BIOGRAPHY
Ng Yi-Sheng (b. 1980) is a Singapore-based poet, fictionist, playwright, researcher and activist. He has studied creative writing at Columbia College and the University of East Anglia, and has previously worked as a visual arts manager for the National Arts Council and a creative writing teacher for NTU.
He won the 2008 Singapore Literature Prize (English Category) for his debut poetry collection last boy (Firstfruits, 2006). He is also the author of the best-selling non-fiction work SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century (Oogachaga, 2006), the movie novelisation Eating Air (Firstfruits, 2008) and the poetry collections Loud Poems for a Very Obliging Audience and A Book of Hims (Math Paper Press, 2016 and 2017). His latest publication is a collection of short fantasy and science fiction tales titled Lion City (Epigram, 2018).
Yi-Sheng’s other works have appeared in several anthologies and literary journals, including Twin Cities, The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories, This Is How You Walk On The Moon, CERIPH and QLRS. He has also co-edited publications such as GASPP: A Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose (The Literary Centre, 2010), Eastern Heathens: An Anthology of Subverted Asian Folklore (Ethos Books, 2013) and Heat (Fixi Novo, 2016).
Additionally, he has translated Wong Yoon Wah’s poetry collection The New Village (Ethos Books, 2012).
Having previously co-organised the multidisciplinary art event SPORE Art Salon and IndigNation: Singapore's Pride Season, he has collaborated with theatre and dance companies to create a diverse range of performance works. These include 251 (Toy Factory Theatre, 2007), Georgette (Musical Theatre Ltd, 2007), The Last Temptation of Stamford Raffles (W!ld Rice, 2008),
Reservoir (TheatreWorks, 2008), Bird Call (Arts Fission, 2009), The Lan Fang Chronicles (Choy Ka Fai, 2012), Perfection of 10 (Sean Tobin, 2012), Painted Shadows: A Queer Haunting of the National Gallery (The Substation, 2016), and most recently, Ayer Hitam: A Black History of Singapore (2019).
He has written theatre and dance criticism for The Straits Times, The Substation Magazine, Fridae, The Flying Inkpot and The Online Citizen. He has also contributed essays on sexuality and gender for Why Not Magazine, and served as a documentary blogger for the Flying Circus Project (2007, 2010, 2013), the Singapore International Festival of the Arts (2010, 2015, 2016) and Curators Academy. He continues to report the children’s newspaper What’s Up: News For Kids.
Presently, he is a board member of the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, a group of activists calling for equal rights for sexual and gender minorities throughout Southeast Asia. He is currently working on two novels and pursuing a PhD in creative writing at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), while also conducting research into Southeast Asian history and literature. He tweets and Instagrams at @yishkabob.
Author Biography © Ng Yi-Sheng. Author Photo © Epigram Books. All rights reserved.
