Short Stories by Soon Ai Ling, Translated from the Chinese by Yeo Wei Wei Traditional Chinese cuisine, jade, batik, embroidery, and horticulture. In Soon Ai Ling’s fiction, newly translated into English by Yeo Wei Wei, the lives of twentieth-century Chinese diaspora unravel in the midst of emblems and environments resplendent with cultural influences from East and Southeast Asia. Life is…
Short Stories by Soon Ai Ling, Adapted and Transcreated from the Chinese by Yeo Wei Wei The past gets in the way of present and future possibilities, yet without it, what hope is there for self-knowing and wisdom? These questions are explored in Yeo Wei Wei’s transcreation and adaptation of Soon Ai Ling’s stories. Characters are caught up in private…
Short Stories by Liang Wern Fook, Translated from the Chinese by Christina Ng Confucius sits in his chair. A mute uncle utters his first word in decades. A talking potato is sworn to confidentiality. These are stories written with Liang Wern Fook’s left hand. All authors write with this hand, coaxing out left-handed stories from a right-handed reality. Liang has…
by Yeng Pway Ngon In the 1910s, thirteen-year-old Leong Ping Hung comes to Singapore from China to seek his fortune. Decades later, he is a lonely old man mourning his shattered dreams. His granddaughter Yu Sau struggles to take care of him while trying to make sense of her own life in a rapidly changing country. He speaks Cantonese, and…
by Chia Joo Ming Hok Leong only knows one thing about his future: he does not want to become an office boy buying coffee for his superiors. Beyond this, he wants only to roam the streets of Singapore with his rough and tumble gang of boys—that is, until he is assigned to be the Chinese tutor for the new…
by A.K. Kulshreshth In World War II Singapore (1942-1945), many people went through unimaginable suffering. Siew Chin was forced to become a “comfort woman” in a Japanese military brothel. Her husband Tiong was taken away to be massacred. Ah Ding collaborated with the Japanese occupiers. And yet, as is always the case with the moral complexities of war, Ah Ding…
Witness poems and Essays from Burma/Myanmar (1988-2021) edited by Ko Ko Thett and Brian Haman Fallen innocents on blood-stained streets. The defiant banging of pots and pans echoing in the darkness. The birth of a springtime revolution amidst the interrupted lives of a country and its people. On the morning of 1 February 2021, a coup d’état was initiated by…
edited by Sim Wai Chew and Yow Cheun Hoe Singapore Comparative Literature Compendium presents an array of essential readings from the local canon. A compelling argument for the comparative study of Singapore’s multilingual literature, the compendium aims to encourage inter-ethnic, inter-lingual, and inter-cultural transfer through the study of cultural expression across language and cultural divides within Singapore’s literary scene. Apart…
by Yeng Pway Ngon When the fervour of revolution is gone, what remains? Four leftist teenagers in 1950s Malaya dedicate themselves to overthrowing colonialism and bringing about a better world. With time, their paths diverge — into capitalism, into adultery, into the dark heart of the Cultural Revolution. Disillusioned and middle-aged, they look back at their lives from the…
by Yeng Pway Ngon Singapore, late 1980s. As women gain power and independence, what's an insecure guy to do? Lonely Face is the story of a man on the cusp of middle age, left behind by changing times. Fleeing his crumbling marriage on an overnight bus to Genting Highlands, he tries his luck at slot machines rather than the vagaries…
by Steven Sy As a second invasion by the Empire threatens the nomads of the Great Steppe, a new generation of leaders must mend the broken alliances of their fathers or face certain destruction. Vacant Steppes is a Mongolia-inspired epic fantasy novel about inheritance, family, and leadership in times of division and war. “A gripping tale of war, legacy and…
by Anupa Roy A climate crisis in the Ice Age. A cold snap leads to an unrelenting glacial. For our prehistoric ancestors survival is threatened. Food gets harder to find in the frigid lands of Central Asia. Yet the tribes living near the Altai Mountains have found a refuge. A river and a lake allows some plants and trees…
