Singapore Studies

Singapore Literature Symposium 2021

The Singapore Literature Symposium was organized by Professor C. J. W.-L. Wee and Dr. Cheryl Julia Lee of the Singapore Studies Research Cluster from 8-9 May 2021. Due to the pandemic, the symposium was held online.

This Symposium aimed to take stock of the directions and concerns that Singapore literature has taken since independence in 1965, from matters of nation-building and to newer complexities of working though the pluralisms of ‘national identity’ to more recent pluralisms, also addressed via more experimental literary formats and more flexible ideas of what might constitute ‘Singapore identity’. That is, what are the content and the literary formats that constitute a contemporary Singapore literature and how might we think of connections that may have persisted since independence? Given the wide scope of the matters at hand, the symposium’s focus is mainly, though not exclusively, on literature in English.

The symposium consisted of 5 panels:

• Uncharted Territories, 1965-1990 (8 May 2021):

Chair: Professor C. J. W.-L. Wee
Speakers: Isa Kamari, Shirley Chew, Dr. Angelia Poon

• Landscapes Lost and Found, 1990-2010 (8 May 2021):

Chair: Dr. Alvin Pang
Speakers: Ann Ang, Aaron Lee

• New Fictions (8 May 2021):

Chair: Dr. Barrie Sherwood
Speakers: Dr. Balli Kaur Jaswal, Dr. Sharlene Teo

• New Movements (9 May 2021):

Chair: Dr. Cheryl Julia Lee
Speakers: Marylyn Tan, Nabilah Said, Stephanie Chan, O Thiam Chin

• New Tongues (9 May 2021):

Chair: Theophilus Kwek
Speakers: Yulia Endang, Tan Dan Feng, Annaliza Bakri

Recordings of the various panels are available. Please direct all enquires to Jon Gresham. Citation for the panels should follow this format: Wee, C. J. W.-L., Chew, Shirley, Poon, Angelia, and Isa Kamari, panellists. “Uncharted Territories, 1965-1990.” Singapore Literature Symposium, 8 May 2021. Web.

Related material:

• Opening Remarks: “Literature in Singapore: Thinking Through Literary-Cultural Development Since 1965” by Professor C. J. W.-L. Wee
• “Tracing Trajectories (Summary of the Symposium)” by Dr. Cheryl Julia Lee
• Closing Remarks: “Re-centring the margins: Reflections on the Singapore Literature Symposium” by Theophilus Kwek