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The Singapore Prize Shortlist For 2020

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The pool of submissions for this year’s Singapore prize is smaller than last year, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. But the 49 titles on the shortlist still demonstrate the strength of Singapore writing. The judges have chosen strong works in three genres and four languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil.

Stories of average people take centre stage in this year’s Singapore prize shortlist, which includes an historical tome and novels with a personal slant. Among the six books on the list for the $50,000 prize is Kamaladevi Aravindan’s Sembawang (2020, available here), which details life in an estate of the same name over five decades. “History should be not only about big movers and shakers, but also what it meant to ordinary people,” says the National Institute of Education senior lecturer.

Jeremy Tiang’s translation of Zhang Yueran’s novel Cocoon (2022) won the English literary prize, while Kenfoo’s self-published Cockman (2022), in which a chicken from another dimension finds itself stranded on Earth in human form, took home the inaugural comics and graphic novel award. The judges praised the “over-the-top audacity and absurdity” of the work, which was also awarded the Singapore Youth Book Award.

Prince William has rolled out the green carpet for the third Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in Singapore, where the winners – who are all tackling different environmental problems ranging from nature protection to ocean revival – received their catalytic grants to scale their solutions. The global initiative, launched by the Prince in 2020, aims to protect and restore the planet. Celebrities including Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, actors Donnie Yen and Lana Condor, and Australian wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin joined William for the event.

NUS Asia Research Institute distinguished fellow Kishore Mahbubani, who mooted the Singapore prize in 2021, said: “As the world grapples with major challenges and uncertainties, it is more important than ever to celebrate and honour the role that literature plays as a unifying force for our shared imagination. “Our societies are increasingly shaped by our shared histories, and they thrive on the collective memory and understanding of those past events.”

The award ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia in downtown Singapore. President Tharman Shanmugaratnam was guest-of-honour and presented the Singapore Book Council achievement award to the late Malay author Suratman Markasan, who passed away in February. His daughter, Dr Suriani Suratman, accepted the honour on his behalf. The event was accompanied by an exhibition, where a collection of rare memorabilia from the Singapore Book Festival was on display. It included a copy of the first edition of the first volume of The Story of Singapore, which was first published in 1927. Besides the main awards, several other prizes were handed out to finalists and supporters. The Singapore Book Council also presented the Christopher Bathurst KC Prize for Law, which is named in honour of the former barrister who was a partner at Fountain Court Chambers and developed a substantial practice in the commercial field.