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Singlish is a punchy and witty patois used in Singapore. It mixes English with words, phrases, and syntaxes from the languages of different ethnic groups living in the country. This fascinating feature of Singaporean life favours efficient communication and humour and is well-loved by many. Spiaking Singlish doesn’t just describe Singlish elements; there are already several such references books. Rather, it aims to show how Singlish can be used in a confident and stylish way to communicate. Gwee Li Sui’s collection of highly entertaining articles shares his observation of how Singlish has evolved over the decades. To appeal to the “kiasu” nature of readers, each of the 45 pieces comes with a bonus comic strip. There is also a Singlish quiz at the end of the book for readers to test their grasp of Singlish! Spiaking Singlish is possibly the first book on Singlish written entirely in Singlish, complete with colloquial spelling. It may also be the most stimulating of them all. Fear not if you find this book too bizarre: all Singlish words and phrases are indexed and explained at some point in the book
--Selected by the National University of Singapore Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences as one of 85 Landmark Books-- A curious young boy opens a door and is thrust into the Architrave, a fantastical, fractured world upheld by four Columns. Arriving as the Great Gateway War draws to a start, Li-Hsu must fight bravely alongside a host of strange creatures in order to find his way back home. Gwee Li Sui’s Myth of the Stone, first published in 1993, is an endearing tale of one unlikely hero’s journey through an unfamiliar landscape. Epigram Books presents a 20th Anniversary Edition of Singapore’s first full-length graphic novel in English, with improved art and bonus features including notes from the author and new short stories that further explore the magical world of the Architrave.
The Merlion is the official tourism mascot of Singapore, but The Other Merlion of this anthology introduces the Singapore and Singaporeans that only those who truly know them know. Witty, caustic, naughty, irreverent and full of fun, the poet laughs out loud with his people. It seems odd — or it seems odd to me — that a volume of verse like Gwee Li Sui’s selection of poems and original illustrations, The Other Merlion And Friends, should answer so serious and fundamental a question as “Why do I love poetry?” But it does, and there it is, the truth: fizzy and slightly dizzying, like a secret sip of chilled champagne when you were seven. — Eric Norris. founding editor of the online poetry journal Kin (wearekin.org) and co-host of the Carmine Street Metrics reading series in New York City
Written Country intriguingly reconstructs, from works of literature, the history of modern Singapore through fifty defining moments from the Fall of Singapore to the Japanese during WWII to the death of its founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. The works of Singapore’s best novelists, poets and playwrights anthologised include: Japanese Occupation by Goh Sin Tub Maria Hertogh Riots by Alfian Sa’at Hock Lee Bus Riot by Meira Chand First Merdeka Talks by Hedwig Anuar Women’s Charter by Lee Tzu Pheng Operation Coldstore by Said Zahari National Theatre by Boey Kim Cheng Singapore in Malaysia by Rosaly Puthucheary Creation of the Merlion by Stella Kon Prophet Muhd’s Birthday Riot by Robe...
This landmark anthology of short fiction presents six electrifying voices from Singapore: Alfian bin Sa’at, Wena Poon, Jeffrey Lim, Tan Mei Ching, Claire Tham, and Dave Chua. The tales they tell are graphic, gritty, and evocative, examining the lives of an array of complex characters, tormented by dilemmas that nonetheless go on to shape and direct them. Masterfully sequenced by editor Gwee Li Sui, and chosen for their perspectives on contemporary Singapore as much as for their own intrinsic merits as fiction, Telltale is a collection shedding new light on a budding literature of international merit.
It feels unkind to reveal a long-held secret of Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems? published in 1988 – the published form, known and loved for years, is quite unlike the poet’s original manuscript. In 1998, when Landmark Books sought to introduce Gwee Li Sui, it reckoned that a slim, focused volume could showcase his distinct voice better. That decision had led to the manuscript being halved and its shape changed subtly. Also, Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems? was a very naughty book and, given the sensitivity of the times, a gentler text was published. The current book sees a couple of those changes reversed only because more readers today are able to bring the right frame of mind to their reading. While reading this unexpurgated edition, you may get a pricking sense of the poet being an excitable madman. What manner of madness he suffered remains unclear. With nothing left but silly speculations, do enjoy this recovered text or to correct your enjoyment of an old book you thought you knew.
Following on the success of his 2017 hit, Spiaking Singlish: A Companion to How Singaporeans Communicate, Gwee Li Sui is back with a series of three "Leeter" books covering the quintessential features of Singlish, Singapore's unofficial language - written in Singlish! In this second volume, we learn that Singlish is not just about lah and leh: "Singlish oso got idiom and proverbs wor. Such kinds of expression make natural sense within a language and often cannot be translated without lugi-ing some depth. Consider how much shiokness 'blur like sotong' and 'bak chew tak stamp' bring to a situation with people being tekanded. Use 'pattern more than badminton', 'mee siam mai hum', or 'last time policeman wear shorts', and you'll have pecah lobang your true fewling on a matter without saying more."
2719 presents a history of the future. It is a creative prognosis that charts how Singapore will develop for the next seven hundred years. Moments in the island’s real history will reverberate through the course of its current challenges, its cycles of self-making, and the future of our world order.
From the Preface The sacrifices of migrant workers are written in every inch of Singapore – in the bricks of buildings, ship irons, under the floor of houses. Thousands of years later, someone may hear the story of our pain and sacrifice from the walls of this city. After about a decade here, I have many stories and recollections to share with you. This diary contains the collected fragments of my experiences. It is not my intention to write anything against my homeland or this country. No hurt feelings, please. I have just written down the most valuable moments of my life here. This diary records observations from my reality. From the Foreword by Gwee Li Sui The records from hours between 2008 and 2016 take us on a harsh, profoundly emotional journey. Let us remember that we are meeting a passage of real life that runs concurrent to ours within this alleged city of dreams. The book is therefore urgent because it breaks open the hearts of readers to what our eyes fail to see. As Sharif’s words invade our sense of self and of place, our world cannot be the same again.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a bestselling graphic novelist comes “a hugely ambitious, stylistically acrobatic work” (The New York Times Book Review) that brings us on a uniquely moving, funny, and thought-provoking journey through the life of an artist and the history of a nation. Meet Charlie Chan Hock Chye. Now in his early 70s, Chan has been making comics in his native Singapore since 1954, when he was a boy of 16. As he looks back on his career over five decades, we see his stories unfold before us in a dazzling array of art styles and forms, their development mirroring the evolution in the political and social landscape of his homeland and of the comic book medium itself. With The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Sonny Liew has drawn together a myriad of genres to create a thoroughly ingenious and engaging work, where the line between truth and construct may sometimes be blurred, but where the story told is always enthralling.