In February 2014 Francesca took part in WrICE: the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange in Penang, Malaysia and in Singapore. This project was supported generously by Copyright Agency. WrICE is a program of reciprocal cultural exchange and cultural immersion focused on writers and writing.

Chinese New Year, fireworks

Penang

Penang hawker food

Ren i Tang Hotel that was once a Chinese Medical Hall (reputedly the first of its kind in southeast Asia)

The writing workshop

WrICE events at The Arts House Singapore

WrICE writing room in the Ren i Tang Bistro

Writers Melissa Lucashenko, Maxine Beneba Clarke, David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short

This immersive experience included writers from Australia:

• Melissa Lucashenko,
• Maxine Beneba Clarke,
• Francesca Rendle-Short and
• David Carlin;

and writers from the region:

• Alvin Pang (Singapore),
• Bernice Chauly (Malaysia),
• Eddin Khoo (Malaysia),
• Robin Hemley (Singapore),
• Xu Xi (Hong Kong) and
• Laurel Fantauzzo (Philippines).

It also included three outstanding emerging writers from RMIT:

• Amarlie Foster,
• Jennifer Down, and
• Harriet McKnight.

Read their biographies here and check out Elsewhere for blogs spots and poetry.

Here is the YouTube hookup with the Digital Writers Festival at Books Actually, Singapore: WrICE Postcard from Singapore