The Arts – Literature

A male student with glasses reading a piece of paper in a common lounge.

The Arts – Literature

All students at Yale-NUS took the Common Curriculum course Literature and Humanities, with some going on to specialise in the Literature major. However, there were also plenty of opportunities available on campus for those whose literary interests were less academic.

INK: The Yale-NUS Literary Collective was a student-led community for those with a passion for reading and writing.

The Yale-NUS College Writers’ Centre was the College’s official writing department, tasked with assisting students in their academic writing, but it also provided guidance and resources to help students achieve their more personal literary ambitions.

The College’s Library also offered a wide range of literary works to borrow and read, as well as organising literary events such as an annual poetry competition.

INK: The Yale-NUS Literary Collective

INK: The Yale-NUS Literary Collective aimed to support aspiring student writers and assist them in developing their writing skills. They gathered for weekly meetings to share and discuss their latest writing, to take part in workshops or just to celebrate their love for the written word. The Collective also published a number of anthologies of students’ prose and poetry.

Although a student-led organisation, the Collective was supported by the Yale-NUS College Writers’ Centre where they often held their meetings.

Word Salad #1

One of the earliest Literary Collective events encouraged students to select a favourite piece of writing to share with the rest of the College community.

Spoken Word Workshop

This workshop from March 2015 provided an opportunity for students to practise their public speaking skills.

Words in Progress: Manuscript Intensive Weekend

In January 2020, the Collective invited several published authors to participate in the ‘Words in Progress: Manuscript Intensive Weekend’ where they reviewed the work of ten student would-be writers.

Perth Festival: Literature and Ideas

The Literary Collective organised a trip to this February 2020 festival where the students attended a series of lectures focusing on indigenous, queer, female or alternative narratives and were able to meet with members of the international writing community.

First Editions 4: Tell it Slant

Organised with the Writers’ Centre in March 2020, this was the fourth ‘First Editions’ event where students could read their work to an audience.

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Anthologies

From 2017 to 2021, The Literary Collective published a series of anthologies of prose and poems written by students.The first was titled Misc., a reference to the range of miscellaneous voices contained within the writing. Is No Longer There (2018) was inspired by the theme of ‘preservation’. Until it Heals (2020) explored ideas of pain and healing, of overcoming hurt and eventual renewal.

Anthologies

The Literary Collective published a series of anthologies of prose and poems written by students. The first was titled Misc. (2017), a reference to the range of miscellaneous voices contained in the writing. Is No Longer There (2018) was inspired by the theme of ‘preservation’. Until it Heals (2020) explored ideas of pain and healing, of overcoming hurt and eventual renewal.

Yale-NUS College Writers’ Centre

The Yale-NUS College Writers’ Centre provided support for all kinds of writing, whether academic, literary or personal. This included helping student organisations like the Literary Collective to organise events, providing advice, workshops, tutoring and online resources, and running the Yale-NUS Literary Awards.

The Writers’ Centre also published The Hawker, a periodical that featured advice on writing, examples of staff and student academic work, as well as providing an outlet for students’ more personal writing.

Read on Student Academic Publications

Hawker magazine eighteenth issue cover page with a red illustration of a singer with a cube-shaped machine-like head.

The Writers’ Centre organised the ‘Comics and Zines Fest’ in February 2021. It included two days of workshops presented by student, faculty and external writers and artists explaining the processes involved in creating a comic or zine, including the basics of good storytelling, how to write a script and design a layout, drawing techniques and comics as personal expression.

Library Poetry Contest

The Yale-NUS College Library hosted an annual poetry contest to highlight the importance of the form. In 2018, a book spine poetry contest was held, with students asked to create a poem from the titles on the spines of the books on the library’s shelves.