It’s 2026, and suddenly everyone’s on a collective mission to stop doomscrolling and start touching grass. Theatre nights are back on the calendar, pottery wheels are spinning, and doing things offline is officially cool again. And no, you don’t need deep pockets to cosplay the old-money lifestyle – not when the SG Culture Pass exists. From batik painting workshops to theatre performances and heritage tours, it’s here to fund our main character renaissance.
Now for the plot twist literary lovers will appreciate: from 1st March 2026, you can now use your SG Culture Pass to offset book purchases, too. Specifically, titles under the SingLit genre. Here’s all you need to know:
You can use your SG Culture Pass to visit Singapore’s last kampung.
Image credit: Klook
First, a quick refresher. The SG Culture Pass is a government initiative that gives all Singaporeans aged 18 and above a little nudge – and $100 worth of credits – to explore the local arts and culture scene. It’s basically free money to say yes to more plays, exhibitions, and cultural experiences you’ve been meaning to check out. And there’s no rush either: you’ve got till 31st December 2028 to use up those credits.
You can use your SG Culture Pass to offset ticket prices for a wide range of eligible activities, from musicals, theatre shows, and concerts to museum visits, art exhibitions, cultural workshops, and heritage tours. If you’re wondering how to make the most of it, we’ve broken everything down in our SG Culture Pass guide.
From 1st March 2026, book lovers can now stretch their SG Culture Pass credits even further with SingLit books. Eligible titles include fiction, poetry, plays, and literary short essays written in English, Chinese, Malay, or Tamil, as long as the author was a Singaporean or Permanent Resident at the point of publication.
This is your sign to discover local voices and finally pick up that award-winning book you’ve been meaning to read.
Image adapted from: @jessjustreading, @an.readss via Instagram
Similar to our CDC and SG60 vouchers, you can use your Culture Pass credits at 9 participating bookstores across Singapore. These bookstores include 26 POPULAR outlets islandwide, Books Kinokuniya, and indie bookstores like Book Bar and Wardah Books. You can find the full list of bookstores on the SG Culture Pass website.
Yes, this may very well be a smol propaganda to encourage Singaporeans to read more local literature. And we’re fully on board, especially when SingLit includes heavyweight names like Amanda Lee Koe, Balli Kaur Jaswal, Yeoh Jo-Ann, and Cyril Wong. As Singaporeans, we‘re proud to have authors who have made waves far beyond our shores.
With 9 bookstores for you to claim your credits, let BookTok and Goodreads do their thing and start building that reading list. You have all the reasons to be disgustingly well-read in 2026.
More reads, literally, for bookworms:
Cover image adapted from: @jessjustreading via Instagram
Last updated by Celine Wee on 12th March 2026.
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