Update on December 25:
We've reached our year-end fundraising goal of
USD10,000! Our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of our
41 donors who believe in the work of Singapore Unbound. Your support means the world to me and the team. Because of you, next year we can pay
10 Second Saturdays speakers and
64 SUSPECT writers and
52 artists for their work. Thank you!
Would you help us reach our stretch goal of raising
USD12,000? The additional
USD2,000 will be used to pay contributors—writers and artists—to SUSPECT's special themed portfolio next year, titled "Eco-":
"Wouldn’t you like a four-day work week, or to work from home? While economy and ecology both come from the root word
oikos – for home – housework is excluded from GDPs; so too are the bat flights that pollinate a durian orchard, the citizen science surveys for salamanders, and the sea-spanning carbon capture projects of phytoplankton. The economy works through, not above or beyond, nature. “Economy is ecology,” as political theorist Jason Moore highlights. When supply chains and investments (re)move or (re)place things around the home that is Earth, that home changes. Whose work is prevented on developing land? Whose land is used up for the work, and whose isn’t? What kind of home is this building, and is it the kind we want?
"We invite writing that engages with the powerful tensions and dimensions within the word “eco-”. We want nature writing grounded in physical and social contexts; writing that imagines how economies could center ecologies; writing on the work of becoming and belonging together with others. Works might highlight unappreciated labour (both human and otherwise), demand labour, address land and labour issues; might delve into ecological concepts from edge effects to metabolic rifts; might address houses, homes, displacement, and “homing” back to places like pigeons or salmon."
Read submission guidelines.
We hope you agree that the above call for writing and art is an urgent call for attention to our deteriorating world and the different ways we can stop the deterioration and even reverse it. Please consider making a donation to make this special "Eco-" themed portfolio a vital success!
Singapore Unbound thrives because of all our past supporters and donors. Thank you for being a champion of the arts at this fraught time across the world.
*
When nothing seems to work, put the arts to work. The arts have the power to change hearts and minds. Singapore Unbound with its unique blend of events and publications is ready to challenge and serve.
A transnational literary organization based in New York City, Singapore Unbound envisions and works for a creative and fulfilling life for everyone through the arts and activism.
We are ready with a track record in organizing
mind-expanding literary festivals. Held in October this year, the 6th biennial Singapore Literature Festival spotlighted writing for the stage and screen by artists from the Asian diaspora and beyond. Partnering the Korean Cultural Center NY and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the festival offered a keynote lecture on transnational theater, a NY film premiere, and panel discussions on multilingual existence, film editing as writing, and adapting classics. All free and open to everyone.
We are ready with
a monthly reading series called Second Saturdays, now in its 11th season. We have featured exciting authors from across the world, such as Gina Apostol (Philippines/USA), Min Jin Lee (Korea/USA), Monique Truong (Vietnam/USA), Jeremy Tiang (Singapore/USA), Bernice Chauly (Malaysia/Sweden), Salil Tripathi (India/USA), among many others.
We are ready with
an independent press that publishes extraordinary Asian voices. This year Gaudy Boy published Daryl Qilin Yam’s novel
Lovelier, Lonelier; Jeddie Sophronius’s poetry collection
Interrogation Records, and Aruni Kashyap’s story collection
The Way You Want To Be Loved. Next year, watch out for the translated novel
Memorial Club by Mozid Mahmud; the poetry collection
Fablemaker, by Mandy Moe Pwint Tu; the poetry collection
Eke, by Wahidah Tambee; and the story collection
The Unrepentant, by Sharmini Aphrodite.
We are ready with
an online literary journal SUSPECT that favors microhistories, subversive perspectives, and marginalized identities. In the last year alone, we have published poems, fiction, essays, and book reviews from Canada, Chile, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Palestine, the Philippines, Singapore, the UK, and the US. We’ve also featured art by emerging and established Asian artists.
Make a generous donation so that we can pay our speakers and authors. We strongly believe that, like any other workers, artists should be paid for their creative work. The Singapore Unbound team is wholly made up of passionate volunteers, so every cent you donate goes directly to artists and programs.
We are aiming to raise
USD10,000 for next year. Here's the breakdown:
Second Saturdays speakers 10 x $100 = $1,000
SUSPECT writers 64 x $100 = $6,400
SUSPECT artists 52 x $50 = $2,600
Two easy ways to donate:
1. You can donate by credit card by clicking the donation button above. Fractured Atlas is a 501(c)(3) public charity. Contributions for the purposes of Singapore Unbound are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
2. If you prefer, you can also donate by check. Please send contributions to Jee Leong Koh, 3 W 122nd Street, Suite 5D, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Checks should be made payable to “Fractured Atlas,” with “Singapore Unbound” in the memo line. If your company has a matching gifts program with Benevity, you can find us under "Fractured Atlas Productions Inc" and then "Singapore Unbound.”
We also appreciate non-cash and in-kind donations. If you live in NYC, you could host a Second Saturdays event, or donate your time, a venue, and F&B. You could also help by spreading the word about this fundraising appeal. Thank you in advance for your generous support.
Put the arts to work. Imagine with us a creative and fulfilling life for everyone. Donate now.
Sincerely,
Jee Leong Koh
Founder and Organizer
Singapore Unbound