Ng Yi Sheng (; born 1980) is a Singaporean gay writer. He has published a collection of his poems entitled ''last boy'', which won the

Singapore Literature Prize The Singapore Literature Prize (abbreviation: SLP) is a biennial award in Singapore to recognise outstanding published works by Singaporean authors in any of the four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. The competition is organis ...

, and a documentary book on gay, lesbian and bisexual Singaporeans called ''SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century'' in 2006.

Early life and education

Ng lived in Hong Kong with his parents for three years during his childhood. On his return to Singapore, he attended the Anglo-Chinese School. He graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, USA, where he majored in Comparative Literature and Writing. His writing teachers at Columbia University included Louise Rose, Steve Austin, Paul Violi and Timothy Donnelly. He completed an MA in creative writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

in 2014. Through the initiative of the Creative Arts Programme, he underwent mentorship schemes with the poets

Lee Tzu Pheng Anne Lee Tzu Pheng (born May 13, 1946) is a Singaporean poet. She has five volumes of poems to her name; of these, the first three, ''Prospect of a Drowning'' (1980), ''Against the Next Wave'' (1988) and ''The Brink of An Amen'' (1991) were winne ...

and Angeline Yap, as well as worked on playwriting under Theatreworks' Greenhouse Project and

The Necessary Stage The Necessary Stage (previously known as M1 Theatre Connect and M1 Youth Connection) is a Singaporean non-profit theatre company with charity status. Formed in 1987 by Alvin Tan, The Necessary Stage was established with its own mission to creat ...

's Playwright's Cove.

Publications

His poems have been published in the poetry anthologies ''First Words, onewinged, No Other City'' and ''Love Gathers All'', as well as the journals ''the2ndRule,

Quarterly Literary Review Singapore ''Quarterly Literary Review Singapore'' (''QLRS'') is a Singapore online literary journal founded and edited by Singaporean poet Toh Hsien Min in 2001. Overview The first issue of ''QLRS'' appeared in October 2001. The journal is an online publi ...

, Softblow, Quarto, Asian Journal'' and ''Queer''. In 1998, he won first prize in the

NUS NUS or Nus may refer to: * National University of Singapore * Nus, a town in the Aosta Valley of Italy * Neglected and Underutilized Species, or Neglected and Underutilized Crops * National Union of Students (Australia) * National Union of Students ...

Poetry Competition, and in 2003, fared similarly at the Writers' Week Poetry slam. His performed plays include ''Serve'' (The Ordinary Theatre), ''Snake'' (Stage Right), ''Redhill Blues'' (Creative Arts Alumni Programme, Republic Polytechnic), ''Hungry'' ( Theatreworks,

Singapore Polytechnic Singapore Polytechnic (SP) is a post-secondary education institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. Established in 1954, the institution is the first and oldest polytechnic in Singapore and is ...

Anderson Secondary School Anderson Secondary School (ANDSS) is a co-educational government autonomous school in Ang Mo Kio, Singapore offering education for Secondary 1 to Secondary 5. It became an autonomous school in 1994 and was one of the pioneer autonomous schools in ...

and International Islamic University,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

). One of his plays formed the core of ''Poetic Licence'', a performance poetry production by STAGES presented in 2002 and 2005. In August 2006, he published a collection of gay, lesbian and bisexual Singaporeans' coming out stories, ''SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century''. In October 2006, he published his first collection of poetry, ''Last Boy'', which won the

.Ng, Y-S. (2006). ''Last boy.'' Singapore: Firstfruits Publications, p. 65. (Call no.: RSING S821 NG); Yap, S. (4 December 2008). Last boy scores top honours for poet. ''The Straits Times,'' p. 33. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. In 2007, Ng completed his work on ''251'', a play about the life of Singaporean porn star Annabel Chong and ''Georgette'', a musical about the artist

Georgette Chen Georgette Liying Chendana Chen (; Born Chang Li Ying; 23 October 1906 – 15 March 1993), most commonly known as Georgette Chen, was a Singaporean painter and one of the pioneers of Modernism, modern Visual art of Singapore, Singaporean art as ...

Performances

Ng performed slam poetry pieces for ContraDiction, Singapore's first gay poetry reading event held in 2005, and was a co-organiser and performer in its sequel, ContraDiction 2, in 2006. He delivered a lecture on Western gay history during IndigNation 2006, Singapore's second gay pride season.

Bibliography

Poetry *''Last Boy'' ( Firstfruits Publications, 2006) *''Loud Poems For A Very Obliging Audience'' ( Math Paper Press, 2016) *''A Book of Hims'' ( Math Paper Press, 2017) Prose *''SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century'' ( Oogachaga Counseling and Support, 2006) *''Eating Air'' ( Firstfruits Publications, 2006) *''On His Wings: Soaring'' (2008) *''Lion City'' (Epigram, 2018) Plays *''251'' (2007) *''Georgette'' (2007) *''The Last Temptation of Stamford Raffles'' (2008) Edited Anthologies *''First Words: A Selection of Works by Young Writers in Singapore'' (Unipress, 1996) *''Onewinged: An Anthology of Young Writing'' (Unipress, 2001) *''Roots and Wings: A Selection of Works by Writers from the Creative Arts Programme'' (Gifted Education Branch, Ministry of Education, 2009) *''GASPP: A Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry & Prose'' (

Ethos Books Established in 1997, Ethos Books is an independent book publisher based in Singapore. It is an imprint of Pagesetters Services Pte Ltd, a communications and design house. Ethos Books specialises in publishing literary works of fiction, non-ficti ...

, 2010) *''Eastern Heathens: An Anthology of Subverted Asian Folklore'' (

, 2013) *''HEAT: A Southeast Asian Urban Anthology'' (Buku Fixi, 2016) Translations *''The New Village by Wong Yoon Wah'' (with Ho Lian Geok) (

, 2012)

External links

Ng Yi-Sheng's careerblog

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Yi Sheng 1980 births Living people Anglo-Chinese School alumni Columbia University alumni Alumni of the University of East Anglia Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean LGBT writers Singaporean poets Gay writers Singapore Literature Prize winners Male poets LGBT poets