16 May

Storytelling Not Just For Kids

On the 16th of May 2008, MoonShadow Stories staged a storytelling event at the Arts House as part of the “My Own” series of events. This event was not the usual storytelling affair for children, however, this was the lesser-known art form- storytelling for adults.  MoonShadow Stories was formed by Kamini Ramachandran and Verena Tay in 2004 to promote this oral tradition. 

Ramachandran says that “we decided not to tell to children, but to tell to adults”.  She clearly hopes to revive the tradition of adult storytelling since many stories simply cannot be told to children.  Folk tales with graphic sex and violence, after all, predate the sanitised stories from Hans Christian Anderson or the brothers Grimm.  She narrated folk tales from the Japanese and Native American storytelling traditions about early interactions in a newly-created world. 

Fellow storyteller and theatre practitioner Verena Tay was clearly in her element,  While telling the story “The Stray Cat”- an Aesop’s fable with distinct Singapore elements, she punctuated her delivery with sheer performativity.  When she was in her cat persona, she was meowing and cooing and all this enlivened the story with a theatrical twist.  The greater twist, of course, was that the narrative was incredibly Singaporean, where characters ate familiar culinary delights like fishcakes, where men and women in love apply for HDB flats and where the archetypal love song, the first line of which Tay sang out in a moment of storytelling grandeur, is the familiar Chinese ode ” The Moon Represents My Heart” (月亮代表我的心).

Clearly, storytelling is for everyone, adults included, and Moonshadow Stories demonstrates this by performing updated stories incorporating recognisable elements, all with a grown-up, adult flavour.  The evening certainly reminded the audience that storytelling is not merely some simple government-sanctioned artform held only in children’s libraries for it can easily be a vibrant and entertaining performance genre with ample room for complex and mature themes.  It is also appropriate that the event was held in The Hall of the Arts House, which was previously the Court Room of the Parliament House; ideas which influenced the lives of millions were very possibly conceived and developed in this very room across the centuries.  MoonShadow Stories’ efforts in storytelling for adults at this venue can be seen as an extension of this influence on popular thought.  Interested parties can refer to the MoonShadow Stories website at

for updates on the storytelling duo’s upcoming performances.  In addition, details on the upcoming Singapore International Story Telling Festival can be accessed at

. 

Digital Storytelling comes to Singapore

Come September 2008, Singapore will become the first country in Asia to host a Digital Storytelling Congress. In partnership with the National Library Board, The Book Council and The Arts House are organising, the inaugural Asian Digital Storytelling Congress, Beyond Words 2008, from 5th to 6th September 2008. The two day Congress will be held at NLB, Victoria Street. The objectives of the first Asian Digital Storytelling Congress are to:

a) Promote and celebrate the creation of digital stories
b) Integrate traditional skills in storytelling with digital media technologies and
c) Develop Singapore as the Asian Hub for Digital Storytelling.

The panel of speakers for the Congress reads as the who’s who of the Digital Storytelling domain.  Helen Simondson,  manager of the award winning digital storytelling programme at the Australian Centre for Moving Image is delivering the keynote address.
Denise Atchley, Co-Founder and Director of The Digital Storytelling Festival, USA is conducting workshops on digital storytelling.

Leslie Rule, the Project Supervisor for the Digital Storytelling Initiative at KQED, USA, and Tom Banaszewski, an American educator working in China, are introducing digital storytelling to teachers. Meanwhile, Themin Suwardy,  Assoc. Dean and MPA Programme Director at School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University and Jeremy Williams Chief Academic Officer at the Knowledge Universe Education, Singapore are discussing the use of digital storytelling in tertiary institutions and online education.

Tan Boon Hui, Deputy Director, Programmes, National Museum of Singapore and Joanne Teoh, Senior Producer at Channel News Asia would be discussing how they have introduced digital storytelling in their work at the National Museum and Media Corps respectively.


What is Digital Storytelling

Every individual, every community, every organization, has a story to tell. One might have memories, photo albums and AV clips within legacy databases. Individuals and communities have used the term “digital storytelling” to describe a variety of new media production practices. What best describes the approach is its emphasis on personal voice. We all have stories about the events, people and places in the journey of our lives.  The sharing of these stories connects people in special ways.  The task of putting these together in a digital file that runs on players such as Real Player, Quick Time, Windows Media Player and lasts no more than 4 or 5 minutes, is what we can call Digital Storytelling.
The story is the key element in digital storytelling. It defines and leads all aspects of the process; which is built around the writing of the narration, its recording by the participant, and the editing of the visual material as led by the narration. . Whether the stories are reflections of a particular event or any larger issue, importance is placed on the fact that stories reflect first hand experiences. The subject generally encourages thoughtful and meaningful writing and a high emotional commitment of the storyteller which does not happen in an expository essay or business presentation.
For more information on the Digital Storytelling Congress please log on top http://www.bookcouncil.sg/sisf

Renaissance Publishing’s Annual Writing Contest 2008

Renaissance Publishing is announcing the Call for Entries for the 2nd edition of its annual writing contest. In 2007, the inaugural contest received 253 entries from students in 41 different schools. $1700 in cash was given out to the top 3 entries and 38 outstanding entries were published in a compilation book titled “Romance Volume 1”.

This year, on top of the cash prizes – 1st $1000, 2nd $500, 3rd $200 – 3 merit awards of $100 Borders Vouchers each are also being given away, proudly sponsored by Borders, the official bookstore for the contest.

Renaissance’s vision and goal is to produce an international bestseller from Singapore. For that purpose our annual writing contest differs from other literary contests in that we publish the best entries for sale commercially. Publishing and selling the top entries in bookstores also gives our young talents a chance to be exposed and build up their portfolios, instead of fading away after the contest is over.

National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) is again collaborating with Renaissance Publishing as the official partner, with National Arts Council (NAC and National Library Board (NLB) coming on board this year to officially support the contest.

Contestants must submit their entries by 30th Aug 2008. The judging panel will comprise of representatives from the various organizations involved. Aspiring writers can visit http://www.renaissance.sg for more details on taking part.

Contact Person: Lance Ng
HP: 81792792
Email: lance@renaissance.sg