A Rustle in the Pages: Listening in the World of Writing

A Rustle in the Pages: Listening in the World of Writing

Conversation

Date: Wed, 27 Aug, 7.30 PM - 9:00 PM

Venue: Arts Resource Hub (Black Box, Level 2), 42 Waterloo Street, S187951

Co-presented by The Listening Biennial and Ethos Books, a highlight of the Singapore Night Festival

In a world where it feels increasingly difficult to hear ourselves, how does writing carve through the noise to create space for reflection, surprise, and new encounters? Come hear from John McAuliffe (Carcanet Press) and Zining Mok (Ethos Books) as they share insights from how two independent publishing houses sustain the important work of listening out for singular stories, and creating conversations across cultures. Both poets and editors, they will share from their own luminous work and shed light on making as a process of Carrying the Third.

Moderated by Theophilus Kwek.

Accessibility Notes:

• Relaxed area available on Level 1 in the inner courtyard.
• The Black Box is located on the second floor of a heritage building that lacks elevators or escalators. Audiences can access the Black Box only by climbing a flight of stairs.

About the Speakers:

John McAuliffe is an Irish poet who has, since 2002, lived in the UK where he is Professor of Poetry at the University of Manchester, Associate Publisher at Carcanet Press and co-editor of PN Review. He was previously chief poetry critic at The Irish Times (2013-2020). His seven books from the Gallery Press include The Way In, joint winner of the 2016 Michael Hartnett Award for Best Collection, The Kabul Olympics (2020), which was a Times Literary Supplement and Irish Times book of the year, and a Guardian Book of the Month, a Selected Poems, published in the UK and Ireland in 2022 and in the US by Wake Forest Press in 2023, and last October a new collection National Theatre. His versions of the Bosnian poet Igor Klikovac, Stockholm Syndrome (Smith Doorstop) was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice in 2019, and his work as editor includes Carcanet's New Poetries VIII (2021) and Everything to Play For: 99 Poems About Sport (Poetry Ireland, 2015). John also directs the University of Manchester's platform for interdisciplinary research, Creative Manchester, and is a trustee for Manchester's UNESCO City of Literature.

Mok Zining is obsessed with random things: orchids, arabesques, sand. Her first book, The Orchid Folios (Ethos Books, 2020), was shortlisted for the 2022 Singapore Literature Prize in English Poetry. She lives in Singapore, where she's at work on an essay collection, The Earthmovers.

Theophilus Kwek has been shortlisted twice for the Singapore Literature Prize. He is the youngest recipient of the Cikada Prize, for poetry that “defends the inviolability of life”, and part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2024. With Ethos Books, his publications include Giving Ground, They Speak Only Our Mother Tongue, and UnFree Verse.

...

This programme is presented at 42 Waterloo Street with venue support from the Arts Resource Hub. The Arts Resource Hub supports arts Self-Employed Persons (SEPs) and freelance practitioners in Singapore to unlock new opportunities and grow meaningful careers.

Our photographer may be taking photos and videos. By attending this programme, you consent to be photographed or filmed.

About The Listening Biennial

Since 2021, The Listening Biennial has sought to foster research and discussion on listening, recognising its transformative power as key to enriching personal lives and social initiatives, and which supports ethical and political practices. As part of the Singapore Night Festival, the artists of The Listening Biennial invite you to enter the space of Third Listening, to listen out for a plurality of life-forms as well as pathways of interconnection between seemingly irreconcilable differences.

Read more: https://listeningbiennial.net/biennial-editions/third-edition

Singapore Edition: https://www.brack.sg/index.php/2025/07/12/the-listening-biennial-third-edition/