B ES T L ITE R A RY WORK S H ORTL I S T E D FIN ALISTS
Lion City Publisher: Epigram Books
First Publication Date: October 2018 ISBN: 978-981-1700-74-3 Author: Ng Yi-Sheng
Language of Publication: English Synopsis Ng Yi-Sheng is an established poet, fictionist, playwright, journalist and activist and Lion City is his first fiction collection. Lion City is a full-on display of Yi-Sheng’s surreal and intoxicating imagination as he takes his readers on a breathtaking tour of secret places above, below, and beyond the past, present and future trajectories of the Singaporean consciousness. This collection takes apart the tropes trumpeted ad infinitum about Singapore— the Lion City, gone from fishing village to a metropolis with a world-class airport— and reveals the magic of myth that underpins them all. At times lyrical and quiet, majestic and oracular, but always powerful, these stories with their subtle explorations of colonialism, capitalism and alienation brim with nuanced observations of people in a crisis of identity, at a crossroads culturally and geographically, seeking definition in the comfort of the past and the promise of the future. This mesmerising collection is the opening salvo of a startling and important voice in contemporary Singaporean fiction.
SINGAPORE BOOK AWARDS 2019 9
