Young Writers Lab 2025

The Young Writers Lab (YWL) by the Singapore Book Council is a dynamic platform for aspiring writers aged 12 to 18. This year, embark on an exciting creative journey where stories come alive in new and innovative ways.

What’s in Store?

Podcasting Workshop: Learn how to write and record an interview, educational and event coverage-styled podcast from the creators of the hit Mediacorp series, Tales From Incredible Tales.
Everyday Stories: Dive into the hidden narratives behind ordinary objects with award-winning writer Prasanthi Ram.
Poetry & Zines: Experiment with words and visuals to craft unique poetry and zines that reflect your artistic voice.
Poetry Writing Workshop (part of CLASS Copyright School Challenge): Join this interactive poetry workshop to discover your unique voice, refine your writing style, and turn creative ideas into powerful poems through guided exercises and expert feedback.

Collaborate and Create

This is your chance to connect with fellow young creatives who share your passion for storytelling. Dive into the art of crafting compelling narratives and explore the endless possibilities of creative expression.

Join us at YWL and take your storytelling skills to the next level!

Details

19 - 21 Mar 2025

Venue: National Library Building
100 Victoria St, Singapore 188064

Limited slots available. Do register early. Recommended Pax Per School: 4 to 5 Pax

Organised by

Supported by

Discover Your Poetic Voice: Poetry Writing Workshop

Deepen your understanding of poetry to find your unique voice and writing style in this interactive workshop. Students will have the opportunity to turn their creative ideas into expressive and powerf...

Turning Memory to Story: A Creative Writing Workshop

Join us for an inspiring 2-hour session designed to ignite your imagination and uncover the stories hidden in everyday items. This hands-on workshop invites participants to bring (i) a photograph* and...

Create Your Own Poetry Zine: A Hands-On Workshop

Step into the world of zine culture and visual poetry in this hands-on workshop with poet Mok Zining and artist Mary Bernadette Lee. Zines have long been celebrated as creative platforms for self-expr...

Introduction to Podcasting by Wayne Rée & Kyle Ong

Think you and your bestie can be the new Yah Lah BUT? Want to take a deep dive into your favourite niche topic? Or maybe you just want to create a show that inspires school spirit? Over two sessions,...

Mary Bernadette Lee

Mary Bernadette Lee is an artist, educator, illustrator, co-creator, observer and collector of information and experiences through collaborations with communities. Her artistic practice takes the phenomenological approach investigating relationships between body, architecture and space, and psychological states relating to Self, Identity and Home. This relational dialectics between the physiological and the psychological is expressed through her works that foreground the architecture of her as a person and an artist. Her works manifest in paintings, illustrations, linocut prints, mono-print prints, woodcut prints, clay sculptures, textile installation, and publication. She loves to explore how mediums - traditional, natural and man-made materials - inform each other resulting in innovative presentations and new meanings

Kyle Ong

Kyle Ong debuted as a director in 2017 with Discovery Channel's #NoFilter, and his portfolio spans diverse projects, including a TV documentary series on Singapore's Paralympic team for the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Kyle's works explore the dichotomy of life and death, from vanishing traditions to the literal concept itself, showcased in his acclaimed NYFA multi-nominated documentary, "148: Shangri-La Confectionery," and the screened horror short, "Closing Time," featured in Kota Kinabalu and Tokyo.

Kyle is the Executive Producer and Co-Creator of one of Southeast Asia's most popular English Horror Podcasts, GHOST MAPS.

His experience also led him to facilitate courses on filmmaking and podcasting for the next generation of content creators. Kyle is also a NIE-certified instructor.

Wayne Rée

Wayne Rée is the writer and co-host of the hit Mediacorp series Tales From Incredible Tales. He is also the co-creator of the multiple award-winning podcast, Ghost Maps, and the talk show, Dead Air.

Outside of podcasts, Wayne co-created Work-Life Balance, the prose/comics hybrid that won Best Literary Work and the coveted Book of the Year at the 2023 Singapore Book Awards. He also wrote the comic, Worlds Apart: A Conversation About Mental Health.

Wayne has spoken on panels at Singapore Writers Festival, Singapore Comic Con, George Town Literary Festival and OzAsia Festival in Adelaide.

Mok Zining

Mok Zining is obsessed with random things: orchids, arabesques, sand. The Orchid Folios (Ethos Books 2020) is her first book. She lives in Singapore where she is at work on an essay collection, The Earthmovers.

Prasanthi Ram

Prasanthi Ram is a writer, editor and lecturer. Her debut short story cycle Nine Yard Sarees (2023) won the Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) for English Fiction in 2024, and was also shortlisted for SLP’s “Best Debut” category and Singapore Book Awards’ “Best Literary Work” category in the same year. Her writing has been published in the Best Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Five (2022), Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore (2021) and the award-winning Eat Here or Take Away (2022) among others. She also co-founded and is the prose editor of Mahogany Journal, which spotlights South Asian writers born or based in Singapore.

(Photo credit: Diana Rahim)