Simon Tay to be a featured local author at Singapore Writers Festival 2011
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Simon Tay will be one of the local writers featured at this year’s Singapore Writers Festival (SWF). His novel City of Small Blessings earned him the Singapore Literature Prize 2010.
He will be joined by 120 other authors, including American economist Steven Levitt, who penned the best-selling book Freakonomics (2005) and its sequel Superfreakonomics (2009).
Other international names announced so far include Indian novelist-diplomat Vikas Swarup, whose debut novel Q&A (2005) was adapted into Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire (2008); Pulitzer prize-winning American author Michael Chabon (The Mysteries Of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys); and China’s Bi Feiyu, who won last year’s Man Asian Literary Prize for his book Three Sisters.
From Singapore, Cultural Medallion recipient Lee Tzu Pheng and author, songwriter and Lianhe Zaobao writer Ng King Kang will also be at the event.
The theme of the 14th instalment of the now-annual literary festival is Transaction. The festival’s organisers hope this year’s theme will generate discussions about how the process of transacting affects our daily lives – especially given the state of the world’s economy.
For the first time since its 1986 inception, most programmes will be ticketed. Attendees can purchase festival passes costing $15 to access events like panel discussions and meet-the-author sessions. Other programmes, like the SWF Lecture Series and Literary Meals – which allows visitors to dine with authors, are priced between $10 and $120. However, there will still be some events such as family-oriented Little Lit!.
