Headliners galore at Writers Fest

THE beloved Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) became momentarily embroiled in the BooksActually scandal when the festival organisers refused to take any questions on Kenny Leck and his past association with the festival, at a press conference announcing the festival line-up earlier this week.

Observers cried foul, especially because the festival has built a reputation for being one of Singapore's most unapologetically progressive platforms, with essayist and poet Pooja Nansi as festival director.

Since her appointment in 2019, she has invited radically candid guests such as feminist Roxane Gay, spoken word artist Danez Smith and openly-gay novelist Marlon James. Topics such as race, class, gender, sex, sexuality, power and privilege were no longer subject to out-of-bounds markers, and always discussed fairly, intelligently and provocatively.