Programmes
LearnX
Get to know your books, writers and listen to experts on current issues as we dive into topics on reading and literature.
One Story
One Story is a National Reading Movement initiative to make Singapore short stories - originally written in Tamil, Malay and Chinese - available in the other languages. The project aims to bring these stories to more readers beyond the language communities that they were originally written for. “Squat for Tradition, Sit for Modernity” is a short story by Cultural Medallion recipient Chia Joo Ming that was originally written in Chinese. This book features the story in all four languages.
Reading in the Age of Distraction
Reading in the Age of Distraction (RAD) is a series of conversations featuring acclaimed international thinkers on the science of reading, and reading well in the digital age. The first installation of the event in 2021 featured speakers such as Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Rolf Dobelli, author of the Art of Thinking Clearly, Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian and Maryanne Wolf, author of Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in the Digital World. Click here to listen to selected RAD 2021’s webinars.
For 2022, RAD discussed strategies to cultivate focused reading in a distracted age featuring renowned speakers such as Naomi Baron, A/P Loh Chin Ee, Dr. Sönke Ahrens and Amy Herman. Click here to listen to acclaimed speakers and authors on deep reading, reading actively as well as reading aloud to foster connections.
Read Fest!
Read! Fest is NLB’s signature event to encourage Singaporeans to be acquainted or re-acquainted with reading in English and the Mother Tongue languages. Part of the National Reading Movement, Read! Fest features Singapore and international writing of different genres, promoted through a programme line-up celebrating reading with author talks, panel sessions, workshops and reading trails.
Click here to check out what happened at Read! Fest 2023.