Theophilus Kwek is a writer, editor and translator based in Singapore. His work has been published in The Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, The Straits Times, and elsewhere; and performed at the Royal Opera House. Two of his previous collections of poetry were shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize, while his pamphlet, The First Five Storms, won the inaugural New Poets’ Prize. In 2023, he was the youngest writer and first Singaporean to be awarded the Cikada Prize by the Swedish Institute, for poetry that ‘defends the inviolability of life’. He is a member of the Folio Academy, and part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2024.
Description
‘His poems are keenly aware that the scariest place to exist is on the edges of a space, but the stately, serene pacing should not blind you to the keen political intelligence at work.’
Rishi Dastidar, The Guardian
‘Kwek’s lyrical and imagistic treatment of historical episodes in Commonwealth is skilled and his epiphanies offer an uncommon lucidity. The poems read like grand allegories of displacement and relocation, and form a fine suite of place poems that will resonate with the experience of urban change beyond its slim plot of land.’
Shawn Hoo, The Straits Times
Drawing from research archives, memoirs, interviews and historical texts, this book charts with lyrical sensitivity the global echoes of human geography.
Jennifer Wong, The Poetry Review