Organised by Arts House Limited, Textures, the annual literary festival that celebrates Singapore literature (SingLit) makes its comeback from 6 – 15 January 2023, in conjunction with the Light to Night (L2N) Festival and as part of the Singapore Art Week (SAW). After two years of bringing local literary arts to the heartlands, Textures 2023 returns home to where it first began, celebrating the nation’s diverse literary scene at the home of Singapore’s literary arts, The Arts House (TAH).
With the theme Arrived Home, the festival invites audiences to consider their journeys home and re-examine ideas of domesticity and belonging. Families and little ones can look forward to the various family-friendly programmes at various venues throughout Singapore which make SingLit fun and accessible to all.
Here are some of the family-friendly programmes that audiences can look forward to:
1. Read with A Storyteller: Beware the Sunda Slow Loris and Other Singaporean Fables
8 and 14 January 2023, 2.00pm | National Gallery Singapore Rooftop Studio (Level 5)
Free with Registration
Kickstart your reading sessions with some expressive skills that storytellers use. Discover simple methods that make you more confident and engaging when reading to your child and learn storytelling techniques that get characters leaping out of the pages! Read together with your child and join other families in this introductory session that encourages lively reading. Complete your book reading session with a colouring activity to create your favourite animal character.
Facilitated by The Storytelling Centre Limited.
Recommended for parents with children aged 4 to 7 years. This is a parent-and-child session based on Beware the Sunda Slow Loris and Other Singaporean Fables Picture books and simple colouring materials will be provided.
Beware the Sunda Slow Loris & Other Singaporean Fables
Written by: Chen Junhua
Illustrated by: Chan Shu Yin
Published by: Epigram Books
2. What Ants Do on Stormy Days
15 January 2023, 10.30am | Ang Mo Kio Public Library Programme Zone (level 1)
Featuring: Josef Lee
Join us for an hour of storytelling and fun-filled drawing activities. Listen to the story of What Ants Do on Stormy Days, learn how to draw yourself as an ant, and create a drawing of your ant family!
Recommended age group: 5 – 9 years old
About Josef Lee
Josef Lee tells stories through pictures. As a picture-book author & artist, his illustrated short stories have been shared online since 2008. In 2017, Josef successfully published his first picture-book via crowdfunding. Since then, he has published over 10 picture-books and 1 novel adaptation.
3. A peek into the world of Mist-Bound
8 January 2023, 11.45am | Woodlands Regional Library Programme Zone (Level 1)
Free with Registration
Featuring: Daryl Kho
The author of the multi-award winning and best-selling book Mist-Bound: How to Glue back your Grandpa will take audiences behind the making of Mist-Bound: its world and its creatures.
Recommended age group: Upper Primary (10 -12 years old)
About Daryl Kho
Daryl Kho is the author of Mist-Bound: How to Glue Back Grandpa, the multiple award-winning and bestselling fantasy novel for kids and families published by Penguin Books SEAsia. Inspired by his father’s affliction with and eventual passing from dementia, the book hopes to increase appreciation for the elderly, raise dementia awareness and highlight the importance of familial love in keeping one glued together. It also aspires to grow an appreciation for the power of stories, especially the tales found within our elders’ minds and from around our own backyards. Due to its prosocial themes, Mist-Bound has been supported by non-profit organisations such as Dementia Singapore (part of Alzheimer’s International) and TOUCH Community Services (Singapore’s preeminent social services charity).
4. YOUR RELATIVES ARE WEIRD! 你的亲戚好奇怪!
7 January 2023, 11am | Woodlands Regional Library Everest Room (Level 4)
Free with Registration
Featuring: Colin Goh
A bilingual story & cartooning Session with the DIM SUM WARRIORS 点心侠
Why do we find others “weird” but not ourselves? Creator/Cartoonist Colin Goh reads this very funny story about differences in both English and Mandarin, and guides participants in a simple cartooning session.
This programme will be conducted in Chinese and English.
Recommended age group: 4-6 years old
About Colin Goh
Colin Goh is the co-creator and cartoonist of DIM SUM WARRIORS, a bilingual children’s comic and graphic novel series which was adapted into a giant musical in China, and is now the foundation of an award-winning bilingual language learning system. He also co-wrote and co-directed the award-winning movie Singapore Dreaming, and the cartoonist of New York Times bestsellers Search Inside Yourself and Joy On Demand.
For more information, visit here.
It’s the weekend and are you looking for things / activities to do? Check out our weekly roundup of Things To Do This Weekend In Singapore.
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