A. Farm is delighted to invite you to Write-Off!, a series of writing workshops which will take place on the 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th of August. Due to the awesomeness of the events we are expecting a certain number of participants so please don’t forget to register if you are interested in attending the sessions below.

Sunday 26th August, 4-7pm
Write-Off #1: Poetics of Place and Landscape – A Poetry Workshop with Maung Day

They say you don’t know who you are if you don’t know where you are. But to know where you are can sometimes be a very delicate matter, and a lot of people will say they are not where they want to be or where they are meant to be.

With the rapidly changing patterns of land use today, the idea of ‘place’ has also changed. Today’s trends of corporate land use and resource extraction have disrupted the relationship between communities and their land, leading to physical, mental and spiritual discords. Meanwhile, urban areas are evolving and shapeshifting, instilling in people a sense of estrangement or even displacement. Over the past few decades, we have been seeing a large number of mass migrations stemming from wars and conflicts. Communities have left their homes leaving behind them a sprawling landscape of despair and scattering towards factories, construction sites, refugee camps and slums. Places also possess strong political characteristics that exert influences on how people think.

Is a place something that binds us and a reason for celebration? Or is it something that stares us down sending a chill up our spines? What do we think about when we think about ‘place’ and what do we write about it in our poems?

This workshop, led by Myanmar poet Maung Day, aims to look at how we approach, reflect on and wrestle with the concept of ‘place’ and ‘landscape’ through reading and writing exercises and discussions. The workshop will be in English with Vietnamese translation assistance. Registration is limited to 20 participants only.

Maung Day is a Myanmar-born poet, artist, translator and development worker. He has published seven books of poetry in Myanmar language and one chapbook in English. His poems have appeared in literary journals such as The Wolf, The Awl, Guernica, Shampoo, International Poetry Review, Bengal Lights and Asymptote. He has translated the works of a number of poets including Adonis, John Ashbery, Robert Kelly, Russell Edson, Tomas Transtromer, Ilya Kaminsky and Kim Addonizio, as well as the work of Myanmar poets such as Aung Cheimt, Khin Aung Aye, Yoe Myay, Moe Way, Mae Yway, Eindra and Tha Gount Thar. He is an honorary fellow in writing at the University of Iowa. He has also shown his artworks internationally and is currently a resident artist at A.Farm in Ho Chi Minh City.

Maung’s chapbook Gasoline will be available for sale at this poetry workshop.

Registration link: http://bit.ly/2MyqN7R

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Monday 27th August, from 3pm until we run out of words.
Write-Off #2: Scrabble tournament

We were going to organize a workshop on translation but then decided ‘scrap that, let’s have fun instead. For those of you who wish to escape work, celebrate the start of the week or have lots of spare time, please join us as we battle to the end in a giant scrabble tournament in teams. No registration necessary, just show up with your fabulous selves.
On a side note: all languages welcome!

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Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th August, 2-5pm.
Write-Off #3 and #4: Art Criticism Workshop – Ben Valentine and Lee Weng Choy

To conclude this series, art critics Ben Valentine and Lee Weng Choy will be conducting two back-to-back sessions on art writing dedicated to a wide range of art professionals. Looking at works by Nguyen Thai Tuan (Vietnam), Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook (Thailand) and Ho Tzu Nyen (Singapore), the workshop will mirror how both critics think through a work and begin to organize their ideas, slowly gathering the participants’ critique into a final collective essay.

The workshop will be in English with Vietnamese translation assistance. Registration is limited to 10 participants only. Please note that participants are expected to attend both sessions.

Registration link: http://bit.ly/2MpVDzj