry is highly relatable and growing in popularity. In this introductory course, performance poet and arts organiser Don Shiau will give you the tools you need to start writing, performing, and connecting with audiences. You will gain an appreciation for the difference between written and spoken poetry, and learn ways of creating safe spaces for unapologetic self-expression.

Writing the Fantastic with Ng Yi-Sheng

First Course Run: 18 Oct, 19 Oct, & 25 Oct 2025
Second Course Run: 6 Dec, 7 Dec, & 20 Dec 2025

Author, editor and researcher Ng Yi-Sheng guides you on a journey into writing fantasy, science fiction and horror. Participants will learn the basic history of the field, conventions of worldbuilding, tropes and genre, and opportunities to share their work through publication. There will also be in-class writing and workshop sessions, so we can better understand, reflect on and critique one another’s ideas and writing. The intention is to encourage people with an interest in speculative fiction to create work of their own, and to help them understand how to orient themselves in a market that is hungry for fantastical literature of all kinds, as well as visual art, performance and games. It is open both to amateur and experienced writers.

Fiction 101: Back to the Basics of Story, Plot and Narrative with Daryl Qilin Yam

First Course Run: 25 Oct, 26 Oct, & 2 Nov 2025
Second Course Run: 13 Dec, 14 Dec, & 20 Dec 2025

Novelist and editor Daryl Qilin Yam takes you through a crash course on reading and writing fiction by getting you to understand the important functions of story and plot within any literary work; the building blocks of narrative technique vital in making any piece of creative writing sing; as well as an opportunity to hear and receive feedback on a work of fiction in a session of peer-led critique.

Computational Poetry: Large Language Models for Creative Writing with Joses Ho

First Course Run: 1 Nov 2025
Second Course Run: 12 Dec 2025

This course, run by poet and data scientist Joses Ho, will empower participants to explore and harness large language models on their own for artistic and poetic purposes. This course will allow people with no experience writing poetry or code to get direct hands-on experience in running and manipulating LLMs for artistic and poetic text generation. Experienced poets will gain additional technical skills in exploring LLMs, and those with coding experience will be inspired to use their technical knowledge towards creative and artistic ends. Participants will gain a critical understanding of how LLMs work under the hood, and also begin to appreciate how poetry uses language as a medium to create emotional responses in readers.

Writing in Poetic Forms: From Haiku to Liwuli to Sonnet with Joshua Ip

First Course Run: 5 Dec 2025
Second Course Run: 29 Dec 2025

Award-winning poet Joshua Ip introduces you to the intricate world of formal poetry, and why poets from Shakespeare to Li Bai write in form. You will even be exposed to rarely-seen formal poems written by Singapore’s pioneering leaders and poets. You will then progressively experience how writing in form can loosen up poetic muscles not usually exercised; from entry-level forms like the haiku, to more complex syllabic forms like the liwuli, to advanced forms like the sonnet. You will also have opportunity to receive feedback on your newly-written poems. The session will enable people new to writing poetry to try out formal poetry writing, and build a repertoire of 3-5 poems in a day.