Lasting from 6 to 19 August, SEAPoWriMo is an annual poetry writing challenge that celebrates literary and cultural exchange through fun prompts, open mics, and video presentations. Each week shines a spotlight on a different Southeast Asian country, moderated by renowned or up-and-coming poets and collectives.
✍🏻
The Challenge
Every day from 6 to 19 August, a new prompt will be unveiled on the SEAPoWriMo Facebook group and Instagram.
The challenge: write 1 poem every day for 14 days. Try out the #Bonus challenges if you’re feeling ambitious! Examples of past years’ prompts include the Makanan Prompt, the Most Beautiful Walk Prompt, the Re-Cycle Prompt and the Archipelagos of Song prompt.
🧑💻
Open Mics
Celebrate the start and end of SEAPoWriMo with us through our virtual open mic! Share what you’ve been working on and connect (or commiserate) with fellow poets.
Opening Party | Sat, 5 Aug 2022
Closing Party | Sat, 19 Aug 2022
🏄🏽
A Splash of SEA
The poetry prompts may give you a glimpse into a country’s rich literary landscape, but where do we go from there?
Dive a little deeper with our moderators as they introduce you to an aspect of each country’s literary landscape. You can either check out our YouTube playlist over the month, or check out our latest videos below:
🍋
Hot & Sour Mag
Made in collaboration with SEA Lit Circle, Hot & Sour Mag is our brand new online publication collecting up to 15 delicious pieces from SEAPoWriMo 2023.
🫶🏽
Support Us
SEAPoWriMo started in 2019, when we dreamed up a platform to bring writers from all over Southeast Asia together to share our ideas, developments in the scene and explore our cultural heritage.
We believe that poetry is for everyone. That's why all of SEAPoWriMo is FREE to participate! But that doesn't mean that running is free for us. Help us amplify Southeast Asian voices in 2024 and beyond.
🧘🏽♀️🧘🏽🧘🏽♂️
Our Moderators
Week 1 (Aug 6-12): Thailand → Bangkok Lyrical Lunacy (Lylu) has a prime directive to proliferate the art and culture of spokenword poetry and to document the voices of the city. They are Bangkok's Home for Poetry and organize the longest running open mic show in Thailand, as well as the monthly Bangkok Poetry Slam, concerts, in addition to workshops, theatre productions and more.
Week 2 (Aug 13-19): Brunei → The Brunei Writers is a non-profit platform dedicated to connecting and featuring works of Bruneian writers of all backgrounds. They hope to develop writers through unique projects and collaborations while maintaining low-cost as they believe in providing accessibility to everyone. Since its inception, The Brunei Writers have collaborated with 247Studios, The Tiny Lit Fest and many more. They plan on producing more projects to grow the literary scene in Brunei as well as establish a network of writers in the creative industry.
#TeamBrunei 🇧🇳
Akhmal Aiman (2021)
Bash Harry (2020)
Huwaida (2019)
Jay M Johar (2019)
Kerynissa Ibrahim (2019)
May Cho (2020)
Syamimie Farizan (2020)
The Brunei Writers (2023)
#TeamCambodia 🇰🇭
Choun Sopheap (2020)
Lim Dara (2021)
So Phina (2019-2021)
Suon Sotheara (2021)
Viriya Lim (2021)
Yeng Chheangly (2019)
#TeamIndonesia 🇮🇩
Mikael Johani (2019-2022)
Ratri Ninditya (2021-2022)
#TeamLaos 🇱🇦
Bryan Thao Worra (2019-2021)
#TeamMalaysia 🇲🇾
Afi Noor (2019)
Jack Malik (2022)
May Chong (2021)
Nor Huda Mohd Izam, Nana (2019-2020)
See Tshiung Han (2019-2021)
#TeamMyanmar 🇲🇲
Khin Chan Myae Maung (2021)
Kyaw Min Thu (2020)
Han Lynn (2019)
#TeamPhilippines 🇵🇭
Arlene Yandug (2021)
Lawrence Bernabe (2020)
Luisa A Igloria (2019)
Ralph Fonte (2022)
#TeamSingapore 🇸🇬
Charlene Shepherdson (2019-2021)
Joshua Ip (2019-2020)
Karisa Poedjirahardjo (2021)
#TeamThailand 🇹🇭
Bangkok Lyrical Lunacy (2023)
Bhavna Khemlani (2019-2021)
Gassanee Thaisonthi (2019-2020)
Morgan A. Pryce (2019-21)
Neda Aria (2019-2020)
Thaphaung (2019-2020)
#TeamTimorLeste 🇹🇱
Dadolin Murak (2019)
Vitália Zé (2019- 2022)
#TeamVietnam 🇻🇳
Paul Christiansen (2019-2020)
Phạm Thu Uyên (2019-2020)
Phong Huynh (2021)
Thi Nguyen (2019)