Worlds Within
"Worlds Within" at the National Library Building from 5–27 July 2025. Explore a multisensory pop-up where stories come alive through touch, scent, sight, sound, and taste.
Last updated 21 April 2026
🌍 Step Into “Worlds Within” from 5 – 27 July 2025, 10am - 9pm, at the Plaza, National Library Building, where it is transformed into a multisensory journey where stories leap off the page and come alive. Journey through imagined worlds—and maybe even discover your own.
Use code to get $3.00 OFF your Grab ride to the "National Library Building"! Limited to the first 1,000 redemptions from 5 July onwards within 10am - 8.30pm.
Table of pods
Touch | Experience a “living book” installation, where different textures and materials bring stories to life. Run your fingers across carefully selected fabrics that connect to worlds from Rachel Heng's The Great Reclamation to Cixin Liu's The Wandering Earth. Touch Pod will feature quotes from the following books: The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng Sourdough by Robin Sloan The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu |
Scent | Designed to delight, The Scent Pod showcases interactive cabinets featuring curated scents that complement books like The Night Circus and Land of Milk and Honey, offering a fresh way to discover how scents can shape shapes a story. Scent Pod will feature quotes from the following books: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind Regrettable Things That Happened Yesterday by Jennani Durai Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers |
Sight | Lose yourself in a mesmerising medley of abstract images and videos, paired with meaningful quotes from books like Orbital and Overstory. Sight Pod will feature quotes from the following books: Orbital by Samantha Harvey Overstory by Richard Powers Shantih Shantih Shantih by Daryl Qilin Yam Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk |
Sound | A place for reflection, experience 2-minute excerpts from local stories like Nine Yard Sarees and The Formidable Miss Cassidy. Visitors will be prompted to close their eyes as they immerse in exclusive narrations by the writers themselves in this special homage to Singapore Literature. Sound Pod will feature quotes from the following books: Nine Yards Saree: a Short Story Cycle by Prasanthi Ram The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey Neverness by Fairoz Ahmad Catskull by Myle Yan Tay Impractical Uses of Cake by Yeoh Jo-Ann “The Fried Chicken” by Jennifer Anne Champion, from Food Republic: A Singapore Literary Banquet |
Taste | Discover dishes and ingredients featured in works like The Kamogawa Food Detectives and The Way of Kueh, in a special market setting at the Taste Pod. On Saturdays, receive typewritten food poetry by our poet! Taste Pod will feature quotes from the following books: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai Food Republic: A Singapore Literary Banquet, edited by Daryl Lim, Ann Ang, Tse Hao Guang Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner The Way of Kueh by Christopher Tan |
That’s not all! On weekends, you can also:
🛍️ Browse and shop curated reads from our partner bookstore Closetful of Books (10am – 9pm)
🛒 Support local makers at our Weekend Market (Sat: 12pm – 7pm | Sun: 12pm – 5pm)
📖 Read for a cause with Read for Books
🎉 Enjoy bite-sized activities and pop-up programmes.
Live typewritten poetry inspired by food by Ashley Muñoz | The Noble Colon at the Taste Pod, every Saturday from 1pm – 5pm
Programme Schedule
Table of activities
Time/Venue | Partner | Programme | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
12 Jul, Sat, 7pm - 8pm L1 Lobby | Grace Under Fire invites you to join us as we bring to life a story based on your memories and dreams. Our improvisers will craft an original two-chapter story inspired by your library memories, your favourite reading positions and inspiration from classic novels. Watch as familiar reading rituals and timeless tales collide in unexpected ways, creating a vibrant celebration of how stories live and breathe in our daily lives. Join us for an evening where improvisation meets inspiration, and every story position becomes a doorway to adventure. | ||
20 Jul, Sun, 2pm - 4pm Plaza Stage | What makes a birthday cake? What makes us, us? Join SayurStory at its pop-up birthday cake studio to explore diverse forms of cake and their origins in Southeast Asia. Through lokal ingredients from around the neighbourhood, journey through smell and taste to rediscover our relationships with the islands/heritage we were born into – stories of us we continue to shape and grow with community. | ||
26 Jul, Sat, 3pm - 4.30pm L1 Lobby | Join online bookstore Wormhole for two trivia rounds — one in the day, one at night! Pop culture vultures, prove your love for storytelling and media — we're talking books, film, TV — at Quiz Day. Then come evening, let the hardcore book nerds come out to play at Quiz Night, the ultimate test of your literary knowledge! Please sign up in groups of 2-4 for Quiz Night. | ||
26 Jul, Sat, 7pm - 8.30pm Visitor Briefing Room (VBR) |
✨ Whether you’re a story-seeker, market explorer, or just looking for a weekend escape—there’s something waiting for you at Worlds Within.