Since its inception, the Yale-NUS Writers’ Centre has recognised the pivotal role of creative writing at Yale-NUS College and the larger NUS community. The Writers’ Centre has created a space where students from across all majors can gather in the spirit of creativity, but more importantly, where new and exciting voices can thrive in an environment of experimentation and innovation.
Our programs and events have included a vibrant reading series of international and local authors, online and face-to-face generative writing workshops, and partnerships with college-wide events such as First Year Orientation, Diversity Week, and Residential College Speaker Series. Through dedicated and specially trained creative writing peer tutors, the Centre has also endeavoured to give peer tutor support not only to students majoring in Arts and Humanities, but also to students involved with creative writing projects in their different courses. For more information on our latest readings and workshops, please reach out to the Writers’ Centre at nccbox13@nus.edu.sg.
The Writers Centre has long provided support for student writing groups that have used the space and resources of the Centre to hold regular writing workshops, invite speakers, and publish writing. An intimate hang-out-space to have coffee in the morning with a writer, Begin the Days is brainstorming space where writers share work, receive feedback and have fun (assuming that they can wake up for it!). Begin the Days has been the birthing ground of numerous exciting projects which students have later on developed, produced, and published. This series is led by Senior Lecturer Lawrence Ypil. Notable partnerships and support include the yearly WIP: Works-in Progress Workshop organized by INK LIterary Collective which invites published authors to give feedback on student works in progress. INK has also published an annual anthology of student writings. The Writers Centre has also collaborated with other departments of the college for activities that involve the different colleges but also college wide events such as Diversity Week.
The Writers Centre has provided support for creative writing projects through student creative writing peer tutors. Geared primarily to support students developed projects in creative writing modules, these tutor sessions also provide student writers with access to feedback on projects that have a creative and interdisciplinary component. Peer tutors also given the opportunity to lead creative writing events and readings and be trained in the fundamentals of creative writing feedback and pedagogy.
Alumni who have been nurtured by the Writers Centre have gone on to publish award-winning books. Hamid Roslan’s parsetreeforestfire went on to become a finalist for the Singapore Literature Prize. Steven Sy has published a Science Fiction Novel, Steppes. And most recently Shawn Hoo won a chapbook prize for his poetry collection, Of the Florida. The Writers Centre strives to widen the network of student and alumni writers in Singapore and beyond.
Meet the Team
Lawrence Ypil
Writing Lecturer
Lawrence Lacambra Ypil is a Senior Lecturer at Yale-NUS College. He received an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Washington University in St. Louis on a Fulbright Scholarship. His work explores the role of material culture in the construction of cultural identity and draws from the intersection of text and image, poetry and the lyric essay. His latest book, The Experiment of the Tropics, was a finalist at the Lambda Awards, on the longlist for the Believer Book Awards and was the co-winner of the inaugural Gaudy Boy Book Prize. Recent work include Ventanilla: Duet, I. You know I was sentimental during the thought of the house and other collaborative projects exploring history, documentary poetics, and the visual arts. He teaches poetry and hybrid writing.
Samantha Yap
Executive
Prior to joining the Writers’ Centre, Samantha Yap worked in the intertwined capacities of a writer, curator, and arts administrator, in the visual arts field as well as in publishing with Epigram Books, where she oversaw content and author relations. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Art History from the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. In her creative projects, she seeks to channel and foreground feminist perspectives. Her recent exhibitions include Ongoingness (2022), Gillman Barracks, and Time Passes (2020), National Gallery Singapore. At the Writers’ Centre, she enjoys getting to know different writers and journeying with them to chart and get to better places with their writing. She will also be attending to the various programming and operational needs of the Centre, with a focus on managing creative writing programs. Outside of work, you can find her ruminating about art, movies, books, astrology, and finding her next spicy meal.
