Stories - Singapore Hot Takes

"Reading for me was very private, the most real of realities but impossible to truly discuss with people around me..."

"I came to write because no other thing came to me quite as easily or willingly or honestly."

"This idea of liminality, of negotiating and mapping spaces between Singapore and Australia, between home and elsewhere, is something that has given me a new direction and focus..."

"Over time, I began to return to my cultural roots and my writing evolved to be a way to explore and critically examine my immediate social realities..."

"Translation is a work of art and a labour of love."

"What I’ve learned to do is turn down the volume on that voice, so that it is soft enough to not undermine me, but loud enough to keep me critical of my own work."

"In time, more and more poets have started to write more honestly and poignantly about their own lives. I hope this means that the ecosystem here has become more diverse."

"A lightbulb moment I must have had at an early age was looking at a book and thinking, “I can do this too.”"

"Literature is a door. Not one a carpenter gathers wood for, but one that writers screw into your head, as you read by your easy chair or bed."