Behind the Judging Table: What Makes Good Writing

Step inside the world of literary judges and discover what separates good writing from the unforgettable. In this roundtable, former Golden Point Award judges share their behind-the-scenes perspectives on what catches their attention; from a writer’s unique voice and original ideas to the way a story unfolds and grips the reader. The discussion will explore whether “good stories” share universal traits across languages, and where literary standards differ, and why.

Judges will also reveal how careful editing and revision can transform a draft, the subtle elements that make a story resonate, and common pitfalls that can hold a piece back. Packed with candid insights and practical advice, this session is a rare opportunity to see the art of writing through a judge’s eyes and understand what it truly takes to craft work that leaves a lasting impression.

Isa Kamari is an acclaimed writer whose body of work spans 12 novels (including one in English), three poetry collections, a short story collection, a book of essays on Singapore Malay poetry, and theatre scripts. His Malay novels have been translated into multiple languages, including English, Arabic, Turkish, Hindi, Spanish, and Mandarin, while selected poetry and essays are also available in English. A recipient of major regional and national literary honours, Isa has served as chief judge for Malay Fiction for the Singapore Literature Prize, Malay short story for the Golden Point Award, and Anugerah Persuratan, bringing deep insight into literary evaluation and craft.
Neelakandan Sivanantham is a Singapore-based Tamil essayist, translator, and editor known for his contributions to contemporary Singapore Tamil nonfiction. He has published three Tamil essay collections focusing on the history of the Singapore Tamil community and Singapore Tamil literature. Siva served for six years as a volunteer editor of The Serangoon Times, a Singapore-based Tamil monthly. He is currently the Chief Editor of the Encyclopedia of Singapore Tamils, a bilingual online resource hosted on the NLB platform. He has also served as a judge for Tamil creative nonfiction in the Singapore Literature Prize and for Tamil short stories in the Golden Point Award, bringing keen critical insight to literary evaluation.

Tan Yu Xin, who writes under the pen name Niu You Xiao Sheng, is a fiction writer and essayist born in Johor Bahru and now based in Singapore, where he works as a journalist. He has published six books in Malaysia and Taiwan. His short story collection Those Evolved and Those Not was shortlisted for the 2024 Singapore Literature Prize (Chinese Fiction), and his book 阿卡貝拉 (Acappella) was adapted into the choral story performance A.K.A. by Ren Sing Choir. Yu Xin has also served as a judge for Chinese short story for the Golden Point Award and several Malaysian literary competitions.

Xu Xi is an Indonesian-Chinese author of fiction and nonfiction, with more than a dozen books including The Art and Craft of Asian Stories and Monkey in Residence and Other Speculations. She will soon launch the Singapore edition of Horizon Hong Kong: Selected Stories. Xu Xi teaches creative writing and literary translation and has held academic and writer-in-residence posts across the U.S. and Asia. She has served as a judge for English Fiction in the Singapore Literature Prize and English short story for the Golden Point Award, offering a discerning perspective shaped by decades of writing and mentorship.

Ian Chung graduated from the Warwick Writing Programme. His writing has appeared in Axon: Creative Explorations, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Sabotage Reviews, the SingPoWriMo anthologies, The Cadaverine (where he was also Prose Editor), Unthology No. 3, and the《一首诗的时间》anthologies.

The programme can be cancelled or postponed two weeks before the programme date if the minimum number of participants is not met. Participants will be fully refunded for workshops cancelled by us.

Participants who are unable to attend a workshop they have registered for are to inform us of the reason two weeks before the workshop date. They will be fully refunded in the event of extenuating and mitigating circumstances (E.g. illness, bereavement, accidents) . Those who inform us up to 5 working days before the workshop date will receive a 50% refund. Those who did not turn up at the workshop will not receive a refund.

Upon registration, you are deemed to have read and understood the cancellation and withdrawal policy and accept the terms contained therein.

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Host or Publisher Singapore Book Council