Yip Cheong Fun (b. 1903, Hong Kong–d. 16 September 1989, Singapore), or “Old Man Yip”, was one of Singapore’s top pioneer photographers. In his lifetime, he received more than 50 worldwide photography awards. In 1980, he was named by the Photographic Society of ...

Neo Chee Keong (b. 1960, Singapore–), popularly known as Jack Neo, is an actor, emcee and filmmaker. He was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 2005 for his achievements in filmmaking. One of Neo’s early films, Money No Enough (1998), is one of Singapore’s highest ...

Chng Seok Tin (b. 6 October 1946, Singapore–d. 6 September 2019, Singapore) was a multiple award-winning artist whose works have been widely showcased in Singapore and abroad. Between 1977 to 2019, she held over 30 solo and 138 group exhibitions. She pursued her ...

Chua Ek Kay (b. 1947, Guangdong, China–d. 8 February 2008, Singapore) was an artist who is known for bridging Eastern and Western art. He was the first Chinese-ink painter to win the United Overseas Bank Painting of the Year Award in 1991. Chua trained under Singaporean ...

Paul Selvaraj Abisheganaden (b. 27 March 1914, Penang, Straits Settlements–d. 31 August 2011, Singapore) was a musician and conductor, who was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1986. Born in Penang, Abisheganaden came to Singapore in 1916 at the age of two, when ...

Abdul Ghani Abdul Hamid (b. 13 April 1933, Singapore–d. 13 April 2014, Singapore) was an award-winning writer, poet and artist. Writing primarily in Malay, A. Ghani Hamid, as he was commonly known, had hundreds of poems, short stories, essays, newspaper articles ...

Kuo Pao Kun (b. 1939, Xiaoguo village, Hebei, China–d. 10 September 2002, Singapore) was a playwright who produced plays in both English and Chinese. He is considered one of the most significant dramatists in Singapore and a pioneer of Singapore theatre. Many of ...

Haresh Sharma (b. 1965, Singapore–) is the resident playwright of The Necessary Stage, Singapore. A critically-acclaimed playwright known for his socially-conscious plays, he has written more than 100 plays that have been staged in Singapore and abroad, such as ...

David Lim Kim San (b. 7 May 1933, Singapore–) has a diverse career in music which spanned over four decades, including educator, administrator, producer, advocate, vocalist and conductor. Lim’s contribution to the school band and choral movements began in the 1960s ...

Muhammad Ariff Ahmad (b. 6 December 1924, Singapore–23 March 2016, Singapore), also known as Mas, was an award-winning writer, editor and lecturer. A founding member of the Malay literary club, Angkatan Sasterawan ’50 (Asas ’50), he was a prominent expert and activist ...

Phan Wait Hong (潘月红) (b. 1914, Shanghai, China–d. 1 September 2016, Singapore) is a key figure in the history of Beijing opera in Singapore. She came to Singapore from Shanghai at the age of 14 and rose to become a lead actress in a professional company that toured ...

Leong Yoon Pin (b. 5 August 1931, Singapore–d. 13 April 2011, Singapore) was a composer, conductor and educator. Described as the doyen of Singapore composers, Leong was well known for his choral compositions, many of which were locally commissioned and performed ...

Mohamed Latiff Mohamed (b. 20 March 1950, Singapore– ) is a prolific poet and writer in Singapore’s Malay literary scene. A teacher by training, he is best known for his works about the struggles of the Malay community in post-independence Singapore. A three-time ...

Daren Shiau Vee Lung (b. 1971, Singapore–) is a writer, lawyer and an environmental activist. He won the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award in 1998 for his debut novel, Heartland. Shiau also received the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award in ...

Koh Seow Chuan (b. 1939, Singapore–) is a founder of DP Architects, one of Singapore’s most established architecture firms. He is also an internationally renowned philatelist and a prominent heritage philanthropist. His architecture of the Esplanade – Theatres ...

Goh Poh Seng (b. 1936, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya–d.10 January 2010, Vancouver, Canada) was a physician, poet, laureate, award-winning writer and entrepreneur. He played an active role in the arts scene of post-independence Singapore. Goh was a pioneer of local English ...

Felix Cheong Seng Fei (b. 1965, Singapore–) is a poet and recipient of the National Arts Council Young Artist Award for Literature in 2000. He has published three volumes of poetry: Temptation and Other Poems (1998), I Watch the Stars Go Out (1999) and Broken by ...

Wong Yoon Wah (b. 13 August 1941, Perak, Malaysia–) is one of the few Singaporeans who excel as an international poet, critic and scholar. Prolific in both creative and academic writing, Wong has published more than 20 collections of prose, poetry, and academic ...

Jannie Chan Siew Lee (Dato’ Dr) (b. 7 May 1945, Ipoh, Malaysia–), commonly known by her former matrimonial name, Jannie Tay, is the co-founder of luxury watch retail group, The Hour Glass. She was named one of the 50 winners of the inaugural Leading Women Entrepreneurs ...

Dave Chua Hak Lien (b. 1970, Malaysia –), author of the novel Gone Case, was the recipient of the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award in 1996. He had been the joint winner of the SPH-NAC (Singapore Press Holdings-National Arts Council) Golden Point Award ...