Asia Creative Writing Programme

Pinch us. 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠 will be teaching a masterclass with us !!! (We’ll give you a moment.) And if you’re thinking “is that all for Cathy?!”... NO IT’S NOT. Keep your eyes peeled next week 👀 (Hint: ACWP Practitioners Day 2026 is almost here 😭)

Some feelings get filed under “minor.” But what if they’ve been seriously miscatalogued? In this masterclass, Cathy Park Hong shows how shame, rage, and the emotions we’ve been told are too ugly, too untelegenic, too minor are often the ones doing the most interesting work on the page. The instinct may be to ice them. But see what happens when you don’t.

✨ Visit www.bit.ly/mc-cph into your browser for full programme and ticketing details. Limited seats, first come first served! ✨

About Cathy Park Hong ☀️
Cathy Park Hong is an award-winning poet, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the author of Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. She is a recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Her poems have been published in Poetry, The New York Times, The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, The Boston Review, and other journals. She is the poetry editor of the New Republic and full professor at the Rutgers University-Newark MFA program in poetry.

Skin deep won’t do. Three authors go deeper. 📝

There’s a version of yourself the world reads off you. And then there’s the one you’re still figuring out. Because race and identity are never just skin deep. They sit in memory, in language, in the stories we’re handed long before we begin telling our own. Jess Row, Mysara Aljaru, and Max Pasakorn explore how literature dismantles stereotypes and challenges assumptions, and unpack what it takes to write past the surface. Session will be moderated by Kristian-Marc Paul.

🧴This programme is free with registration, and is co-presented with the Singapore Book Council.

✨ Visit www.bit.ly/pe-jr for full programme and registration details.

Fiction, race, and the uncomfortable questions in between. Let’s get into it. 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗥𝗼𝘄 is ACWP’s next Visiting Writer! ✍️

What does power mean in a post-human world, where AI, robotics, and other technologies keep eroding the line between “us” and “them”? Join Jess Row in the workshop series 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐈 𝐁𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮? 𝐅𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 to explore works that unsettle our sense of what a character can be, engage in exercises in character creation and manipulation, and workshop short stories with a special focus on characterisation and the intrusions of contemporary technology.

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 // Share your ideas, gain fresh insights. Book a one-on-one mentoring session with author Jess Row 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 Jess Row’s programmes and registration details.

𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙍𝙤𝙬
Jess Row is the author of two novels, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 and 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘦, an essay collection, 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘍𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴: 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, and three short story collections, most recently 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Paris Review, n+1, The New York Times, and Kyoto Review, among others. He began his teaching career at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in the 1990s and now teaches creative writing at New York University.

Some of the most compelling women in literature aren't entirely human. Femme Fatales. Witches. Monsters. And maybe that's exactly the point. Because in the hands of the right storyteller, the "monstrous feminine" becomes something far more complex than just a scare.

Join Marjorie Liu (Monstress, X-23, Black Widow), Wen-yi Lee (The Dark We Know) and Meihan Boey (The Formidable Miss Cassidy) in I'm In Love With Momoks: Romancing The Monstrous Feminine as they explore how horror and speculative fiction can celebrate, vilify, and subvert the best and worst of the female experience. Till death do us part... NOT!

✨Visit www.bit.ly/pe-ml for programme and registration details!

This programme is co-presented with our good friends over at Difference Engine, and is part of You Think You Know? Think Again!, a programme series by ACWP that pushes you out of your comfort zone, confronts your blind spots, and challenges assumptions on subjects you thought you had figured out. (Don’t worry, we’re all learning here!)

Monsters, myths, and mayhem? Say no more. 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗷𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝘂 is ACWP's Visiting Writer! 👾

Sharpen your grip on the speculative genre of fantasy with Marjorie Liu in her workshop series 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬: 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲. Through focused exercises, close readings, and lively discussion, explore fantasy’s fundamentals while strengthening the core narrative crafts of character and conflict, and consider what it takes to build other worlds that can bear imaginative weight. Dragons optional. Rigour? Essential.

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 // Share your ideas, gain fresh insights. Book a one-on-one mentoring session with fantasy author Marjorie Liu 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 Marjorie's programmes and registration details. So stop fantasising, sign up now!! 🥳

𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙟𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙪
Marjorie Liu is a former attorney turned New York Times bestselling novelist and comic book writer, whose work has earned multiple Hugo, Eisner, and British Fantasy Awards. She has written numerous series for Marvel, including X-23, Black Widow, Han Solo, Dark Wolverine, and Astonishing X-Men, and for BOOM! Studios she contributed a one-shot story to Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR universe. She is also the co-creator and writer of the award-winning series The Night Eaters, and the author of the Wingbearer fantasy series for children.

别错过亚洲创意写作项目(ACWP)作家刘卫东带来的精彩写作活动！

[工作坊] 超越语言：从创意写作到创意生活
无需太多的技巧与修辞，每个人都可以从自己的直觉和想象开始创意写作之旅。通过书写自然体验、自我情绪与日常故事，在AI时代创造属于自己的心灵意象与生命空间。

作家咨询时段
与刘卫东的咨询时段 (Writer To Writer) 现已开放报名！刘卫东将在这一对一的咨询时段给予有关写作的专业指导及帮助。

✨请到 www.linktr.ee/acwp 游览完整资讯和报名详情。报名截止新加坡时间2026年3月8日，11.59pm。此活动全程以中文进行。

Don’t miss these programmes by ACWP Visiting Writer Liu Weidong!

[Workshop Series] Beyond Language: From Creative Writing to Creative Living
Drawing on nature, personal emotions, and everyday experiences, this creative writing journey invites you to explore self-expression in new ways. Guided by author and researcher Liu Weidong, shape your own imagery and narrative voice through intuition and imagination while engaging thoughtfully with the contemporary context of AI.

Writer to Writer with Liu Weidong
Share your ideas, gain fresh insights. Book a one-on-one mentoring session with author and researcher Liu Weidong 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 full programme and registration details. Registration closes 8 March 2026, 11:59pm SGT. Programmes will be conducted in Mandarin.

亚洲创意写作项目呈现...作家刘卫东!

创意写作通常被视为是为了培养专业作家，但是它也可以是一种通识意义上的写作，帮助我们激发自己的想象、直觉和情感，让我们可以更好地认知自己的记忆、心理和渴望。在这座谈会中，作家刘卫东讨论创意写作如何为我们的身心成长和创造性的自我理解带来新的改变。

✨请到 www.bit.ly/pe-lwd 游览完整资讯和报名详情。
此活动全程以中文进行。

Meet ACWP's next Visiting Writer, Liu Weidong!

Think creative writing is just for writers? Think again! Author Liu Weidong explores how creative writing is far more than the act of publishing— it’s a powerful medium for self-cognition and personal growth. Journey through the intersections of memory, sensitivity, and poetic thinking with Liu Weidong to understand how writing can stimulate intuition and emotional intelligence, and uncover the profound links between creative expression and shaping of one’s identity.

✨ Visit www.bit.ly/pe-lwd for full programme and registration details. This programme will be conducted in Mandarin.

Fact: As per my last email
Truth: Nothing has changed except my patience.
😂
𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆? Trained in the social sciences, 𝗤.𝗠. 𝗭𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴 brought a plethora of research methods to her father’s story, only to discover how easily those tools can be undone overnight by a single revelation. In this Picking Brains interview, Pamela Ho speaks with ACWP Visiting Writer Q.M. Zhang about hybrid forms, unconventional sources, and why a story is never truly finished.

✨ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: www.bit.ly/pickingbrains-qz ✨

Want more? Q.M. Zhang appears in the upcoming panel 𝑰 𝑴𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑲𝒐𝒑𝒊 alongside Dana Lam and Jollin Tan. What happens when we revisit a version of ourselves who once saw the world differently? What emerges when we read our own past as both subject and witness? 🎉 This programme is free with registration. Visit www.linktr.ee/acwp for details.

NEW YEAR, FRESH MEMORIES. 🎉

Happy New Year to our fellow wordsmiths! Whether your resolutions are neatly written out or still taking shape in the background, we hope the year ahead is off to a gentle start.

There’s no better moment to look back (and perhaps inward) than now. Join our Visiting Writer Q.M. Zhang and local author Dana Lam for I Met My Younger Self for Kopi, a conversation that asks: what happens when we return to a version of ourselves who once saw the world differently? When we read our own past as both subject and witness, what new possibilities emerge?

With tenderness, curiosity, and a healthy dose of nostalgia, Q.M. Zhang and Dana Lam explore how memory can open unexpected pathways into the future. (Kopi not included.) This session will be moderated by Jollin Tan. Registration is free, come make new memories with us :’)

✨ 23 Jan, Fri
7.30pm to 8.30pm
Living Room @ The Arts House

And while we’re on the subject of remembering: this is your friendly reminder that registration for Q.M. Zhang’s Writer to Writer sessions and workshops closes on 4 January 2026 at 23:59. If you’ve been thinking about working with memory and dreams, or expanding your creative non-fiction practice, now’s the moment.

Don’t forget to sign up ok !! 🥹 Visit www.linktr.ee/acwp for full programme and registration details! ✨

🔓💭 𝑪𝑶𝑹𝑬 𝑴𝑬𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑺 𝑼𝑵𝑳𝑶𝑪𝑲𝑬𝑫.

2025 is winding down, but the stories are just beginning. We're starting the next chapter with a writer who knows how to dig deep and look twice. Meet ACWP's next Visiting Writer, 𝐐.𝐌. 𝐙𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠! 🔥

Have you been quietly gathering remains of the past: a scribbled letter, a mysterious photograph, a fragment of a memory of a conversation? Are you trying to write your history only to find the stories you’ve been told are not true, and parts have been left out? Join Q.M. Zhang in the workshop series 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 to experiment with creative tools and hybrid forms for writing into intergenerational silence, historical omission, and other erasures of the past.

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 // Share your ideas, gain fresh insights. Book a one-on-one mentoring session with author Q.M. Zhang 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 Q.M. Zhang’s programmes and registration details. ✨

About 𝐐.𝐌. 𝐙𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠
Q.M. Zhang is a writer and founder of Q.M. Zhang | MemoryWorks, a creative research & writing practice for individuals and communities who are trying to reclaim histories that have been censored, silenced, or erased. This practice grew out of three decades of teaching on the borders of social science and creative writing, and the making of her award-winning book, Accomplice to Memory (Kaya Press, 2017), which combines memoir, fiction, and documentary photographs to explore intergenerational silences and omissions in her immigrant family history.

The Asia Creative Writing Programme (ACWP) is a collaboration between NAC and NTU that advances the creative practice of literary practitioners through specialised development programmes. For more information, visit www.bit.ly/asiacwp

All systems go! ACWP’s next Visiting Writer is none other than author and futurist 𝐊𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐮! 🚀

Launch your ideas into a new dimension with Ken Liu in this masterclass series 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲: 𝗔 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Navigate the data-verse of your own stories and programme compelling narratives from the ground up. Walk through topics essential for the modern speculative fiction writer like technology as a language and the limits of speculation, all while you get a chance to download his methods and upload your own creations through hands-on exercises and peer feedback. Who knows, perhaps you’ll be the next name in the pantheon of great speculative fiction writers! 😉

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 // Book a 1-1 mentoring session with author and futurist Ken Liu to receive expert guidance on your writing project and support for your writing journey. Please note: As slots are limited, applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. Registrants will undergo a selection process by the Visiting Writer.

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

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐊𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐮
Ken Liu is the author of the Dandelion Dynasty, a silkpunk epic fantasy series, as well as The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. His latest book is All that We See or Seem, a techno-thriller starring an AI-whispering hacker who saves the world.

Photo Credit: Lisa Tang Liu