Seven Poets: Singapore and Malaysia

by Edwin Thumboo (Editor), Ee Tiang Hong (Contributor), Wong Phui Nam (Contributor)

As its title suggests, this is an anthology of poems by seven authors living in Singapore and Malaysia. Poets in these two countries who have chosen to write in English are faced with slightly more than the usual difficulties. For many, English is not their first language. But whatever the extent of their familiarity with it, each has to work out a personal style by applying language to experience. While the work of each poet has its own interests, it is clear that the poems in this collection are individual responses to the challenge of writing in English.

226 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1973

About the author

Edwin Thumboo, Emeritus Professor and Professorial Fellow, National University of Singapore, has been involved in Singapore’s literary developments since 1951: editing, anthologising, initiating programmes (eg Creative Arts Programme with the Ministry of Education), running a poetry column in The Straits Times, teaching a degree-level creative writing course etc. He published Rib of Earth (1956), Gods Can Die (1977), Ulysses by the Merlion (1979), A Third Map (1993), Friend (2003), Still Traveling (2008), and Bring the Sun (poems from out-of-print volumes; 2008). He is working on a volume of translations into Chinese, as well as a Selected Poems due to appear in 2012. Studies of his work include Ee Tiang Hong, Responsibility and Commitment: The Poetry of Edwin Thumboo (1997) and Peter Nazareth, Edwin Thumboo: Creating a Nation through Poetry (2008), Essays on Edwin Thumboo has contributions by Jonathan Webster (editor), Thiru Kandiah, Wong Phui Nam and Lily Tope. He has edited Seven Poets: Singapore/Malaysia, An Anthology (1973), The Second Tongue: An Anthology of Poetry from Malaysia and Singapore (1979), and was General Editor for the Anthology of ASEAN Literatures: The Poetry of Singapore (1985), and The Fiction of Singapore (1990). He received the National Book Development Council of Singapore, Book Award for Poetry in English (1978, 1980 and 1994), Southeast Asian Writers Award (1979), Singapore’s Cultural Medallion (1980), ASEAN Cultural and Communication Award in Literature (1987), the Raja Rao Award (2002), and the Meritorious Service Medal, Singapore (2006). A Fellow of the International Writing Program, University of Iowa (1977), he has given readings in various universities and international literary festivals and book fairs.