Song of a Reformed Headhunter

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . For SP Blog’s 7th Annual Books Round-up , 41 Singaporean writers, artists, and thinkers, living in Singapore and abroad, give their favorite read of the year. What is striking in this year’s recommendations is the variety of presses publishing Singaporean works. One of these presses is the new indie comics publisher Difference Engine , which released the recommended SOUND: A Comics Anthology . We may well be seeing a publishing renaissance in Singapore that overcomes the challenges of pandemic publishing. Big thanks to all our contributors who wrote so passionately about their recommendations. We hope you enjoy reading all the contributions as much as we’ve enjoyed compiling them. Please support independent publishers and booksellers by ordering from them directly. Join us for holiday festivities at Second Saturdays on Saturday, December 12, 7.30 pm ET. Our featured author, multiple award-winning c...

Weekly column for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not only has international travel been restricted, but book events have been canceled, theatrical productions closed, and filmmaking halted. We do not know for sure how long this situation will last. After reviewing the situation, Singapore Unbound has decided to postpone this year’s writing fellowships to Southeast Asia and to commit the funds instead to aid Singaporean writers badly affected by the shutdowns. We understand that this news may be disappointing to fellowship applicants, and we apologize for their disappointment. We would like to seek their kind understanding in light of the extraordinary circumstances. Singapore Unbound fellowships to Southeast Asia will return in 2021. By postponing the fellowships, we are able to create a starting fund of USD2,000, to be called Singapore Unbound Relief Fund (SURF). Creative writers, whether they are Singapore citizens living anywhere i...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Congratulations to Chris Huntington on receiving Honorable Mention for his lovely poem "Lorca (6)" in the 2019 Hawker Prize for Southeast Asian Poetry, awarded by Sing Lit Station! Chris's poem was first published in SP Blog as third-prize co-winner in the 4th Singapore Poetry Contest. Read "Lorca (6)" and the other winners of the Hawker Prize here . As the editor of SP Blog, I was interviewed by Sing Lit Station on Chris's poem, Singapore, and the work of Singapore Unbound. Asked about my judge's comment on "Lorca (6)" about the "essential loneliness" that pertains to Singapore, I had the chance to expand on the thought: "I've always thought that a writer's first reader is himself. He writes to himself to hear himself speak, to assuage his loneliness, to fill the blank air with sound. Singapore cannot assuage this existential lonelin...