Totally Not Scary Comics Workshop

'A Few Little Words : Stories of Tampines'
Running from 13 October to 1 December 2024, Our Tampines Hub presents a series of writers’ workshops led by Vertical Submarine that will serve as a creative incubator for the community, drawing from everyday experiences and cultural heritage to inspire new narratives that reflect the unique spirit of Tampines. Held in conjunction with the Singapore’s Writers’ Festival (SWF), our lineup of local writers — Wayne Ree, Yeow Kai Chai, Nadiputra, Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray, and Chow Teck Seng — covers genre-based storytelling across horror, music and poetry, Bangsawan, comics and illustration, and more. Residents from all walks of life and backgrounds are welcome to learn, explore and experiment.

The programme will culminate in a publication co-edited by Quarterly Literary Review Singapore (QLRS) and Vertical Submarine, offering a curated collection of stories that resonate with the collective memory and imagination of Tampines residents released in March 2025. "A Few Little Words" aims to honour the past, capture the present, and inspire the future, one story at a time. This is a chance for all passionate storytellers and aspiring writers to have a chance to have their works published.

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About The Workshop
In this hands-on workshop led by comic artist Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray, you’ll experiment with text and image to make sequential stories.

We’ll begin with fun exercises to play with the comics form and storytelling.

Then we will each craft our own comics story, inspired by sensory observations of the neighborhood. What do you smell, hear, see around you, in Our Tampines Hub, in the neighbourhood outside? Nothing is too small or insignificant.

Zero art experience necessary! Folks with no art experience are encouraged to join.

All materials will be provided.

Just bring your curiosity, desire to express yourself and have fun with comics in this welcoming, good-vibes workshop!
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About the Facilitator
Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray is a writer and comic artist based in Singapore. Her short story won the 2023 Golden Point Award. She co-authored two books: SEMIONAUTS OF TRADITION: Music, Culture and Identity in Contemporary Singapore and REIMAGINING SINGAPORE: Self and Society in Contemporary Art. COMMUNION, her comic zine about ADHD, was shortlisted for the 2024 Graphic Medicine Award and is sold in Bangkok, KL, LA, Manila, NYC, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Instagram: @julietteyml

Host or Publisher Vertical Submarine