Cyril Wong
Encyclopedia
Cyril Wong is the author of nine volumes of poetry
and one collection of prose.
, before pursuing a doctoral degree in English literature
from the National University of Singapore
. His poems have appeared in journals around the world, including Atlanta Review, Fulcrum, Poetry International, Cimarron Review, Wascana Review, Dimsum, and Asia Literary Review. They have also been featured in the 2008 W.W. Norton & Co. anthology, Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond, and Chinese Erotic Poems by Everyman's Library. Cyril was guest editor for Gangway
(#35 - Travel and Transitioning), and a featured poet at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival
, the Sydney Writers' Festival
, and the Singapore Writers' Festival. TIME
magazine (Dec 10, 2007) has written that "his work expands beyond simple sexuality...to embrace themes of love, alienation and human relationships of all kinds."
Although Cyril has also been popularly known as a gay poet, Singaporean critic Gwee Li Sui
has stressed that readers need not perceive the poet's persona in terms of gay exceptionality, "his qualities of spaciousness and morphing images also manifesting an interest in a kind of New-Age irreligious spirituality." This interest is fully expressed in Cyril's book, Satori Blues, in which the author "teases us out of our complacencies and directs/guides our thinking along the long, hard route to self-awareness...Hence 'blues'. Hence the extraordinary attempt to seduce the reader into somnambulance-via-rhythmic, rhymic language, the language of meditative poetry." In a review by the Southeast Asian Review of English, Cyril's poetry has been described as "an art that works simply from a personal plane, and from within such a plane we have some of the most sensitive, articulate probings into the nature of one's self that have never been seen before in all of contemporary Singaporean verse."
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and one collection of prose.
Biography
Born in 1977, Cyril Wong attended Saint Patrick's School, Singapore and Temasek Junior CollegeTemasek Junior College
Temasek Junior College is a prestigious junior college located in the Eastern region of Singapore and is considered as one of the top five colleges in Singapore....
, before pursuing a doctoral degree in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from the National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
. His poems have appeared in journals around the world, including Atlanta Review, Fulcrum, Poetry International, Cimarron Review, Wascana Review, Dimsum, and Asia Literary Review. They have also been featured in the 2008 W.W. Norton & Co. anthology, Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond, and Chinese Erotic Poems by Everyman's Library. Cyril was guest editor for Gangway
Gangway (magazine)
Gangway is an international online literary magazine, bridging Austria and Australia. Its founder and editor in chief is Gerald Ganglbauer, the first issue was launched in June 1996 in Sydney.- Profile :...
(#35 - Travel and Transitioning), and a featured poet at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Edinburgh International Book Festival
The Edinburgh International Book Festival, is a book festival that takes place in the last three weeks of August every year in Charlotte Square, in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital...
, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival
Hong Kong International Literary Festival
The Hong Kong International Literary Festival is an international literary festival held annually in Hong Kong. In recent years the title sponsor of the festival has been Man Investments, a division of Man Group, title sponsor of the Man Booker Prize...
, the Sydney Writers' Festival
Sydney Writers' Festival
The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Sydney. The Festival's artistic director is Chip Rolley.-History:...
, and the Singapore Writers' Festival. TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine (Dec 10, 2007) has written that "his work expands beyond simple sexuality...to embrace themes of love, alienation and human relationships of all kinds."
Cyril's Poetry
Cyril is recognised as Singapore's first truly confessional poet and "has many styles, all of them limber, which combine the anecdotal and the confessional with the intuitive and the empathetic." His poems are known for their "lyrical intensity" and for "training an almost anthropologically curious eye on the laws and customs of his own family: their strange taciturn ways, their gnomic references to disappointment and guilt, and their penchant for self-delusion." In a way that makes him especially distinctive within the Singaporean poetry scene, his work possesses "a heightened awareness of the physical body, and a desire to probe its visceral materiality for emotional truths." Edwin Thumboo has praised Cyril's poems for their "remarkable inwardness" and how, "without exception, they leave us with the feeling of subjects - occasion, non-happening, an especially poignant experience - explored to unusual limits." With regards to his third collection and its play of presence and absence in the context of Singapore's urbanity and cultural memory, John Phillips described Cyril's poetry as offering "an affirmation of emptiness in a time and place where this is barely possible."Although Cyril has also been popularly known as a gay poet, Singaporean critic Gwee Li Sui
Gwee Li Sui
Gwee Li Sui is a literary critic, a poet, and a graphic artist from Singapore.- Biography :Gwee began education at the now-defunct MacRitchie Primary School and then continued at Anglo-Chinese Secondary School, Anglo-Chinese Junior College, and the National University of Singapore...
has stressed that readers need not perceive the poet's persona in terms of gay exceptionality, "his qualities of spaciousness and morphing images also manifesting an interest in a kind of New-Age irreligious spirituality." This interest is fully expressed in Cyril's book, Satori Blues, in which the author "teases us out of our complacencies and directs/guides our thinking along the long, hard route to self-awareness...Hence 'blues'. Hence the extraordinary attempt to seduce the reader into somnambulance-via-rhythmic, rhymic language, the language of meditative poetry." In a review by the Southeast Asian Review of English, Cyril's poetry has been described as "an art that works simply from a personal plane, and from within such a plane we have some of the most sensitive, articulate probings into the nature of one's self that have never been seen before in all of contemporary Singaporean verse."
Books
- Satori Blues (Softblow Press, 2011) ISBN 9789810873615
- oneiros (Firstfruits, 2010) ISBN 9789810845803
- Let Me Tell You Something About That Night (Transit Lounge, 2009) ISBN 9780980571714
- tilting our plates to catch the light (Firstfruits, 2007) ISBN 9789810593858
- Excess Baggage and Claim, co-authored with Terry Jaensch (Transit Lounge, 2007) ISBN 9780975022856
- like a seed with its singular purpose (Firstfruits, 2006) ISBN 9810559305
- unmarked treasure (Firstfruits, 2004) ISBN 981050408X
- below: absence (Firstfruits, 2002) ISBN 9810475926
- the end of his orbit (Firstfruits, 2001) ISBN 9810443293
- squatting quietly (Firstfruits, 2000) ISBN 981042826X
Chapbooks
- You Cannot Count Smoke (Math Paper Press, 2011) ISBN 9789810898380
- The Boy With The Flower That Grew Out Of His Ass (Math Paper Press, 2007) ISBN 9789810583873
Awards
- Singapore Literature PrizeSingapore Literature PrizeThe Singapore Literature Prize is an award in Singapore to recognise outstanding published works by Singaporean authors in any of the four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil....
(2006) - National Arts Council's Young Artist Award (Singapore, 2005)
- Golden Point Award (Singapore, 2004)
External links
- "Into The Abyss We Go", Quarterly Literary Review Singapore
- "In dreams: Cyril Wong's Oneiros", Cha: An Asian Literary Journal
- "Excess Baggage and Claim (Review)", ABC Radio National
- Postcolonial Web: Singaporean Literature
- Audio recordings at The Cortland Review
- Wong's poetry in The Other Voices International Project
- More poems in The Drunken Boat
- More in Shampoo
- More in Cordite
- Poems and prose in the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore
- A long poem in Criticine