Events

Jointly organized by Asia Research Institute, and Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore.

PROGRAMME

ABSTRACT

The literary scene in Singapore is unrecognisable in comparison to the early 1990s. The publication of new novels, poetry, and short stories has grown rapidly, aided by social media, new publishing initiatives, and non-profit organisations who organise performances and discussions with writers. Translation between languages has grown, as has the variety of work in theatre, and there are signs that Literature as an academic subject is undergoing a modest revival in schools. At the same time, older concerns have re-emerged: conflicts between state funding and artistic autonomy, the lack of diversity of audiences and readers in a society marked by growing inequality, the fragmentation of a reading public, censorship, and the place of the literary with relation to the social. In this forum, academics and practitioners who have worked on Singapore Literature over the years will give personal insights into the literary scene in Singapore, exploring its present state and prospects for the future.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Alvin Tan is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage and a leading proponent of devising theatre in Singapore, having directed more than 70 plays which have been staged locally and at international festivals. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and in 1998, was conferred the Young Artist Award for theatre. In 2010, Alvin was conferred the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, in recognition of his significant contribution to the arts. The following year, he was awarded Best Director at 2011 The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards for Model Citizens by The Necessary Stage. Alvin was previously invited by the Ministry of Education to design a drama syllabus at ‘O’ level for implementation in schools. In 2014, Alvin was conferred the Cultural Medallion for his artistic excellence and contribution to Singapore’s arts and cultural landscape. He was also the Artistic Director of Peer Pleasure, an annual youth-oriented theatre festival by ArtsWok.

Lai Chee Kien is Adjunct Associate Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (Architecture and Sustainable Design pillar), and also a registered architect in Singapore. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with an M Arch. by research [1996], and a PhD in History of Architecture & Urban Design from the University of California, Berkeley [2005]. His publications include A Brief History of Malayan Art (1999), Building Merdeka: Independence Architecture in Kuala Lumpur, 1957-1966 (2007), Cords to Histories (2013), Through the Lens of Lee Kip Lin (2015) [Best Non-Fiction Title, 2016], and Building Memories: People, Architecture, Independence (2016) [Book of the Year]. He researches on histories of art, architecture, settlements, urbanism and landscapes in Southeast Asia.

Nazry Bahrawi is a faculty member at the Singapore University of Technology and Design specialising in the study of world literature, translation studies as well as Islam and culture between the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He has also translated several Singaporean creative works from Bahasa Melayu into English, including Nadiputra’s play Muzika Lorong Buang Kok (2012) and Mohamed Latiff Mohamed’s collection of short stories, Lost Nostalgia (2017).

Suzanne Choo is Assistant Professor in the English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She completed her MA in English Literature at the National University of Singapore and PhD in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. Her research interests are in Literature education, global and cosmopolitan education, and ethical criticism. Her book, Reading the world, the globe, and the cosmos: Approaches to teaching literature for the twenty-first century, was awarded the 2014 Critics Choice Book Award by the American Educational Studies Association. She is Associate Editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Education.

Philip Holden is Professor of English at the National University of Singapore. He researches in two major areas of literary studies. He has published widely on Singapore and Southeast Asian literatures, is the co-author of The Routledge Concise History of Southeast Asian Writing in English, and one of the editors of Writing Singapore, the most comprehensive historical anthology of Singapore literature in English, as well as author of articles in, among others, the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Interventions, Textual Practice, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, and Ariel. His work in auto/biography studies includes the book Autobiography and Decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity and the Nation-State, and a number of scholarly articles in major scholarly journals such as biography, Life Writing, a/b: Auto/biography Studies, and Postcolonial Studies. Outside the university, he has served as the Vice President of Singapore Heritage Society, been active as a newspaper columnist and a book reviewer, and also published short stories: his short fiction collection Heaven Has Eyes was published in 2016.

Liew Kai Khiun has been involved in heritage and conservation since 2000 and he is currently an Assistant Professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at the Nanyang Technological University. His research interests includes that of popular culture studies, cultural memories and heritage in the contexts of East and Southeast Asia.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you click on the “Register” button above to RSVP.