Jonas Daniel Vaughan (b. 27 June 1825–d. 17 October 1891, at sea) was a sailor, public official and prominent lawyer in colonial Singapore. He contributed to many community organisations and activities, promoted scientific observation, wrote on local history and ...

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 ...

Koh Buck Song (b. 1963, Singapore–) is a writer, editor, poet and journalist. He has edited, co-edited and authored books of fiction, non-fiction and poems. He is also a consultant in areas of branding, communications strategy and corporate social responsibility. ...

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 ...

Munshi Abdullah (b. 1797, Kampong Pali, Malacca–d. October 1854, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) was also known as Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir. Gifted in languages, he mastered Arabic, Tamil, Hindi and Malay. Abdullah was known for his work as a teacher, interpreter and writer. ...

Tan Swie Hian (b. 5 May 1943, Pulau Halang, Indonesia–) is a multidisciplinary Singaporean artist known for his poetry, novels, paintings, calligraphy and sculptures. A highly esteemed artist, Tan has received multiple accolades both locally and internationally ...

Mohammed Saffri Bin Abdul Manaf (b. 3 November 1952, Singapore–) is a scriptwriter, actor, director and comedian. Much of his work has been aired on the local Malay television and radio. A bangsawan (Malay opera) enthusiast, M. Saffri has also written, acted in ...

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 ...

Janet Lim Chiu Mei (b. 14 July c.1923, Hong Kong–5 August 2014, Brisbane, Australia), born Kwek Chiu Mei, was Singapore’s first Asian hospital matron but is better remembered as its first Asian memoirist. Lim’s bestselling memoir, Sold for Silver, recounts her ...

Alfian bin Sa’at (b. 18 July 1977, Singapore–), commonly known as Alfian Sa’at, is a prominent English- and Malay-language playwright, poet and short-story writer in Singapore and Malaysia. Known for his politically charged works, Alfian is notable for being the ...

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 ...

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 ...

Joan Hon (b. 1943, Penang, Malaya –) is a writer and former teacher. She wrote and published a fiction book, Star Sapphire, under the pen name Han May in 1985. She is also the author of a number of non-fiction books, including Relatively Speaking – a biography ...

Wong Meng Voon (黄孟文; b. 27 July 1937, Perak, Malaya–), who also writes under his pen name Meng Yi (孟毅), is one of Singapore’s most eminent Chinese authors. Well-known for his mini-fiction, Wong actively promotes the Chinese mini-novel genre to the world through ...

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 ...

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 ...

Lin Chen (b. 1919, Singapore–d. 29 August 2004, Singapore) was a pioneer theatre director and playwright who was active in the local Mandarin theatre scene in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also an accomplished writer who wrote short stories and prose under the pen ...

Alvin Pang (b. 1972, Singapore–) is considered as part of a new breed of young Singapore poets that emerged in the 1990s. These new poets include Felix Cheong, Alfian Sa’at, Toh Hsien Min and Cyril Wong. Pang’s publications include two collections of poetry, Testing ...

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 ...

Ovidia Yu (b. 1961, Singapore–) is an award-winning novelist, short story writer and playwright. She is the recipient of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Singapore Foundation Culture Award (1996), the National Arts Council Young Artist Award (1996) ...