In Their Domain: Carving a Niche through Online Literary Journals

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About the Programme:

They are unique. They are diverse. They are independent and glocal. Online literary journals provide a buffet of topics that enrich our local literary ecosystem. What are the creative possibilities of these digital publications, and why should we read them?

Join Prasanthi Ram (co-founder of Mahogany Journal) and Tse Hao Guang (co-founder of OF ZOOS) on a panel moderated by Professor Desmond Kon as they discuss their literary labour of love, and how they sought to carve a niche in Singapore's literary landscape.

About the Speakers:

Panellist: Tse Hao Guang (謝皓光) is the author of The International Left-Hand Calligraphy Association (Tinfish Press, 2023) and Deeds of Light (Math Paper Press, 2015), the latter shortlisted for the 2016 Singapore Literature Prize. He edits or has edited the collaborative e-journal OF ZOOS; UnFree Verse (Ethos Books, 2017), the anthology of Singapore poetry in received and nonce forms; literary food writing anthology Food Republic (Landmark Books, 2020); the new edition of Windham-Campbell prize-winning poet Wong May’s 1969 debut, A Bad Girl’s Book of Animals (Ethos Books, 2023); and Paper Jam, a literary pamphlet series (2024). He is a 2016 fellow of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, the 2018 National Writer-in-Residence at Nanyang Technological University, and a 2023 virtual resident of the National Centre for Writing at Norwich. Poems and essays appear in Poetry, Poem-a-Day, The Yale Review, Brick, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere.

Panellist: Prasanthi Ram is the author of short story cycle Nine Yard Sarees (Ethos Books; 2023). Her writing can also be found in publications such as Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Five (2022) and Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore (2021). In 2020, she co-founded Mahogany Journal, an online literary journal that spotlights writers of South Asian descent in Singapore. Till date, Mahogany Journal has released four issues and platformed over 25 writers. The journal's fifth issue "Rojak" is due for online publication later this year.

Moderator: Desmond Francis Xavier Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé (b. 1971) is the author of an epistolary novel, a quasi-memoir, two lyric essay monographs, four hybrid works, nine poetry collections, and a creative guided journal. A former journalist, he has edited more than twenty books and co-produced three audio books. Trained in publishing at Stanford University, Desmond holds a world religions masters from Harvard University and creative writing masters from the University of Notre Dame. Among other accolades, he is the recipient of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, Singapore Literature Prize, Poetry World Cup, two Illumination Christian Book Awards, two Independent Publisher Book Awards, and five Living Now Book Awards. Desmond teaches creative writing at Nanyang Technological University.

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