At the City Reading Room in Singapore. Image: Singapore Book Council, Singapore Literature Prize, award ceremony 2022
By Porter Anderson, Editor in Chief | @Porter_Anderson
A total of 71 works from four languages in the shortlist
AAs many of our readers will know, the Singapore Book Council organises one of the most complex competitions in the incredibly hectic world of international book and publishing awards, as Singapore has four official languages – English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil.
In addition, the biennial Singapore Literature Prize, chaired by William Phuan, is awarded in four categories: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and debut. In addition, this year, for the first time, two categories are offered:
- A new category for comics and graphic novels has its shortlisted titles in English
- A new category for translations offers a shortlist that, according to the organizers, “reflects the standard we hope to see in future work by Singaporean translators.”
What does it look like? On this page you can click through all four categories in all four languages of Singapore, as well as through the individual buttons for the “New Comics and Graphic Content” category and for the “Translations” category.
In total, there are shortlists available with a total of 71 works by 69 authors and creative collaborators in 18 categories, including the two new additions.
Bookstores take part in a “Guess the Winner” competition
At Aaria Creations, a Tamil bookstore in Singapore. Image: Singapore Book Council, Singapore Literature Prize, award ceremony 2022
The excitement surrounding these awards ceremonies is always high and this year’s ceremony on September 10 at the Victoria Theatre is expected to draw a huge crowd. This is partly because 10 book vouchers worth S$100 each will be awarded to those who correctly guess the most winners in a “Guess the Winners” competition held in collaboration with these bookstores:
- Bookable
- City Book Room
- Epigram Bookstore
- Grassroots Bookroom
- Kinokuniya
- Maha Yu Yi
- Wormhole
One of the quickest ways to get a full look at the entire selection of these books is to head over to the Guess the Winners page, where you can scroll from category to category through all four languages in one place.
This year, a total of 247 submissions were considered by the jury – an increase of around 30 percent compared to the total number of submissions in 2022, which was 182. The leadership of the Book Council sees this as a sign of a good recovery of the literary sector after the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19.
The Book Advisory Board’s press releases indicate that eight of the 22 shortlisted debut works were also selected to participate in the categories of poetry, fiction and/or creative nonfiction.
And briefly about the works submitted in the individual categories:
The shortlisted works in numbers
At Wardah Books in Singapore. Image: Singapore Book Council, Singapore Literature Prize, award ceremony 2022
In the category “Chinese Poetry”, 23 volumes of poetry by 19 authors have been shortlisted. Five fictional works are nominated, as are five titles from the field of creative non-fiction, and a total of nine books in Chinese are nominated as first publications.
In the English-speaking world, five collections of poetry, five works of fiction, five books of creative nonfiction and eight first publications are available.
There are two collections of poetry and five novels in Malay.
And in Tamil, three collections of poetry, as well as five works of fiction, three non-fiction and five debut novels are on the shortlist.
The Book Council has produced a video announcing the 70+ nominees for the program. You can watch the tape here. Below you can watch a video from the Singapore Literature Awards 2022 awards ceremony. The program includes a look inside several bookstores in the island nation:
For more information from Publishing Perspectives on publishing and book prizes, click here, for more on the Singapore publishing market, click here, for more on the Singapore Book Council, click here, and for more on the Singapore Literature Prize, click here.
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