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Singapore Writers Festival

<p>This year’s Singapore Writers Festival (SWF), running November 7 to 16, opens a portal to the future under the theme “The Shape of Things to Come.” Borrowing its title from H.G. Wells’ visionary 1933 novel, the theme invites readers and writers alike to contemplate the uncertain trajectory of humanity — how the past informs the imagination of what lies ahead.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:533px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1762470135880Yong Shu Hoong, Singapore Writers Fesitval director.jpg" style="width:533px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Yong Shu Hoong</span></span></span></div><p>For festival director Yong Shu Hoong, who shaped the festival around Singapore’s SG60 milestone, as the 60th independence anniversary of Singapore this year is tagged, the theme reflects both continuity and change. “I wanted something fitting yet not just all about Singapore,” he says. “The past can provide valuable lessons that help us navigate the uncertain waters we are in. The future, to me, is not about blind optimism — it’s about cautious hope.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Visions of the future</strong></div><p>Headlining this year’s edition is R.F. Kuang, the best-selling author of &quot;Babel,&quot; &quot;Yellowface,&quot; and &quot;Katabasis.&quot; In her festival keynote, Kuang explores Katabasis’s mythic descent into the underworld as a metaphor for academia’s moral reckoning — asking whether universities still serve as beacons of truth in a world of political and economic pressures.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:533px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1762470196541R.F. Kuang.jpg" style="width:533px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">R.F. Kuang </span></span></span>Kuang will also appear in “Writing as Resistance: Decolonising Historical Fantasy” with Singaporean author Amber Chen, where the two will reimagine how fantasy can challenge historical narratives and imagine emancipatory futures.</div><p>Joining her is Ken Liu, the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of &quot;The Paper Menagerie&quot; and &quot;The Grace of Kings,&quot; whose “silkpunk” worlds fuse East Asian myth, technology, and philosophy. His work exemplifies what Yong calls “a way of reflecting humanity in a more interesting and astute way compared to realistic or historical fiction.”</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:533px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1762470254122Ken Liu.jpg" style="width:533px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Ken Liu </span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Southeast Asian sci-fi spotlight</strong></div><p>In keeping with the festival’s regional and futuristic vision, Filipino author Dean Francis Alfar, a trailblazer in Philippine speculative fiction, joins the Sci-Fi Spotlight alongside Santelmo publisher Rexie Durado. </p><p>“Having Southeast Asian authors talk about their writing in science fiction is important,” says Yong. “There are only a handful of people writing sci-fi in Singapore’s four official languages — English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil — so regional collaboration is crucial. It shows that speculative fiction isn’t foreign; it’s a way for us to explore humanity through our own lenses.”</p><p>Yong adds that this emphasis on Southeast Asia’s collective imagination continues through SEA xChange, a cross-regional forum on how storytelling traditions adapt to the changing world. “Southeast Asian writing plays a very important role within the festival,” he says. “Writers from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand show that the future of literature here is both local and universal.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Memory meets imagination</strong></div><p>While much of SWF 2025 gazes toward the future, Yong insists that memory remains central to imagination. The community project “Stories Across Generations” pairs young writers with elders to record life stories that might otherwise vanish. “It’s important that such stories are not lost,” says Yong. “When a senior shares her experiences, the younger person can later tell that story to the next generation.”</p><p>Complementing this is “Snippets of the Future,” which challenges youth aged 7 to 21 to imagine Singapore 60 years from now — through stories about food, aging, and sustainability. “Through the eyes of young aspiring writers,” says Yong, “we can paint what Singapore might be like in the next 60 years.”</p><p>An exhibition, “Behind the Pages: Evolution in Singapore Publishing,” further connects the past to the future, tracing how the nation’s publishing industry evolved from missionary presses to modern literary production. “Literature carries our collective memory forward,” Yong observes. “It reflects our identity and aspirations as a people.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Cuisine to cyborgs</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:533px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1762470366100F.H. Batacan.jpg" style="width:533px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-dragging"/><span class="fr-inner">F.H. Batacan </span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>Food, a cherished national passion, finds its place in the festival through culinary-literary events that merge storytelling with taste. A highlight is a literary lunch featuring Singapore poet Marilyn Tan and Filipino novelist F.H. Batacan, author of the acclaimed &quot;Smaller and Smaller Circles.&quot; “It’s a conversation about empowerment, politics, and the female body,” Yong says. “It should be quite an interesting lunch.”</p><p>The festival concludes with its trademark Closing Debate, this year on the witty yet profound motion “Robots Are Our Friends.” Yong smiles at its paradox: “Do we consider robots as friends? ‘Friend’ is such an intimate term.” Citing films like &quot;Her,&quot; he reflects on how technology blurs the lines between intimacy and isolation: “How much of our uncertainty is caused by technology — and how much can be solved by it?”</p><div><strong>A Future Grounded in Story</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:955px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1762470408901Main venue of Singapore Writers Festival is the Arts House.jpeg" style="width:955px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">The Arts House</span></span></span></strong></div><p>As Singapore celebrates six decades of independence, “The Shape of Things to Come” becomes not merely a festival theme but a metaphor for the act of storytelling itself: a bridge between what has been and what might be. From the silkpunk epics of Ken Liu to the fantastical resistance of R.F. Kuang and the visionary tales of Dean Francis Alfar, this year’s festival illuminates one truth — that the stories we tell today are already shaping tomorrow.</p><div><br/></div><div><em>The Singapore Writers Festival 2025 runs November 7–16 at The Arts House, Victoria Theatre, and the Asian Civilisations Museum.</em></div>

<p>Filipino authors Dean Francis Alfar and F.H. Batacan join R.F. Kuang and Ken Liu in shaping the future of storytelling, as Singapore marks 60 years of nationhood with a vision both backward and forward.</p>

Filipino authors Dean Francis Alfar and F.H. Batacan join R.F. Kuang and Ken Liu in shaping the future of storytelling, as Singapore marks 60 years of nationhood with a vision both backward and forward.

Imagining tomorrow: Sci-fi and speculative worlds take center stage at Singapore Writers Festival 2025

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Imagining tomorrow: Sci-fi and speculative worlds take center stage at Singapore Writers Festival 2025

Lito Zulueta

Published November 07, 2025 12:05 PM PHT

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Yong Shu Hoong

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