Singapore Literature Prize Winners Announced
The Earthshot Prize is a global competition designed to identify and support innovative solutions to our planet’s most urgent environmental problems. Individuals and teams of up to ten winners will each be eligible for a $1.5 million grant; supported by Temasek Trust, GenZero and Conservation International who will leverage their collective expertise and networks to expand and scale up the winner and their work to new audiences.
On Wednesday evening, Singapore held its inaugural literary prizes, with judges from writers and industry professionals selecting winners in each category based on an esteemed panel of writers and industry professionals. Judges this year included Esplanade Communications and Content Head Clarissa Oon for English creative non-fiction; Cultural Medallion recipient KTM Iqbal for Malay fiction; and Dr Sa’eda Buang from Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group’s Dr Sa’eda Buang who will decide winners of Tamil poetry category.
Singapore Literature Prize 2014 saw women dominate both English and Chinese categories for the first time ever. Marylyn Tan became its inaugural English poetry winner ever in its 28-year history for her groundbreaking collection Gaze Back, which tackles controversial subjects from menstruation to sexuality with unabashed and humorous force.
Akshita Nanda made history when she won two English creative non-fiction prizes with Nimita’s Place: two women named Nimita navigate societies’ expectations in India and Singapore – this marks Nanda’s second shortlisting for this prize! Additionally, two Epigram Books titles shared an English fiction prize: Straits Times reporter Ng Yi-Sheng’s novel Lion City set around Singapore 50 and Black Panther by Wong Koi Tet respectively.
Winners in both Chinese fiction and Chinese non-fiction categories were also revealed at this ceremony. Chua Yin-Hui’s work includes his award-winning reimagination of Nanking Massacre through biography of an imaginary character; and A Song for the Disappeared which explores aftermath of brutal police crackdown in Beijing. Peter Augustine Goh is well known as an award-winning author and poet; his novel The Way Home took home top prize. At this year’s inaugural Readers’ Favourite awards ceremony, 3,000 voters participated in selecting their favorites from among 224 entries representing works such as novels, biographies and essays. Winners received both cash prizes as well as 12-month Storytel audiobook gift subscriptions. Full list of winners can be found here. The awards ceremony was hosted by actors Cate Blanchett, singer Donnie Yen and actress Lana Condor and streamed live to global viewers; winners for other prize categories will be revealed later. Jordan’s Queen Rania, British fashion designer Stella McCartney and broadcaster David Attenborough all stand behind this prize and its mission.