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Paul Tan (poet)

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Paul Tan Kim Liang
Born1970
OccupationWriter, Deputy Chief Executive of National Arts Council
LanguageEnglish
NationalitySingapore

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

Biography

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Tan only started writing poetry seriously during National Service. He attained his Bachelor of Arts (Second Upper Honours) in English Language and Literature from the National University of Singapore.[1] During his undergraduate years, Tan won consecutive first prizes in the NUS Literary Society poetry competition in 1992 and 1993.[2] He graduated with a Master of Arts in culture and communications from the University of East Anglia in 2004.[1]

He worked as a broadcast journalist with the Television Corporation of Singapore (now Mediacorp).[1] He then worked as Deputy Head, Editorial Promotion and Branding with the Singapore Press Holdings between 2004 and 2007.[1] He also served as the Director (Strategic Marketing and Communications) in the Singapore Tourism Board until 31 January 2011.[1] He was appointed as the festival director of the Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) in 2010[1] and served as the festival director of the SWF between 2011 and 2014,[3] handing the position over to poet Yeow Kai Chai. He was then appointed as the NAC's deputy chief executive, taking over from Yvonne Tham.[4]

Literary career

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Tan's early work has been described as having "a unique disposition for observation and reflection, with the occasional cheekiness and lightly interrogative gesture."[5] His first poetry collection, Curious Roads (1994), won the Commendation award at the Singapore Literature Prize 1993.[2] Curious Roads focuses largely on the poet's growing up years and his time during national service[2] and has been described as "personal".[6]

Tan's second poetry collection, Driving Into Rain (1998), won the Merit award at the Singapore Literature Prize 1997.[2] His second collection seeks to project the poet's relationship with the larger world [2] and according to poet Dr Cyril Wong, "regularly stops short of divulging enough about the poet’s persona for readers to enter a more rewarding and connective relationship with the poetry".[5]

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".[5]

Tan has also penned the lyrics to the National Day Parade 2012 song "Love at First Light", composed by Iskandar Ismail, and sung by Olivia Ong and Natanya Tan.[2]

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.[7]

Works

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Poetry

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Title Year Publisher ISBN
Curious Roads 1994 EPB Publishers ISBN 9971005743
Driving Into Rain 1998 Raffles Editions ISBN 9971008548
First Meeting of Hands 2006 firstfruits ISBN 9810563108
Seasonal Disorders/Impractical Lessons 2014 firstfruits ISBN 9789814189545
When the Lights Went Off 2018 Landmark Books ISBN 9789814189866

Short stories

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Title Venue Year
Jasmine's Father Quarterly Literary Review Singapore 2001
The Oriental Grocer Quarterly Literary Review Singapore 2006

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "NAC - NAC Appoints Director for SWF". www.nac.gov.sg. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Singapore, National Library Board. "Paul Tan | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  3. ^ SWF 2017 Programme Guide.
  4. ^ migration (2014-05-12). "Poet Paul Tan appointed NAC deputy CEO, Yvonne Tham moves to Esplanade". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  5. ^ a b c "Browse | Paul Tan". Archived from the original on 2018-12-05. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  6. ^ Singh, Kirpal (1999). Interlogue Volume 2: Poetry. Ethos Books. p. 184. ISBN 981-04-0881-1.
  7. ^ hermes (2018-09-04). "Writing to understand". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-12-01.