W.O.W Classics: Goh Tze Yi on Heng Siok Tian
In this video, part of the W.O.W (Women on Women) Classics project, Goh Tze Yi shares more about “Crossing the Chopsticks and Other Poems” (1993), a book of poetry by second-generation Singaporean English poet Heng Siok Tian. Tze Yi was…
Quiz: Which Singaporean writer are you?
For every Singaporean who loves stories and words—whether you lovingly document your everyday experiences on Facebook, pen epic poems during your lunch breaks, or are a writer working on that great Singapore novel— there comes a time where you ask…
W.O.W Classics: Vanessa Chan on Wong May
In this video, part of the W.O.W (Women on Women) Classics project, Vanessa Chan shares more about “A Bad Girl’s Book of Animals” (1969), a book of poetry by Wong May. Vanessa was mentored by award-winning writer Elaine Chiew. W.O.W…
Cakap-Cakap: Interview with Daryl Lim for Local Flavours
In this month’s Cakap-Cakap (chit-chat), ArtsEquator speaks with poet and critic, Daryl Lim Wei Jie, who curated the poems featured in Local Flavours, an interactive site based on the concept of food delivery mobile apps. Produced by digital storytelling studio, Tusitala,…
Artistic intervention: An orange truck lands in… Yishun?
By Crispin Rodrigues As a resident of Yishun, I do not usually expect any sort of art exhibition to come to my town. As a town notorious for cat killing and the occasional murder, you wouldn’t expect any cultural experience…
So Lit: The Bottled City of mini objects travelling through Singapore
From now till 25 April, a truck carrying precious cargo will travel around Singapore, hoping to enchant you with its treasures and stories. Titled The Bottled City, this orange-hued truck contains art and design works curated and created in response…
Aliwal Tracks: Mr Gelam and the potential of virtual worldbuilding
Walk around Kampong Gelam today and it’s easy to forget how much of a rich historical site it used to be. Historical markers abound, and yet, grab any young person hanging out in its many hip dining establishments and they…
Tender reading: A review of Loss Adjustment by Linda Collins
By Grace Foo (650 words, 3-minute read) Not many people can endure the traumatic experience of losing a child to suicide, let alone be of sound mind to write about it in a painfully self-aware manner. In Loss Adjustment, Linda…
Reading in isolation: Tiffany Tsao’s The Majesties
By Kathy Rowland (760 words, 4-minute read) This review may contain spoilers. Tiffany Tsao’s The Majesties begins with a horrific mass murder. Three hundred guests at the 80th birthday of Irwan Sulinado are poisoned, deadly fungi slipped into the shark’s…
Let’s get digital: 12 online efforts by Southeast Asian artists and creatives
1. Sharul Channa’s Am I Old? Virtual Edition What: A comedy monologue by Singaporean comedian Sharul Channa, Am I Old? will introduce you to 68-year-old retired teacher, Savitri. Listen to her hilarious stories of love, life and ageing. This…
Reading in isolation: ‘Others’ is Not a Race and Interpreter of Winds
By Kathy Rowland (913 words, 4-minute read) Last November, when there was nary a thought for social distancing, and Corona conjured up visions of lime wedges and grimy bars, I reread Rex Shelley’s 1991 debut novel, The Shrimp People. Shelley…
Creature comforts: “Creatures of Near Kingdoms”
By Kathy Rowland (650 words, 4-minute read) Zedeck Siew’s Creatures of Near Kingdoms is fashioned as a bestiary, detailing the appearance, characteristics, and habitats of 50 animals and 25 plants. Why “near”? Because like the auto-combusting Ash Swallowtail and the…
World Poetry Day: Verse vs. Virus
by ArtsEquator (1,520 words, 5-minute read) It’s World Poetry Day on 21 March. Is there still a place for poetry in the unfamiliar world we find ourselves in? COVID-19 could remake the world in a few short weeks. There is…
A house is not a home: Centre 42 and Arts Resource Hub
By Nabilah Said and Kathy Rowland The fate of a certain house is a matter of contention amongst a group of people in Singapore. In this case, the house – a bright blue, pre-war bungalow located on 42 Waterloo Street…
Pico Iyer and Raffles Hotel, or the Nowhere Hotel
Celebrated writer Pico Iyer spent fifteen days in Singapore last August doing a residency at the newly reopened Raffles Hotel as its first official writer-in-residence. His new book, titled This Could Be Home: Raffles Hotel and the City of Tomorrow, published…
The architecture of patriarchy: The Professor by Faisal Tehrani
By Lily Jamaludin (1,650 words, 7-minute read) Trigger warning: Descriptions of sexual assault. This review contains spoilers for The Professor. I began Faisal Tehrani’s new novel, The Professor, with the hope that he might provide some new images for Malaysian…
5 Singapore poems not to quote out of context
By Nabilah Said (2,500 words, 7-minute read) In 1968, Lee Kuan Yew uttered the words “Poetry is a luxury we cannot afford” to a roomful of University of Singapore students. There have been some quibbling over, even mythologising of, what…
Masalah Sastera Di Malaysia Baharu
Oleh Faisal Tehrani (1, 175 patah kata, 9-minit bacaan) Click here to read this article in English. Klik di sini untuk baca rencana ini dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Saya harus berjujur, kita ada masalah dengan sastera kita, dan saya jujur sahaja; saya tidak tahu apakah…
The Problem with Literature in New Malaysia
By Faisal Tehrani (1, 350 words, 7-minute read) Click here to read this article in Bahasa Melayu. Klik di sini untuk baca rencana ini dalam Bahasa Melayu. I have to be honest: we have a problem with our literature, and frankly, I…
Art That Moves: Marc Nair
Art that Moves is an occasional series where we ask artists and other creative workers to reflect on artworks, performances or events that were personally important to them. Marc Nair, poet and photographer, is producer of Note for Note: #Skintones, an…
SIFA 2018: “OCD Love”‘s Dancing in the Face of Love
By Kathy Rowland (400 words, 3 minute read) “I asked her out six times in thirty seconds.” In 2013, a Youtube video by slam poet Neil Hilborn went viral. In the clip, Hilborn delivers an impassioned performance of OCD, a…
“Out of Print”: classic Singaporean texts get a contemporary makeover
By Corrie Tan (1,300 words, eight-minute read) We’ve all met the gaze of this pair of narrow, red-pupilled eyes – whether with a torchlight under the bedcovers, or in school, snuck into class beneath a desk. The predatory stare on…
ArtsEquator’s Picks: TEXTURES, A Weekend with Words
By Akanksha Raja Presented by The Arts House and co-commissioned by #BuySingLit, Textures – A Weekend With Words is an inaugural literary festival taking place from 9 – 11 March, chockablock with performances, workshops, book-themed exhibitions, and over 30 panel discussions,…
Faisal Tehrani: From Poster Boy to Pariah
Since he broke into the literary scene in his teens, Malaysian writer and academic, Dr Faizal Musa, better know by his pen name, Faisal Tehrani, has written several best selling and critically acclaimed novels and short stories. His articles on…
Same same but different: ASEAN 50 at the Singapore Writers Festival 2017
By Akanksha Raja (840 words, 8-minute read) “Language is born from imagination, and imagination is what makes language real. Without language, we have no memory: therefore, literacy (the mastery of language) is important. Our sense of language is the most…
Ownself Check: SWF 2016 Lecture, Unwritten Country
By Pavithra Raja (831 words, 5-minute read) On November 5th, acclaimed literary figures Gwee Li Sui and Boey Kim Cheng both spoke on the topic, Unwritten Country, as part of the Singapore Writers’ Festival Lecture series. The softly lit Chamber…
SWF 2016 Panel: Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction
By Akanksha Raja (608 words, 6-minute read) Speculative fiction (or spec-fic) is an umbrella term for a number of literary genres including science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, magical realism, and horror. It’s the term for all those movies and books…