Exhale: An Anthology of Queer Singapore Voices

by Ng Yi-Sheng, Stephanie Chan, Andy Ang

EXHALE: An Anthology of Queer Singapore Voices is a landmark literary project, gathering the best works of local LGBTQ writers who emerged in the 2010s. These writings reveal the dreams, struggles and indomitable spirit of our queer community in a time of turbulence and transformation—a decade of highly visible protests and controversies, new labels for gender and sexuality, and a more fearless brand of cultural politics.

This collection features texts written in English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, by 79 different authors (including one collective) encompassing forms as diverse as spoken word, sci-fi, experimental poetry, creative non-fiction and even songs of worship.

There are poems exploring issues such as coming out, gender dysphoria, HIV, religion, institutional homophobia and transphobia, the Wear White movement, the PenguinGate controversy, sex and love. There are tales of attempted exorcism, a young gay man’s explorations of the Internet, a lesbian werewolf’s journey of fulfilment, a trans woman’s discovery of her magical gifts, fatphobia in Singapore, an activist case for aromanticism, and an alien encounter at Pink Dot.

Writers include Amanda Lee Koe, Neon Yang, Joel Tan, Topaz Winters, Marylyn Tan, Jeremy Tiang, Jerrold Yam, Jennifer Anne Champion, Lawrence Lacambra Ypil and Rodrigo Dela Peña, Jr.

Genres: LGBT, Anthologies

544 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Ng Yi-Sheng is a poet, fictionist, playwright, journalist and activist. He was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize for his debut poetry collection, last boy (2006). His other publications include a spiritual sequel to that work, called A Book of Hims (2017); a compilation of his best spoken-word pieces, Loud Poems for a Very Obliging Audience (2016); the bestselling non-fiction book, SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century (2006); and a novelisation of the Singapore gangster movie, Eating Air (2008). He also co-edited GASPP: A Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose (2010) and Eastern Heathens: An Anthology of Subverted Asian Folklore (2013). He recently completed his MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia and is currently pursuing his PhD at Nanyang Technological University. Lion City is his first fiction collection, published in 2018 by Epigram Books.