How has the Singaporean heartland changed, and what might it look like in the future?
In this panel discussion of real and imagined spaces, reminisce bygone places and eras preserved in Daren Shiau’s novel ‘Heartland’ and Gareth Phua’s photography, and delve into the imaginary, urban possibilities of a future Singapore through Clara Chow’s Dream Storeys.
Moderated by Ng Keng Gene, this panel discussion explores our urban environment as a physical and emotional landscape which shapes our human experience and vice versa.
VENUE: Central Public Library – Programme Room 2
ADDRESS: 100 Victoria Street National Library Board Singapore, 188064
REGISTER: Eventbrite
Daren Shiau is a fiction writer, poet and editor. He was the National Arts Council’s Young Artist of the Year in 2002, and has been described by The Arts Magazine as "among the most exciting" of the post-independence generation of Singapore writers. His works include a novel (Heartland (1999)), a poetry collection (Peninsular: Archipelagos and Other Islands (2000)), and a microfiction collection (Velouria (2007)). In 2021, he was appointed as Co-Chair of the Singapore Writers Festival's advisory panel.
Clara Chow is a writer and publisher at Hermit Press. A former journalist, her works have been shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize and supported by residencies at the University of Iowa, Toji Cultural Center in South Korea, and the Shanghai Writers' Association.
Gareth Phua is a Singapore-based photographer and adjunct lecturer with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He has a passion for creating images that document architecture and public spaces as a visual archive of these spaces that may be lost to us for good. Gareth uses cameras as a tool to capture interesting architecture and the ever-changing city skyline of Singapore in a visual manner and hopes his photographs can serve as an archive for his children and the future generation.
Keng Gene is a journalist who reports on land use and heritage issues for The Straits Times. His stories largely reflect changes in Singapore's built environment, and he has an interest in the impact of these changes on social memories, identity and one's sense of belonging.