Song of a Reformed Headhunter

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Do you play chess? I do, and I used to play it every day during recess in secondary school with a friend who was as keen on it as I was. As I knew from that young age, chess is a sport. It requires intense focus, discipline, and the will to beat your opponent. It is also an art, as I also knew, because it demands creativity, subtlety, and a love of beauty. The sacrifice of a rook to launch a mating sequence. The stark precision of an endgame with just the kings and four pawns. When I stood before the early Russian novels by Vladimir Nabokov in Eslite Bookstore in Kuala Lumpur, where I paid a short visit in August, it was an easy decision to pick up  The Luzhin Defense . I knew the Russian writer loved chess almost as much as butterflies. I wanted to know how he would deal with the game in a work of fiction. From his third novel written in Russian, translated by Michael Scammell, I learned that chess is...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here .  Congratulations to  Rahad Abir  for winning the Georgia Author of the Year Award for literary fiction! We're so proud of you! Past winners include Malcolm Tariq, Ruby Lal, and Natasha Trethewey. The award citation reads: " Bengal Hound  is authentic and complex, and the storytelling skills on display here are impressive. At times the narrative becomes tight and abrupt, a mirror of what is happening with the protagonist. Overall, this is a vividly imagined, smartly edited novel. " At its very core a story of love and loss,  Bengal Hound  traces the turbulent years of East Pakistan that led to a mass revolution, eventually culminating in the creation of Bangladesh. Rahad Abir conjures up characters haunted by memory and trauma in a society reeling from the pains of the Partition of British India. A powerful exploration of the dynamics of nationalism, family, religion, and gender relat...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here .   Gaudy Boy is proud to publish this astonishing story collection  The Way You Want To Be Loved , by Aruni Kashyap. It is praised by Amitav Ghosh as "poignant, finely crafted." We think you will love it as much as we do. At a New Delhi conference, an Assamese writer is interrogated on why he writes about magical folktales instead of the insurgencies. A mother splashes around in the village lake to mask the lovemaking sounds of her son with another man. A newly-arrived graduate student in Minnesota navigates living arrangements with his white roommate, Mike, and Mike’s Indian girlfriend.  In agile and frank prose,  The Way You Want to Be Loved  tells the stories of queer, displaced lives from India’s Northeast, an underrepresented region in English fiction. A hybrid cast of characters represents the common people in these thirteen stories, whether western-trained academic or village s...

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Guest editorial column by Burmese poet and activist Ko Ko Thett. The following poem responds to the  announcement  by Myanmar's military junta on June 3, 2022, that "it would execute four people whose appeals were rejected following grossly unjust closed-door trials." Among the four are activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as “Ko Jimmy,” and opposition lawmaker Phyo Zeya. They were sentenced to death on January 21 under Myanmar’s overbroad Counterterrorism Law of 2014. On the Ropes By Ko Ko Thett In all manners of capital punishment  hanging is  the most hideous. To ancient Greeks the rope takes away more than life.  It takes away decency even in death.  Had the Romans hanged Jesus —instead of nailing him on a crucifix— the Christian church wouldn’t  have had much impact. Would you hang around  your neck an icon of a broken-neck Jesus,  hanging by...

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . The drug-pushers have reappeared at certain street corners of Harlem, the neighbors have complained, and the cops flex their presence with mobile posts. But the policing is lackadaisical because the cops know it's a cat-and-mouse game. More, they know there is an international network of producers, suppliers, and middlemen behind the street-corner pushers, and it is the network that must be dismantled, and not the pushers, who are often addicts and victims themselves.  Some problems appear so vast and complicated that we content ourselves by tackling their most immediate manifestations, instead of aiming at their sources. Our "solutions" fall hard on the little people, and not the powers-that-be. Worse, the problem is then blamed on the little people, thus obscuring the source of the problem and the lack of effective action on the part of the authorities. This is true of Harlem, but also of Singap...

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . We are living in a new Age of Authoritarianism, and it is incumbent on all of us to fight its oppressive spirit wherever we find it, even when it is within us. Technology has created new tools for state surveillance, mass disinformation, and capitalist exploitation, but it has also given us new means to highlight injustice, organize resistance, and express solidarity. The Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar does not concern just the Burmese, but all of us. One year after the military coup against a democratically elected government, if we permit the Burmese dictatorship to legitimize itself, we reinforce the powers of totalitarianism and weaken the forces of liberty everywhere. We need to heed the voices of resistance in this vital anthology,  Picking Off New Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring: Witness poems and essays from Burma/Myanmar 1998 – 2021 . The voices are many and various, but they all say,...

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here .   We are very excited to announce the results of Singapore Unbound’s 1st Flash Fiction Contest. Held in conjunction with our Gaudy Boy launch of Victor Fernando R. Ocampo’s The Infinite Library and Other Stories in the US, the contest had the title of this thrilling collection of speculative fiction for its theme. Every entry must be between 90-100 words. Open to everyone, the contest was judged by the novelist Monique Truong. Winners received a cash prize, publication, and a copy of The Infinite Library if they lived in the US. We received a total of 221 entries. They came from 22 countries around the world. Singapore leads with 76 entries, followed by the US 48, the Philippines 19, India 17, Canada 9, Indonesia 9, Malaysia 5, the UK 4, Argentina 3, Australia 2, Austria 2, Belgium 2, Nigeria 2, Pakistan 2, Brazil 1, Denmark 1, Finland 1, Israel 1, Italy 1, Kenya 1, South Africa 1, and Sri Lanka 1. Bec...

  Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . On Tuesday, we announced the first annual Singapore Unbound Awards for the Best Undergraduate Critical Essays on Singapore and Other Literatures. The awards aim to encourage the teaching and study of Singapore literature at college level and the cultivation of general appreciation for the character and achievements of Singapore literature. Three awards of USD250.00 each are given to written works of literary criticism that illuminate their chosen topics for the general reader. Essay topics may include studies of a single author or a single work. The topics may also be of a comparative nature, that is, the essays may compare an author/work with another author/work. The second author/work may be non-Singaporean. Because of the ...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Dale Peck, the author of Hatchet Jobs , strikes again. And again. At the gay Republican journo and pundit Andrew Sullivan, whose self-hating screeds supporting the traditional family, compassionate conservatism, and other such mythical beasts deserve buckets of vitriol but receives at Peck's hand the scalpel of savage, and very funny, wit. Here's how the review of Sullivan's Out on a Limb: Selected Writing 1989–2021 (Simon & Schuster) begins: "Andrew Sullivan first showed up on my radar in 1991, an innocuous blip that gave no indication of the full-frontal assault about to be launched on the American left. I was working for OutWeek at the time, and I’d been tasked with proofing an interview between a seraphically beautiful young journalist named Maer Roshan and the recently appointed editor in chief of The New Republic (who, if I’m being completely honest, wasn’t so bad-looking...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . We are very pleased to announce the results of the 7th Singapore Poetry Contest. In conjunction with our Gaudy Boy launch of Monique Truong’s delicious novel The Sweetest Fruits now out in Singapore and Malaysia , this year’s contest had the novel’s title for its theme. Open to everyone, the contest was judged by Singapore Literature Prize winner, Marylyn Tan. Winners receive a cash prize, publication, and a signed copy of The Sweetest Fruits if they live in Singapore and Malaysia. We received a total of 157 poems. The entries came from 14 countries around the world. Singapore leads with 71 entries, followed by Nigeria 16, the US 16, the Philippines 15, India 10, the UK 9, South Korea 4, the UAE 4, Canada 3, Malaysia 3, the Netherlands 2, Spain 1, Switzerland 1, Taiwan 1, and 1 with no address. Because of the high quality of the entries, our judge decided to award two Honorable Mentions for exempla...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Until I moved to the US, I had not thought of myself as Asian. I had thought of myself as Singaporean in nationality, Chinese in race, and Hainanese in ethnicity, but not Asian in any way. At a diversity training session at my private school on the Upper East Side, I gave Chinese for my race, but was told that, no, I was Asian. To be Asian will forever include an element of imposition, a compound of artificiality. But don't all identities—national, racial, or gender, or what have you—include the same element and compound? I had no say in being born in Singapore. My instincts have always led me to do the best with what I have been given. In school I have bonded with my students, Asian and otherwise, over reading Asian authors, though not exclusively. One of my most memorable classes resulted from our study of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's...

  Last night's event "It's white supremacy, not sex addiction, stupid!" was informative and inspiring. As we remembered the eight victims of the March massacre in and around Atlanta, six of whom were Asian women, the readers also reminded us, in eloquent prose and poetry, of the long history of racism, sexism, and imperialism in the US. Thank you, Jerrine Tan, Paula Mendoza, Celina Su, Devi S. Laskar, and Pauline Park, for speaking to and with us. A big thanks too to our co-organizer, the Evergreen Review. Singapore Unbound is donating all revenue from the sale of Gaudy Boy books from March to May to MinKwon Center for Community Action, a non-profit based in Flushing, Queens, which advocates for low-income tenants, turns out the vote, and provides social services in Korean and Chinese. Please check out our books: https://singaporeunbound.org/gaudyboy To read new work by Celina Su and Devi S. Laskar, go to: https://evergreenreview.com/

  This week, we mourn yet another hate crime, this time against Atlanta’s Asian women massage workers. We are reminded of the prevalence of anti-Asian hate, especially at the intersections of immigration status and class; the hypersexualization and fetishization of Asian women; and the anti-sex-work ideology both within and outside of the US. We recognize that we still live in a society built on white supremacy and patriarchy. And we also remember why we continue to do this work—our love for  us . In the face of violence and erasure, we are more committed than ever to telling our stories. Gaudy Boy will be donating all sales proceeds from March through May to Minkwon Center for Community Action. You can find all our titles on our  website . Based in Flushing, Queens, Minkwon Center for Community Action meets the needs of low-income Asian immigrant communities through advocacy and community organizing, increasing civic ...

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Thanks to you, last summer we raised USD500 from the sale of Gaudy Boy books for the Black Lives Matter movement and donated it to VOCAL-NY , a statewide grassroots membership organization that builds power among low-income people directly impacted by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness. VOCAL-NY Action Fund has just announced the first round of its 2021 NYC Council endorsements. If you live in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, check out these progressive candidates: Lincoln Restler (District 33), Sandy Nurse (District 37), and Tiffany Cabán (District 22). The Singapore government has again made itself a laughing stock around the world for charging labor and democracy activist Jolovan Wham for illegal assembly. What danger did Wham pose to public order? Why, your Honor, he held up a picture of a smiley face . To show solidarity with Wham, online citizens are posting...

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Thank you for buying books from our imprint Gaudy Boy in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Gaudy Boy donated our sales proceeds from June through August to Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY). Together we raised $500, including two outright donations. Led by Black and brown people, VOCAL-NY is a statewide grassroots membership organization that builds power among low-income people directly impacted by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness. The organization has active chapters in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, and Westchester County. We're pleased to support its community organizing, leadership development, advocacy, direct services, and direct action. Do check out VOCAL-NY's tremendous work for disadvantaged communities. I don't do this often but I will toot my own horn. My first hybrid work of fiction Snow at 5 PM:...

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here . Singapore Unbound is holding our 4th Singapore Literature Festival from October 1-3, 2020. To be held online for the first time, this independent, biennial festival brings together Singaporean and American authors and audiences for lively conversations about literature and society. All events are free and open to everyone. The theme of this year's festival is "The Politics of Hope." Singapore Unbound wishes to respond to this fraught moment not only in Singapore and the USA but also around the world. Everywhere, democracy, human rights, and social justice are facing existential threats, and we want to provide writers and thinkers a platform to speak to the current global turmoil.   Check out the full festival program . RSVP early for the Zoom link and extras (excerpts, interviews, updates).   Festival highlights   Timely, Pertinent Topics The festival is bo...

Singapore Unbound's Public Statement on PAP's Attack on Alfian Sa'at. Sign up for weekly newsletter here . Singapore Unbound strongly condemns the attack by Singapore's ruling party, the People's Action Party (PAP), on Singaporean author Alfian Sa'at. In a letter published on the PAP website, Member of Parliament Dr. Tan Wu Meng cherry-picks Alfian's Facebook posts and misreads his words to depict the author falsely as unpatriotic. Most pernicious is Dr. Tan's statement: "This man grew up in Singapore. Singapore gave him his education and he earns a living here. An education and a living that is denied to many minorities in the region." The suggestion that minorities should be especially grateful to Singapore teeters on racism, if it does not tip right over. Gratitude is neither here nor there. As a commentator has it, Singaporeans do not live in a feudal state, but in a modern democracy, in which citizens hold certain obligation to the stat...

Weekly column for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here .  Welcome, our new friends who subscribed to this mailing list at the Association of Writing Programs conference in San Antonio. Gaudy Boy had a great outing, and we trust that you did too. Please take a little time to explore in this weekly newsletter Singapore Unbound/Gaudy Boy's many features and ventures. We're so pleased to announce that Lawrence Lacambra Ypil's The Experiment of the Tropics has just been named a Lambda Finalist. The Lammys, as the awards are known colloquially, recognize the best LGBTQ books published in the previous year. Past winners include Alison Bechdel, Michael Cunningham, Roxane Gay, and Audre Lorde, among others. The icing on the cake is that this year's finalists were announced in Oprah's The O Magazine . In addition to the Lammy nomination, Larry's book of poems has also been longlisted for The Believer Book Awards, the results of which will be announced in ...