Paul Tan Kim Liang (born 1970) is a Singaporean poet and current deputy chief executive of the National Arts Council (NAC) of Singapore.

Biography

Tan only started writing poetry seriously during

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

. He attained his Bachelor of Arts (Second Upper Honours) in English Language and Literature from the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

. During his undergraduate years, Tan won consecutive first prizes in the NUS Literary Society poetry competition in 1992 and 1993. He graduated with a Masters of Arts in Culture and Communications from 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 2004. He worked as a broadcast journalist with the Television Corporation of Singapore (now

Mediacorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

). He then worked as Deputy Head, Editorial Promotion and Branding with the

Singapore Press Holdings Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPHL) was an organisation with businesses in property and aged care in Singapore. Since its takeover by Cuscaden Peak in 2022, it has been renamed Cuscaden Peak Investments. Prior to 1 December 2021, SPHL was i ...

between 2004 and 2007. He also served as the Director (Strategic Marketing and Communications) in the

Singapore Tourism Board The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore, tasked to promote the country's tourism industry. History The board was first established on 1 January 1964 and wa ...

until 31 January 2011. He was appointed as the festival director of the

Singapore Writers Festival The Singapore Writers Festival is a literary event organised by the National Arts Council. Inaugurated in 1986, the festival serves a dual function of promoting new and emerging Singaporean and Asian writing to an international audience, as well ...

(SWF) in 2010 and served as the festival director of the SWF between 2011 and 2014, handing the position over to poet

Yeow Kai Chai Yeow Kai Chai is a poet, former Straits Times journalist, and the former director of the Singapore Writers Festival. With writings influenced by music videos and other forms of artistic impressions, he is an MA graduate in English Literature from t ...

. He was then appointed as the NAC's deputy chief executive, taking over from Yvonne Tham.

Literary career

Tan's early work has been described as having "a unique disposition for observation and reflection, with the occasional cheekiness and lightly interrogative gesture." His first poetry collection, ''Curious Roads'' (1994), won the Commendation award at 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 ...

1993. ''Curious Roads'' focuses largely on the poet's growing up years and his time during national service and has been described as "personal". Tan's second poetry collection, ''Driving Into Rain'' (1998), won the Merit award at the

1997. His second collection seeks to project the poet's relationship with the larger world and according to poet Dr

Cyril Wong Cyril Wong (; born 27 June 1977) is a poet, fiction author and literary critic. Biography Born in 1977, Cyril Wong attended Saint Patrick's School, Singapore, and Temasek Junior College, before completing a doctoral degree in English literature ...

, "regularly stops short of divulging enough about the poet’s persona for readers to enter a more rewarding and connective relationship with the poetry". Tan's third collection, ''First Meeting of Hands'', represented a departure from his previous style of writing and contains poems that "achieve a balance between social critique and the characterisation of a distinct and authentic—even if disillusioned and resentful—Singaporean voice". Tan has also penned the lyrics to the National Day Parade 2012 song "Love at First Light", composed by

Iskandar Ismail Iskandar Mirza Ismail (23 July 1956 – 1 November 2014) was a prominent Singaporean musician who worked as a composer, arranger, conductor, music director, recording producer, performer and educator in his long career. In recognition of his exten ...

, and sung by

Olivia Ong Olivia Ong (; born ) is a Singaporean singer and actress. The majority of her works are in Mandarin Chinese, but she has also recorded songs in English, Cantonese and Japanese. In her early days, her entertainment career focused on singing jaz ...

and Natanya Tan. Tan's fifth collection, ''When the lights went off'', captures the sentiment of middle age and the poet's changing priorities towards love and mortality.

Works

Poetry

Short stories

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Paul 1970 births Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean poets Male poets National University of Singapore alumni Alumni of the University of East Anglia Singapore Literature Prize winners Living people