We Already Have A "Thought Leader"

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Singapore has every reason to be proud of Asymptote, the outstanding journal of literary translation with a monthly global readership of 55,000 for the 1,603 translations published and archived in its ten years of existence. In 2015, Asymptote became the first magazine to receive the London Book Fair Award for International Literary Translation Initiative. The Guardian hosted its high-profile weekly showcases between the period of 2015-2017, winning it and the newspaper even more readers for literary translations. Yet Singapore's National Arts Council has never provided any long-term funding for Asymptote, which is founded and headed by LEE Yew Leong, a Singaporean, and incorporated in Singapore.

It is not for the lack of trying on the part of Asymptote. The journal made two major attempts, in 2016, after the London Book Fair Award, and in 2020, to ask for the kind of funding that would sustain the full-time operation of a world-class journal. On both occasions, the NAC invited Asymptote to apply for funding for specific projects that focused narrowly on Singaporean writers and translators. This response severely undervalues the passion and expertise that goes into literary editing, and the importance of growing a local readership for literary excellence. Singapore ranks fourth in Asymptote's readership, behind only the cities of New York, London, and Chicago. More, this response misunderstands how the literary ecosystem works, the way in which international networks of writers, editors, publishers, and readers are built, and thereby stymies NAC's own professed aim of bringing Singapore literature to the world stage.

From a wider perspective, NAC's funding stance is just mean-spirited. Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world and can well afford to do more for world literature, earning tremendous goodwill in the process. The bureaucrats are writing policy papers and giving Powerpoint presentations on faddish concepts such as cultural diplomacy and thought leadership, but they fail to grasp truly what these concepts could be. They fail, I would argue, because they're creatures of Singapore's instrumentalist and self-interested culture. Even the US, with all its biases and blindspots, funds the US-based translation journal Words Without Borders without imposing any restrictions on its content.

Asymptote has decided to take a stand against NAC's blinkered approach. As its Editor-in-Chief LEE Yew Leong wrote in his latest emailer: "we will no longer be considering work by Singaporean authors or translators, due to discriminatory policies by Singapore’s National Arts Council (NAC) that do not serve the wider literary ecosystem. As communicated to Rosa Daniel, CEO of the NAC, we welcome the opportunity to reverse this decision anytime organizational funding (such as that given by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts to Words Without Borders) is made available." Singaporean writers and translators, please consider writing to Rosa Daniel to tell her why the NAC must change its mind.

On a different note, or maybe not so different, Time Out SG just published an interview with me about the launch of our new imprint Gaudy Boy Translates. Read to the end to hear about our plans and how you can get involved. We are also looking for a publicity intern.

Jee Leong Koh
March 4, 2021

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