Xing Ying (杏影) (b. 1911, China–d. 5 January 1967, Singapore), whose real name was Yang Fangjie (杨芳洁) and was also known as Yang Shoumo (杨守默), was a pioneer writer and editor of literary supplements. Besides “Xing Ying”, he also published under other pen names such ...
Suratman Markasan (b. 29 December 1930, Singapore– ) is a prolific poet, novelist and respected literary pioneer in Singapore. His literary career spans from the early 1950s to the present. The numerous awards he has received include: the Southeast Asian Writers ...
Lim Hung Chang (林汉精 ; b. 17 October 1949, Singapore– ), better known by his pseudonym Lin Gao (林高), is one of the leading figures in the Chinese literary scene in Singapore. He has used various pen names, such as Lin Yifei (林一飞), Sanmuzi (三木子) and Lin Jingshan ...
Lien Shih Sheng (连士升) (b. 24 May 1907, Fujian, China–d. 9 July 1973, Singapore) was an influential pioneer writer and news editor. His works span multiple genres such as travelogues, commentaries and biographies. Lien is best remembered for his Letters from the ...
Na Govindasamy (b. 1946, Singapore−d. 26 May 1999) was an educator, writer and an Internet researcher. He started writing in the 1960s. His works, which include plays, dramas and short stories for radio and television, furthered the development of literature in ...
N. Palanivelu (b. 1908, Tanjore district, Sikkal, Tamil Nadu, India−d. 11 November 2000, Singapore) was a novelist, playwright and poet who had been an active writer for more than 50 years. His short stories and poems reflected political and social changes over ...
Catherine Lim Poh Imm (b. 21 March 1942, Penang, Malaysia–) is the doyenne of Singapore stories. Lim is an accomplished and critically acclaimed author who has published a dozen collections of short stories, five novels, two volumes of poems and even a play. She ...
Letter writers made a living out of writing letters. Their services were sought after by those who were semi-literate as well as illiterate. The letters that they wrote were in calligraphic Chinese script and were used by the Chinese migrants living in Singapore ...
Goh Sin Tub (b. 2 December 1927, Singapore–d. 16 November 2004, Singapore) was a “first generation” Singaporean writer, teacher, civil servant, banker, and long-time chairman of St Joseph’s Institution’s board of governors. He authored more than a dozen novels ...
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 ...
Tan Teck Soon (b. 1859, Singapore–d. 25 November 1922, Singapore) was a Chinese scholar and writer active in Singapore at the turn of the 20th century. He was a founding member of the influential gentlemen’s debating club known as the Straits Philosophical Society ...
M. Balakrishnan (b. 18 September 1938, Singapore–), or Mayandiambalam Balakrishnan, is a prominent author popularly known by his pen name – Ma Ilangkannan. He was the first Tamil writer to receive the South East Asian Writers Award in 1982, and was awarded the ...
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 ...
Ho Minfong (b. 7 January 1951, Myanmar–), is an award-winning author of literature for children and young adults. Ho won the Cultural Medallion Award, the highest arts accolade in Singapore, in 1997. Although Ho is a Singaporean, she has spent most of her life ...
In support of Singapore’s educational and cultural development, part-time branch libraries were started by the Raffles Library in the 1950s, with the first of these set up at Upper Serangoon in 1953. Stocked with books for juniors and adults, such as dictionaries, ...
Choy Weng Yang (b. 1936, Singapore–) is an artist, curator, art writer and educator. As one of Singapore’s prominent second-generation artists, Choy’s works embody a distinctive style of abstract expressionism and exploration of colours. He was part of the pioneering ...
Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) is one of the most important Malay historical works, and one of the finest literary works written in Malay, that has been handed down in various versions. There were at least seven versions of this text. Sejarah Melayu is also one ...
Sabri Buang (b. 1964, Singapore–d. 26 March 2021) is both a writer and director of theatre and television in Singapore and abroad. In his earlier days, Sabri acted in Malay dramas for both theatre and television, and has built up a body of directorial works in ...
Violet Oon (b. 1949, Malaysia–) is a food critic, chef-restaurateur, consultant, cookbook writer and expert on Peranakan and Singapore cuisine. Oon is often featured in newspapers such as The Straits Times, and has been referred to as a “cooking doyenne”. Oon first ...
Ng Yi-Sheng (b. 25 November 1980, Singapore–) is a fulltime writer whose controversial literary works have garnered much critical acclaim. Besides writing fiction, poetry, drama, critiques and non-fiction, he is also actively involved in theatre, with his plays ...