The past and present of a cultural extravaganza

Lianhe Zaobao columnist Han Shanyuan observed that the attendance at the biennial Singapore Writers Festival held at SMU, one of the venues for this year's Festival, was poor.  Of the three talks he attended, the audience size was between 20 to 40 persons.  Lamenting the disappointing turnout, he said factors such as scheduling and choice of venue could affect attendance.  Some well-known writers from abroad were almost unheard of in Singapore.