What’s On

WHAT’S ON SINGAPORE NIGHT FESTIVAL RETURNS

Joy of joys, Singapore Night Festival at Bras Basah Bugis precinct returns this year from 19 - 27 August 2022. The festival aptly revolves around the theme “Rebirth” and onlookers can expect cool projection mappings, light art installations, live performances, and general creativity and imaginative works. This vibrant event promises more intimate experiential programmes than previous years alongside the usual food and retail experiences. It’s always a great gig with plenty to take in, so we recommend setting several nights aside to enjoy all it has to offer. nightfestival. gov.sg

EPIGRAM BOOKS GETS A NEW HOME (& CAFE!)

After a tough few years, local book store Epigram has a place it can call home. If you’re a reader, head to SAM @ Tanjong Distripark. With a gorgeous view of the port, the 20-seater space features a wide selection of tomes from Epigram Books, as well as other publishers including Ethos Books, Math Paper Press and World Scientific. It’s a serene spot to show some support to a local business as well as browse the latest in local literature. 39 Keppel Road #01-02, Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 089065

MUSWELL HILL HITS THE LIMELIGHT

Muswell Hill is a hip enclave in north London and also the name of the latest offering from local theatre group, Pandemonium. The social satire involves a dinner party, eccentric people, a passive aggressive marriage, a tone-deaf blind date and first world problems, and promises laughs along with a bit of a look at our inner selves. Until 10 July. Drama Centre, 100 Victoria St, #03-01 National Library, 188064. Ticket $35-$85, available from pangdemonium.com and sistic.com.sg

NATURE’S TOUCH

Don’t miss Artscience Museum’s latest virtual reality exhibition, We Live in an Ocean of Air. The immersive multi-sensory art installation first premiered in 2018 at The Saatchi Gallery in London before its Asian debut here in Singapore. Created by Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), it transports you across the globe to California’s Sequoia National Park and blends the animal, plant, human and natural worlds together via a VR headset, heart rate monitor and breath sensors. Groovy. Until October 2. Artscience Museum, 6 Bayfront Ave, 018974. marinabaysands.com

BRUNCH-TIME, MELBOURNE-STYLE

If anywhere knows how to do good brunch, it’s Melbourne. So it made us hungry to hear that Melbourne Brunch Festival 2022 is taking place around Singapore throughout July and you won’t find boring old Weet-bix on the menus. The selection of restaurants whipping up the likes of eggs benny and smashed avo will use premium produce from Victoria, Australia so arrive with an empty stomach and plan to skip lunch entirely.

For further details and participants, log onto linkedin. com/company/ vgtisea/

Calling all SG memories!

Step into Singapore’s past at the Share Your Story, Shape Our Memorial travelling exhibition. Showcasing stories of the island throughout the 1950s - 1970s, this free display is currently moving around venues across the island and will be at Funan Shopping Centre throughout most of July. Find out more at foundersmemorial.gov.sg/shapeourmemorial. gov.sg

THE WINNERS ARE IN!

Stories have been read, imaginations have been stretched, minds have been blown. We are proud to announce the very creative winners of this year’s ANZA Young Writers’ Competition.

ANZA Young Writers’ Competition 2022 attracted a record amount of entries from across Singapore from local and international school students aged 6-15.

“On behalf of the ANZA Writing Group, we would like to thank everyone for participating in the 2022 ANZA Young Writers’ Competition,” says Kristen Hobby, organiser and one of the judging panel. “This year we attracted over 150 entries from around the island and the standard of writing, creativity and flair was high. A wide variety of genres came through, however, the effects of the global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change is clearly weighing heavily on our young people as the themes showed an overwhelming concern for the future of the world.“

We encourage all our young scribes to keep writing and we hope to see the same excellent levels of imagination and hard work in next year’s competition. After much deliberation and discussion, we’re proud to present our outstanding first place entries.

FIRST PLACE ENTRIES 6 -10 years I WINNER: Lauren Afable THUD t is 1 January 2027 in Singapore. Kate was in her room looking at her voice recorder collection. Suddenly, she heard a “Thud!” outside her window. She curiously looked out. First, she saw nothing. Then, she saw that one of the dried leaves had a weird shape. When she looked closer, she saw that it was a baby sparrow. She quickly ran down the front steps to that patch of dry leaves. “Oh! I think I saw that bird in Bandy Park!” she exclaimed. The baby sparrow seemed very confused. Kate wanted to help the bird, but the main question she had was, “Now how do I get you back to your home?”

She pondered about that question for days. In school, she could not concentrate in class and she just kept thinking about how to get the baby sparrow to his home. She wrote all the possible ideas, crossed out the bad ones, and kept adding new ones every day. In the end, she was left with two options: first, she will try to ask someone in Bandy Park if anyone saw a baby sparrow’s nest. Second, she could look into the big Oak tree in Bandy Park. She tried to do the first idea, but no one in Bandy Park saw any baby sparrow’s nest. She tried the second idea, but even when she looked through every branch, the sparrow’s nest was nowhere to be found.

She said with a sigh, “What now? I have tried everything! Argh! What am I missing?! I’ve been thinking and pacing this room for days! And I still have tons of homework!”

She looked out and sighed, “Sorry sparrow, why won’t you give me ideas?” Just after she said that, she heard a mother bird call and its chick came walking towards her. Kate had a sudden realisation, “Oh! Why haven’t I thought of that?” She got her loudest recorder, hurriedly picked up the baby sparrow, and went to Bandy Park.

When she reached Bandy Park, she patiently waited for the baby sparrow to chirp. She felt as if everybody was watching her. She had her recorder on standby, one minute …two minutes ...there!

“Chirp! Chirp!” the baby sparrow called.

Kate recorded it then played it a few times. The mother sparrow recognised the call and came. It was a tearful reunion, watching the mother and baby sparrow fly around each other. Before they flew back, they chirped their “thank you.”

Kate smiled and whispered “You’re welcome!”

Every 1 January, Kate remembers the baby sparrow and that “Thud” on her window. Then each time she whispers “You’re welcome.”

The judges say: “The judges loved Lauren’s story with its strong narrative arc that took the reader along with her on her adventure.”

FIRST PLACE ENTRIES 11-15 years I WINNER: Angelique Lamouri WE NEED CHANGE t is 1 January 2027. I write from my room in the heart of Canada as I look out of my window. The tiny cracks that fissured the window glass from the riot, the dirt-brown snow stained with the muck from peoples’ shoes. The homeless man.

Usually, looking out of this window calms me. Today, I look out and think. I think of the many reasons the homeless man could be out there. In his rugged coat and boots that were probably way too small for him. In the cold. Alone. The people wearing elaborate coats that were in much better condition than his one walked past him without acknowledging his existence. I can smell the smoke and hear the screams from a nearby riot. The icy wind shears my face like razors and I close the windows. My room sinks into suffocating silence. The world is in chaos. I feel like I am the only person who acknowledges it. The world is perfect, everyone says that. I bet people in faraway places like Singapore and Cambodia even say that.

But it’s not. It all started in 2019. The pandemic. The food shortages. 2020. Climate change hit hard that year. 2021. Lack of healthcare. 2022. I let a tear slip down my face. The Russian invasion of Ukraine. I glance at the statue of the soldier on my desk. That’s how I lost my Grandfather. I’m at the window again. I slam my fist against the window and watch as the fissures spread like spilled ink. Now it’s 2027. One disaster after another. I open the window. The riot has stopped. All that is left is the sickeningly sweet smell of smoke. I walk back to my desk. While some countries are in a new era, one of technological innovation and new discoveries, most of the countries struggling with poverty can only attempt to keep up with the ever-changing world. Climate change has not stopped progressing. Neither has global warming. So what has changed? I guess more people have started campaigning about what they believe in. The homeless man on the corner of street 78 is yet to be helped. There is a fire down the street. More smoke. I am about to close the windows again when I see something. A girl who looks about my age is talking to the homeless man. I straighten. The girl’s lustrous black hair swishes as she hands the man a sandwich. My eyes widen as she takes something out of her bag. A coat. The way the smile crinkles the homeless man’s face and erases the hard lines of years of hardship is enough to make me open the window fully. I feel the icy wind. I hear screams. But I also find peace. And as the girl walks away, I feel like my heart could burst into a million feathers because it felt so light. Because right then, I knew. When humans unite, we are so much stronger than anything else.

The judges say: “We were really struck by Angelique’s use of evocative descriptions of the world around her. The story took the reader on a journey through despair to hope.”

Second place (6 - 10) Rohaan Palit

Second place (11 - 15) Sophie Tan

Third place (11 - 15) Josiane Lee Jie-Xin