The Tiny Lit Fest is hosted by independent publisher Heartwrite Co and is sponsored and supported by Progresif Cellular and the YSEALI Women’s Leadership Academy – Alumni Network.
The Scoop is media partner for the event.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4
1. A Night of Poetry and Spoken Word
Venue: TLounge by Dilmah
Time: 7.30pm-9.30pm
Price: Students $10, Adults $12. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Organisers: Heartwrite Co, The Real Word and The Creative Core
This event will launch The Tiny Lit Festival and will feature local poets, spoken word artists and dramatic readings of original and excerpted work, showcasing how literature evolves and changes in different mediums. Anyone who is interested in seeing literature performed is cordially invited.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5
2. Meet and Greet: Local Publishers
Venue: TBC
Time: 9am-11am
Price: Free (RSVP to heartwritepub@gmail.com)
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
This community-building event seeks to grow connections between local publishers and other stakeholders in the production of local writing. This event is by invitation only, but if you are a local publisher and keen to meet, please do get in touch with Heartwrite for an invitation.
3. Playtales with Folklore
Venue: iCentre Auditorium
Time: 10am-12pm
Price: $22. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Ages: 6-8 years
Organiser: Creativate
This program will introduce younger children to the beauty of local folklore. Children will learn to play a part in preserving local folklore by choosing a story to understand, perform and design props for.
4. Storytelling with Illustration – An Illustrative Art Workshop
Venue: Creative Space Gallery
Time: 2pm-4pm
Price: Students $15, Adults $35. Tickets are available for purchase here.
*Early booking discounts: Get $5 off when you pay before Dec 1, 2019. This discount is not available with the student discount.
Organiser: Creative Space Gallery
This two-hour workshop is for aspiring and professional illustrators who want to take their art to a whole new level in an encouraging and creative environment. Over the workshop, participants will work in the medium of their choice to create an illustration guided by the instruction of professional working illustrators. At the end of the workshop, after a final presentation, there will be a discussion on industry practices, sharing of experiences, building a portfolio, and more.
5. Shadow Theatre ft. The Halfling King
Venue: iCentre Auditorium
Time: 2pm-5pm
Price: $28. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Ages: 9-12 years
Organiser: Creativate
This program will engage children in a mythical story written by a local author, while introducing them to the art of shadow puppetry, including making their own shadow puppets. Children will learn to use their imagination to write their own scripts, design their own props, and finally, perform their own ending to The Halfling King.
6. Book Club Panel: “Favourite Feminist Reads of 2019”
Venue: Rack and Brew
Time: 7.30pm-9.30pm
Price: $10. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
Hosted by the Feminist Book Club, this panel will bring together speakers from different Bruneian book groups to chat about their favourite and least favourite feminist reads of 2019, setting reading goals and other bookish things. The panel will be accompanied by dramatic readings and less dramatic discussions. Anyone interested in end-of-year book round-ups should find this program a treat.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6
7. Dialogue: Bruneian Writers
Venue: Creative Space Gallery
Time: 9am-11am
Price: Free (RSVP to heartwritepub@gmail.com)
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
This community-building event seeks to grow connections between writers of prose, poetry, scripts and other genres. This event is by invitation only, but if you are a local writer and keen to meet and chat about writing in Brunei – opportunities, challenges, support and resources – please do get in touch with Heartwrite Co for an invitation
8. Writing Romance in Southeast Asia
Venue: Serenity by Berqats
Time: 4pm-5.30pm
Price: $10. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
This event will see local halal romance writer Aisha Malik in conversation with invited author Mina V Esguerra, who was the winner of the Filipino Readers’ Choice awards for Chick Lit in 2012 and 2013. Love may be universal, but are the ways we express it cultural? Hosted by local scholar Sarah Ahmad Ghazali, anyone interested in romance novels, especially in Southeast Asia, won’t want to miss this event.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7
9. Writers Jam
Venue: Gloria Jeans at CitiSquare
Time: 1pm-3pm
Price: $10. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
Heartwrite Co’s Writers Jam is back! Amateurs, professionals, anyone looking for two hours to write in a friendly environment with lots of encouragement, guidance, sharing and prompts, this is for you.
10. Conversation with Hanna Alkaf
Venue: Two Sons Coffee
Time: 4pm-5.30pm
Price: $15. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
Malaysian writer Hanna Alkaf’s debut YA novel, The Weight of Our Sky, set during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, was published to critical acclaim in February 2019, and has since been translated into Malay (Disitu Langit Dijunjung) and published as a digital comic. Local literary scholar Dr Rinni Haji Amran will host an intimate conversation with Hanna about Malaysian literature, writing mental illness, and exploring history through fiction.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8
11. Build Your Story
Venue: Taman SOAS
Time: 7.45am-10am
Price: $1. Tickets are available for purchase here.
*Suitable for families with children between the ages of 5-9 years.
Organiser: Engaged Minds Learning
This event will engage participants through storytelling activities, including re-enacting stories using materials provided. Families are encouraged to participate in this fun event that aims to show how materials can be re-used and recycled for play, especially outdoors.
12. Writing Masterclass with Hanna Alkaf
Venue: Bilik Kuliah, DBP Library, BSB
Time: 9am-12pm
Price: $30. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
This three-hour workshop for aspiring and professional writers will be hosted by visiting Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf, whose debut YA novel, The Weight of Our Sky, set during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, was published to critical acclaim in February 2019.
13. Writing Masterclass with Mina V Esguerra
Venue: Bilik Kuliah, DBP Library, BSB
Time: 1pm-4pm
Price: $30. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
This three-hour workshop for aspiring and professional writers will be hosted by visiting Filipina author, publisher and editor Mina V Esguerra. Mina was the winner of the Filipino Readers’ Choice awards for Chick Lit in 2012 and 2013, has been described as “the most important figure in the genre of Filipino romances in English” (Philippine Daily Inquirer), and created the “Author at Once” workshop series for writers and publishers, and the #romanceclass for aspiring romance writers.
14. Lit in the Library
Venue: DBP Bandar
Time: 1.30pm-5pm
Price: Free
*Suitable for families with children between the ages of 5-9 years.
Organiser: B:Read x Little Bamboo
A magical event at our own national library. This program invites families to enter the magical world of books, through all sorts of activities, including creating a magical object which children can bring home, searching for golden tickets between the bookshelves, and going on other thrilling adventures that you won’t want to miss.
15. Panel Discussion: “Collaborative Writing: Challenges and Creativities”
Venue: Creative Space Gallery
Time: 4.30pm-6pm
Price: Free (limited slots, please RSVP to heartwritepub@gmail.com)
Organiser: Heartwrite Co
This panel will bring together writers Khai Anwar, Manisha Dhalani and local artist Adi Farhan, who all have extensive experience in creative collaborations. Khai and Manisha were two of the co-writers for the Epigram published memoir Homeless in 2019, and Adi Farhan is a self-taught artist and illustrator who is working on something really exciting. If you’ve ever wondered about the challenges and opportunities afforded by creative collaboration, you won’t want to miss what is sure to be a fascinating discussion. This panel is the final micro-event of the festival, and so we’ll also be sharing our plans for the year ahead.