From 2 to 8 November 2026, Singapore Book Street fills VivoCity Level 1 Central Court with more than 1,200 books by Singapore writers, and about 80 per cent of them can be bought with SG Culture Pass credits. If your SG Culture Pass credits are still unspent, this week at HarbourFront is a good place to use them.
A Week of Local Books
The fair is a joint initiative by the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Singapore Book Publishers Association (SBPA). The organisers call it Singapore’s largest book fair for Sing Lit, short for Singapore literature. That covers homegrown writing in all four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil.
More than 40 homegrown publishers are taking part. A reader who only knows Sing Lit from secondary school set texts could spend a whole evening finding out how far it has spread beyond them.
Melvin Choo, President of the SBPA, frames the scale as the point. “It is the first time Singapore’s publishing community has come together at this scale, bringing the breadth of our homegrown stories and publishers into one place,” he says.
Your Culture Pass Finally Has a Job
The SG Culture Pass is a government scheme that gave S$100 in credits to Singapore citizens who were aged 18 or above in 2025.
In March 2026, eligible Sing Lit titles became something you could buy with those credits. According to the SBPA, members it surveyed reported that Sing Lit sales have risen by more than 300 per cent since then.
That makes the 80 per cent figure at Singapore Book Street the useful one. Most of what you pick up should qualify. The credits only apply to eligible titles, though, so it helps to check before you head to the counter with a tall stack.
The Perks Worth Planning Around
Two spending thresholds unlock extras, according to the organisers:
- S$50 minimum purchase: a live insta-poem by a homegrown poet or an insta-sketch by a local book illustrator, made on the spot
- S$100 minimum purchase: a Singapore Book Street bundle with a tote bag, notebook, and stickers
The insta-poem is our pick. A tote bag looks like every other tote bag on the MRT, but a poem written for you by a local poet belongs to nobody else, and it costs you a S$50 haul of books you were going to buy anyway.
The stamp rally sends you around the fair’s zones and participating publishers. Its two stamps were designed by Linda Yew and PK Cheng, the Illustrator of the Year 2026 winners, so the stamp card itself is a small piece of original local art. That’s a good reason to finish the rally rather than stopping halfway!
30 Programmes, Three to Circle
Across the week there are more than 30 literary and interactive programmes, including exclusive book launches and drop-in activities.
Three are worth planning your visit around. The evening spoken word performances by local poets suit anyone coming after work, since the fair stays open until 10pm. The author and illustrator meet-and-greets are your chance to put a face to a name on a spine. Parents should look at the interactive storytelling sessions for children and families.
More details about the fair can be found on the Singapore Book Street website.
Go Past the Usual Shelves
The publisher list is where this fair earns the trip. The big English-language names are there, including Epigram Books, Ethos Books, Marshall Cavendish, and Penguin Random House SEA. The stalls worth seeking out are the ones you rarely meet in a mall bookshop.
Crimson Earth publishes general titles in Tamil, while Ungu Pen publishes in Malay and Helang Books works across English and Malay. Chinese readers have City Book Room, Lingzi Media, Eastern Wood, and Maha Yu Yi to browse. For children’s books in Malay, look for Alam Cahaya, Pustaka Nasional, and Little People Big Words.
There is serious non-fiction too, from NUS Press, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, and National Gallery Singapore. If you have ever wanted to read about Singapore history or art from the people who research it, those tables are a quieter corner of the fair.
A Book Fair Returns to HarbourFront
The location has history. According to the organisers, the HarbourFront area hosted the Singapore Festival of Books and Book Fair in the 1970s and 1980s. It was held at the former World Trade Centre, now HarbourFront Centre.
Singapore Book Street is a new event at a different building. It brings a large book fair back to the neighbourhood, and this time every book on sale was published here. For a generation that discovers books mostly through feeds and algorithms, a week of browsing local shelves in person is a different kind of discovery.
🗓️ Date: Monday, 2 November to Sunday, 8 November 2026
⏰ Time: 4pm to 10pm on 2 November; 10am to 10pm from 3 to 8 November (according to the organisers)
📍 Location: VivoCity, Level 1 Central Court, 1 HarbourFront Walk, Singapore 098585
🎁 Perks: Live insta-poetry or insta-sketch with a minimum S$50 purchase; tote bag, notebook, and stickers bundle with a minimum S$100 purchase
🔗 Details: singaporebookstreet.sg
Singapore Book Street runs for one week only, so pick an evening, bring your SG Culture Pass credits, and leave room in your bag. Check the programme and publisher list on the Singapore Book Street website before you go, then head to HarbourFront and bring home a story written by someone from home!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of Singapore Book Publishers Association.
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