Asia Creative Writing Programme

11/08/2026

Meet 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗮 𝗕𝗵𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗶, International Booker Prize-winning translator and ACWP's next Visiting Writer!

Essay, story, translation. Different rules and expectations, or so we're told. In this workshop series 𝑻𝒓𝒚 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆𝒔, Deepa Bhasthi shows you how to stretch and bend the language, rules and form of each to best express what you want to say.

𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 // Share your ideas, gain fresh insights. Book a one-on-one mentoring session with author and translator Deepa Bhasthi for conversation and expert guidance on your writing journey. No drafts needed as this isn’t a manuscript critique, so just bring your curiosity.

✨ Visit www.linktr.ee/acwp for Deepa Bhasthi’s programmes and registration details.✨

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗮 𝗕𝗵𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗶
Deepa Bhasthi is a writer and literary translator working in Kannada and English. She was the first Indian, and the first Global Majority translator to win the International Booker Prize in 2025. Her essays, columns and journalism have been published extensively in Indian and international publications, anthologies and visual art book projects. She is the author of a children’s book titled Champi and the Fig Tree.

31/07/2026

Make waves with your writing. Meet your next ACWP Visiting Writer, 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐭𝐚𝐳𝐚 𝐌𝐞𝐡𝐫𝐢! ⛵️

“The sea is history,” as Derek Walcott reminds us: we are marked by the maritime drift of people, ideas, poems, songs, foundational myths and modern fables. In the workshop series 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, Momtaza Mehri invites you to explore the pelagic and to write with fluidity, carrying volatile ideas, histories and inheritances in the flow. You’ll write through and against the tides of influence and discover how the water inspires your style and sensibility as a writer. This series is recommended for poets and non-fiction writers.

𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 // Share your ideas, gain fresh insights, come sea what the fuss is all about~ Book a one-on-one mentoring session with poet Momtaza Mehri for conversation and expert guidance on your writing journey. No drafts needed as this isn’t a manuscript critique, so just bring your curiosity.

🌊Visit www.linktr.ee/acwp for Momtaza Mehri’s programmes and registration details. The tide waits for no one, and neither does the registration deadline (22 August) 😜🌊

𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙩𝙖𝙯𝙖 𝙈𝙚𝙝𝙧𝙞
Momtaza Mehri is a writer and researcher working across poetry, criticism, education, and radio. Previously, she was the Poet-in-Residence at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. She has been a columnist for Tate Etc, the arts magazine published by the Tate network of galleries. Her poetry collection Bad Diaspora Poems won the 2023 Forward Prize for Best First Collection, as well as an Eric Gregory Prize and Sky Arts Award. She is also a recipient of a Somerset Maugham Award, a Manchester Writing Prize and the Brunel International African Poetry Prize. In 2024, she was shortlisted for the prestigious Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award.

01/07/2026

ACWP’s The Write Match is back, with 12 powerhouses lined up for an immersive afternoon of conversation (and maybe a little hot goss 🤫).

Feeling a little shy on the publishing scene? 🫣 Why not make your mark? We’ll match you up in a whirlwind of literary connections with select authors, publishers and book aficionados. By the end of the session, you’d have met 6 out of the 12 speakers! Who knows, your next big break could be one match away 🥳

Featuring:
Angela Kalma Mazakis, Desmond Kon, Faith Ng, Grace Chia, Mysara Aljaru, Shelly Bryant, Daryl Qilin Yam, Aditi Shivaramakrishnan, Chong Lingying, Denise Tan, Goh Eck Kheng, and Nora Nazerene Abu Bakar

Hosted by the one and only Simone Heng 🎉

🎟 Visit www.bit.ly/acwpday26 into your browser for full programme and ticketing details.

22/06/2026

Before pages, poetry lived in the breath. Rhythm, repetition, call and response, lines built to be carried in the mouth, called across a room, answered out loud. 📣

Spoken-word poet Amanda Eke's workshop draws on the oldest creative move to keep the boldest one going. Through writing prompts and performance exercises, discover a different sense of what your voice can do off the page. 📝

So, why not begin where it all began?
🎟 Visit www.bit.ly/acwpday26 for full programme and ticketing details.

19/06/2026

Settings grow differently when they come from somewhere you actually are. So, what world would you build if you turned to your own history, land, language, the things only you could put on a page? 📝

Nnedi Okorafor calls hers Africanfuturism. Africanjujuism. A history, land, language and belief grown from her own, not borrowed from anyone else's tradition.

✨ Join Nnedi's masterclass to learn how to build a world that knows itself from the inside out. Don't wait, seats are filling up fast!

🎟 Visit www.bit.ly/acwpday26 for full programme and ticketing details.

17/06/2026

We did the math and tbh, it's a little embarrassing for us oops. 🙈

Add up what a day at ACWP Practitioners Day would cost if you bought each piece on its own, and you're at a whopping $140. (Yes, we've done the research 👀)

But guess what? 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 $𝟒𝟓 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. $23 if you're a student, NSF, or 55 and up. For that, you'll be in good company with fellow writers and literary lovers, plus the squad we've flown in: Cathy Park Hong, Nnedi Okorafor, Amanda Eke and Joseph Scapellato. That's a goal in our books. 🥅

Saving $95?! In this economy?! WHY NOT?
🎟 Visit www.bit.ly/acwpday26 for full programme and ticketing details.

16/06/2026

What is the definition of a writer? Who gets to define a writer? If you’ve been told you’re not a real writer until you’re published, then sit in this conversation. 📝

The industry often equates legitimacy with a book contract, but where does that leave the (experienced) writer without one? As publishing models evolve, so too does the meaning of authorship. O Thiam Chin, Charlene Shepherdson and Yeow Kai Chai challenge the assumption that publication is the only marker of credibility, asking whether craft, consistency, and contribution can stand without a bound spine. This session will be moderated by Khoo Sim Eng.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 ☀️
✦ Opening panel with Cathy Park Hong, Marylyn Tan and Kamal Al-Solaylee
✦ This session, plus another panel of your choice
✦ Masterclass with Nnedi Okorafor, The Write Match or workshop with Amanda Eke
✦ Exclusive tote bag, notebook and sticker set, with coffee and tea provided

🎟️ Tickets at bit.ly/acwpday26
General admission SGD 45 · Concession SGD 23 (terms and conditions apply)

15/06/2026

Ever been told to keep your voice down? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵 𝑰𝑻 𝑼𝑷 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒈 📣

Some voices arrive with passion and conviction intact. Others get handed a volume dial and told to keep it low. Loudness, it turns out, has little to do with yelling and everything to do with whose voice gets to count. Join Cathy Park Hong to consider what it means to claim that volume as an identity rather than a liability, and how a voice, pitched right, stops being noise and starts to mean something. Hosted by Michelle Martin.

Leave with a sharper sense of your own register, and fewer apologies for it. 😉

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 😱
✦ Opening panel with Cathy Park Hong, Marylyn Tan and Kamal Al-Solaylee
✦ This session, plus another panel of your choice
✦ Masterclass with Nnedi Okorafor, The Write Match or workshop with Amanda Eke
✦ Exclusive tote bag, notebook and sticker set, with coffee and tea provided

🎟️ Tickets at bit.ly/acwpday26
General admission SGD 45 · Concession SGD 23 (terms and conditions apply)

04/06/2026

Get in, we're writing (and hugging) it out. 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐂𝐖𝐏'𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫!

Drafting a novel can feel like a very long conversation with yourself, but it doesn't have to be. Novelist Joseph Scapellato is here to change that in 𝑷𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 & 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 𝑯𝒖𝒈𝒔: 𝑨 𝑵𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑. Work in groups. Expect practical craft and interactive exercises. You'll generate new pages on the spot. And you'll figure out what your project really needs: craft, community, or a blend of both. Walk out with sharper instincts and a small but mighty network writing alongside you.

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 // Share your ideas, gain fresh insights. Book a one-on-one mentoring session with novelist Joseph Scapellato for conversation and expert guidance on your writing journey. No drafts needed as this isn’t a manuscript critique, so just bring your curiosity.

Joseph is also appearing at the 𝐀𝐂𝐖𝐏 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲! Visit www.linktr.ee/acwp for Joseph's programmes and registration details, and tickets to the ACWP Practitioners Day.

𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕁𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕡𝕙 𝕊𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕠
Joseph is the author of the novel The Made-Up Man and the story collection Big Lonesome. He directs the Stadler Center for Poetry and Literary Arts at Bucknell University, where he's an Associate Professor of creative writing, and is Editor-in-Chief of the national literary magazine West Branch. Originally from the western suburbs of Chicago, he lives in Lewisburg, PA, with his wife and children.

02/06/2026

The magic 8 ball has been consulted. 😱 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟐 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐂𝐖𝐏 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 !! (ok we used to be called Conference but why not switch it up) 🥳

We’re throwing out the safe bet and questioning the default at this year’s ACWP Practitioners Day with the theme, “𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝑵𝒐𝒕?” A question that teases, taunts, and tantalises every writer to go beyond easy answers, join us in knocking down doors of tired tropes and colouring outside the lines. When the riskiest bet is the only one worth making, and black and white doesn’t mean grey, the question reigns supreme: why not?

✨ Tickets now available at www.bit.ly/acwpday26!

Concession available for students, NSFs and senior citizens. Terms and conditions apply.

Key Visual by Kristal Melson🔥

ACWP Practitioners Day 2026