MYWriters Penang is finally resuming our Penang Writer’s Workshops this year!
Our 2023 Penang Writers Workshop is a series of six writing workshops + a writing retreat organised for emerging writers in Penang around the theme of Inheritance. The bi-weekly workshops aim to equip writers aged 16 and upwards with skills and confidence to write short stories and poetry in both standard and Malaysian English—plus share them with the public.
The workshops will culminate in a public reading session of your work, plus the opportunity to submit to our annual NutMag zine, which has the same theme.
Our 2023 Penang Writers Workshop is a series of six writing workshops + a writing retreat organised for emerging writers in Penang around the theme of Inheritance. The bi-weekly workshops aim to equip writers aged 16 and upwards with skills and confidence to write short stories and poetry in both standard and Malaysian English—plus share them with the public.
The workshops will culminate in a public reading session of your work, plus the opportunity to submit to our annual NutMag zine, which has the same theme.
Quick Details
Workshops: 18 March to 28 May 2023 (alternate Saturdays) from 1 to 5pm
Retreat: 3 to 5 June 2023 (Saturday to Monday*)
Showcase: 2 July 2023
Venue: George Town, Penang
Fee: RM450 (Malaysian Writers Society member price: 50% off)
*YDPA’s birthday (public Holiday)
WE GOT FUNDED!
In line with that, we're dropping our fees and re-opening applications for the full workshop series until 15 March 2023, NOON.
If you are interested in registering for individual workshop sessions and/or the retreat, you can continue to do so at the following revised prices.
Fee per workshop: RM60 (member price: 50% off)
Fee for retreat: RM200 (member price: 50% off)
What's the difference?
A key component of attending the full series is the critique sessions allocated after each workshop to discuss and give feedback on the homework submitted. As such, the participants for the series are carefully curated to ensure that their works are of a suitable level and they are able work together as a cohort. You'll also be expected to showcase the best of your work at the Readings@Tanjong event on 18 June.
Registration for individual workshop sessions only include the 2-hour workshop and does not include the weekly feedback sessions on your homework. Participants are welcome to apply to read at the showcase, but participation is not guaranteed.
Individual applications for slots at the retreat will be given based on both strength of work submitted and space available. As the retreat includes the performance workshop, attendees are expected to have an existing piece that they are working on, which will be used for both the workshop and the showcase on 2 July.
Retreat: 3 to 5 June 2023 (Saturday to Monday*)
Showcase: 2 July 2023
Venue: George Town, Penang
Fee: RM450 (Malaysian Writers Society member price: 50% off)
*YDPA’s birthday (public Holiday)
WE GOT FUNDED!
In line with that, we're dropping our fees and re-opening applications for the full workshop series until 15 March 2023, NOON.
If you are interested in registering for individual workshop sessions and/or the retreat, you can continue to do so at the following revised prices.
Fee per workshop: RM60 (member price: 50% off)
Fee for retreat: RM200 (member price: 50% off)
What's the difference?
A key component of attending the full series is the critique sessions allocated after each workshop to discuss and give feedback on the homework submitted. As such, the participants for the series are carefully curated to ensure that their works are of a suitable level and they are able work together as a cohort. You'll also be expected to showcase the best of your work at the Readings@Tanjong event on 18 June.
Registration for individual workshop sessions only include the 2-hour workshop and does not include the weekly feedback sessions on your homework. Participants are welcome to apply to read at the showcase, but participation is not guaranteed.
Individual applications for slots at the retreat will be given based on both strength of work submitted and space available. As the retreat includes the performance workshop, attendees are expected to have an existing piece that they are working on, which will be used for both the workshop and the showcase on 2 July.
Course Outline:
18 March: Imma write a thing!
This introductory workshop looks at the basics of writing, including other essentials such as time management and setting individual writing goals for the programme. We’ll also be talking about Inheritance, our theme for NutMag 7.
1 April: What’s there to write about my hometown?
Explore a part of George Town’s history with Penang Hidden Gems! This workshop looks at place-based writing, and using one’s culture and heritage as part of creative writing—whether fiction or nonfiction. Part of the session includes a community walk & talk at a heritage site in George Town. This session will run from 8am to noon.
15 April: Nobody talks like that lah!
This workshop explores code-mixing and writing in Malaysian English, especially in dialogue. It focuses on using language that encodes Malaysian culture and borrows or translates local dialects/languages in Penang-specific contexts.
29 April:
Writing as Not-You: This workshop explores the form of the persona poem. What does it mean to write in the voice of someone or something else? What are the perspectives we can inhabit—and are there ones we shouldn't?
The A-Z of Short Story Writing: This session discusses how to recognise an idea, let the idea germinate, developing, plotting and writing a fulfilling short story.
13 May: Stories from my nenek moyang.
Many of us grew up on a mix of foreign and local fairy tales, but end up writing very white-coded stories because of the influence of the Big 5 Publishers and Hollywood. This workshop looks at using local myths, legends, and folklore to shape and inform our writing.
27 May: Is it done yet?
In this final session, participants will be taught how to edit their own work by reviewing voice and word choices, grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and story development. By the end of this session, participants need to select a draft to be sent to Fa Abdul for the performance workshop during the retreat.
3–5 June: Writer's Retreat
A writing retreat in George Town to work on, edit, and workshop the various pieces produced throughout the course. There will also be two further learning sessions:
18 June: Readings@ Tanjong showcase
Participants who have attended the Performing Your Work session at the retreat will have a chance to read their works to the public!
This introductory workshop looks at the basics of writing, including other essentials such as time management and setting individual writing goals for the programme. We’ll also be talking about Inheritance, our theme for NutMag 7.
1 April: What’s there to write about my hometown?
Explore a part of George Town’s history with Penang Hidden Gems! This workshop looks at place-based writing, and using one’s culture and heritage as part of creative writing—whether fiction or nonfiction. Part of the session includes a community walk & talk at a heritage site in George Town. This session will run from 8am to noon.
15 April: Nobody talks like that lah!
This workshop explores code-mixing and writing in Malaysian English, especially in dialogue. It focuses on using language that encodes Malaysian culture and borrows or translates local dialects/languages in Penang-specific contexts.
29 April:
Writing as Not-You: This workshop explores the form of the persona poem. What does it mean to write in the voice of someone or something else? What are the perspectives we can inhabit—and are there ones we shouldn't?
The A-Z of Short Story Writing: This session discusses how to recognise an idea, let the idea germinate, developing, plotting and writing a fulfilling short story.
13 May: Stories from my nenek moyang.
Many of us grew up on a mix of foreign and local fairy tales, but end up writing very white-coded stories because of the influence of the Big 5 Publishers and Hollywood. This workshop looks at using local myths, legends, and folklore to shape and inform our writing.
27 May: Is it done yet?
In this final session, participants will be taught how to edit their own work by reviewing voice and word choices, grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and story development. By the end of this session, participants need to select a draft to be sent to Fa Abdul for the performance workshop during the retreat.
3–5 June: Writer's Retreat
A writing retreat in George Town to work on, edit, and workshop the various pieces produced throughout the course. There will also be two further learning sessions:
- Performing Your Work: A practical three-hour session by Fa Abdul on how to read your work aloud for performances.
- Publishing Your Work: You’ve written some short stories and/or poems. Now what? This one-hour panel discusses various publishing avenues, including how to submit to short story magazines, how to produce your own chapbooks, and how to pitch to agents/publishers. Panel: Rosalind Chua, Clarity Publishing; Wilson Khor, Working Desk Publishing.
18 June: Readings@ Tanjong showcase
Participants who have attended the Performing Your Work session at the retreat will have a chance to read their works to the public!
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
By the end of the course, all participants should have written at least five (5) new stories or poems, one of which will be selected for the showcase performance. Participants are encouraged to submit these, or other works, to the NutMag zine and to other publishing avenues.
organiser
Malaysian Writers Society (MYWriters) was established in September 2016 to facilitate activities and programmes related to Malaysian writing and publishing. MYWriters is an inclusive and non-profit initiative, providing a platform for Malaysian writers that transcends genre, language, function, medium, and experience levels.
SUPPORTED BY
George Town Heritage Celebrations is an annual celebration organised by George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) to commemorate the city’s inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 7 July 2008. It highlights interactive and educational programmes such as workshops and performances which take place in the streets of the heritage enclave.
partnerS
George Town Literary Festival (GTLF) is Malaysia’s largest international literary festival, it is held annually in the UNESCO World Heritage site of George Town, Penang.
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Dabble Dabble Jer Collective is an arts production team based in Penang, Malaysia. We are especially interested in exploring themes of identity, heritage, and sociocultural constructs with artists, musicians, performers, dancers, and creatives, regardless of background or creed.
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MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS
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Anna TanAnna Tan writes fantasy stories and fairy tales, and has short stories included in various anthologies. She helps people publish books at Teaspoon Publishing, which includes yelling at HTML for epub reasons.
She has an MA in Creative Writing: The Novel from Brunel University London and is interested in Malay/Nusantara and Chinese legends and folklore in exploring the intersection of language, culture, and faith. She can be found tweeting as @natzers and forgetting to update annatsp.com. |
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Tunku HalimBy delving into local myth, legends and folklore, Tunku Halim’s writing is regarded as ‘World Gothic’.
His short story won the 1998 Fellowship of Australian Writers competition and his debut novel was nominated for the 1999 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Between 2015 and 2017 he had three consecutive wins in Malaysia’s Star-Popular Readers’ Choice Awards. His books include the novel A Malaysian Restaurant in London (2015), the Middle Grade Midnight Children trilogy (2021) and his short story collection My Lovely Skull & Other Skeletons (2022). |
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wAN PHING LIMWan Phing Lim was born to Malaysian parents in 1986 in Butterworth, Penang. Her short stories have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies in UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. She lives in Penang and Two Figures in a Car is her first short story collection.
Wan Phing is the current fiction editor at NutMag |
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YEE HENG YEHYee Heng Yeh is a writer and Mandarin-to-English translator. His poetry has been featured in The KITA! Podcast, adda, Malaysian Millennial Voices, and Strange Horizons, while his translations of poetry have been published in Mantis and Nashville Review. His story “Cockroach”, first published in Imprints: Chevening Writers Series 2021, also appeared in Guernica. You can find him on Twitter at @HengYeh42.
Heng Yeh is the current poetry editor at NutMag. |
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FA ABDUL Fa Abdul is a professional juggler. She is a playwright, director, columnist, social media activist, media trainer and a published author. Fa enjoys everything she does, however her true passion is in the performing arts industry. Since 2012, she has staged over 100 short plays and full-length plays, and has received several awards such as the Mercedes Benz Creative Excellence Award and the Kakiseni Boh Cameronian Award. Her works are mostly Malaysian flavoured, filled with human elements and cultural relevance.
Fa believes storytelling is a powerful tool in encouraging dialogues on prominent issues that ties us together. |
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PENANG HIDDEN GEMSPenang Hidden Gems is a Facebook page founded by Emili and Emilia Ismail during the pandemic to share Penang's little-known history. The group members quickly grew to include other history enthusiasts such as licensed tourist guide Tger Tatt, host Moe Nasrul, and photographer Idora. Today, Penang Hidden Gems continue to make learning Penang's history enjoyable through interesting social media content and monthly community walkabouts.
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