SWF :: Week 1

Jotted down the various sessions and lectures I'd like to attend at the Singapore Writers Festival 2011. Many have been scheduled at identical time slots and it's quite hard to pick one over the other. All the topics have been carefully curated and would appeal to different segments of the audience. No way to split myself across the venues, so I had to pick the ones most preferred.

Spread over different venues of SMU, National Museum, Singapore Art Museum and 8Q, the walk to get around isn't too bad, unless you're rushing for back-to-back panel discussions. The organization has been alright so far, and the festival pass, this wonderful tag, gets me in to many exciting discussions.

Suffice to say, there's been alot of wit and humor. Sharp insights abound. There's also been a fair bit of (not unexpected) insularity. I'm not going into details about the panel discussions attended. That will be saved for further rumination in private conversations where ideas and comments are best fleshed out on a trusted platform.

Whether I agree with the speakers/authors/playwrights, is besides the point. We don't have to see eye to eye with them, and we might not always disagree with the topics and their interpretation, or the points raised. Not all panel discussions have been illuminating or enlightening. Interesting, most certainly, but that's a word that doesn't really explain anything. In the sessions which I enjoyed most, the takeaways are from the interaction and the dialogue between panelists, and the not-at-all subdued audience. Very refreshing.

Politics and Society: "Is The Pen Always Mightier?" From left, moderator Cherian George; Panelists Andrey Kurkov, Catherine Lim and Yang Lian.