Even as Unwrap steps into the new decade, our goal and vision of celebrating the creative arts in the written form remains unchanged — as does the role of us writers.

​

Every writer of today has a duty to the reader of tomorrow. No matter expository or narrative, for our stashed-away personal collections or with a message to proclaim to the world, all writing has its purpose — sometimes it captures the here and now, sometimes it captures the there and then, sometimes it captures the future and all its gleaming possibilities. But most importantly, it captures the little pieces of ourselves that we see fit to put on paper (or a screen), in the mind of someone from the future — even if we ourselves are that someone. 

​

In this writing lies the beauties of the creative arts — literary, performative, visual, and beyond — and the bounty of sublime wisdom they have to offer, because in language dwells the power to make someone think what we have once thought. 

​

But perhaps it is time to remind ourselves that us readers have roles to play, too. It is our responsibility not just to consume and regurgitate to impress, but rather to process and think for ourselves and others — even if not all writing is as palatable, as nutritious. To write is to release, but to read is to complete the cycle of communication. Do we not then have the duty to pass discerningly on this torch of knowledge from person to person, generation to generation? We empower our writers when we communicate to others the good they have first given us. Why deprive others of the awe and reverie we ourselves first experienced, and writers of their due credit? Unwrap is fortunate to be intimately connected with this process, even as we give our writers a chance to think out loud and our readers a platform to think with them.

​

As we at Unwrap fondly mark the release of our second edition, we hope that our writers will continue to inspire you — to read on, to ponder much, and even perhaps to pen your own thoughts in the light of the grand gifts the creative arts have given us.

​

Jeriel Chua, 

Chief Editor of Unwrap,

Creatively housed at Anglo-Chinese Junior College

For West-Zone Centre of Language Arts (Singapore)

​

​

​