Paul Tan (poet)

Paul Tan Kim Liang (born 1970) is a Singaporean poet and current deputy chief executive of the National Arts Council (NAC) of Singapore.

Biography[edit]

Tan only started writing poetry seriously during National Service. He attained his Bachelor of Arts (Second Upper Honours) in English Language and Literature from the National University of Singapore.^[1] During his undergraduate years, Tan won consecutive first prizes in the NUS Literary Society poetry competition in 1992 and 1993.^[2] He graduated with a Masters of Arts in Culture and Communications from the University of East Anglia in 2004.^[1]

He worked as a broadcast journalist with the Television Corporation of Singapore (now Mediacorp).^[1] He then worked as Deputy Head, Editorial Promotion and Branding with the Singapore Press Holdings between 2004 and 2007.^[1] He also served as the Director (Strategic Marketing and Communications) in the Singapore Tourism Board until 31 January 2011.^[1] He was appointed as the festival director of the Singapore Writers Festival (SWF) in 2010^[1] and served as the festival director of the SWF between 2011 and 2014,^[3] handing the position over to poet Yeow Kai Chai. He was then appointed as the NAC's deputy chief executive, taking over from Yvonne Tham.^[4]

Literary career[edit]

Tan's early work has been described as having "a unique disposition for observation and reflection, with the occasional cheekiness and lightly interrogative gesture."^[5] His first poetry collection, Curious Roads (1994), won the Commendation award at the Singapore Literature Prize 1993.^[2] Curious Roads focuses largely on the poet's growing up years and his time during national service^[2] and has been described as "personal".^[6]

Tan's second poetry collection, Driving Into Rain (1998), won the Merit award at the Singapore Literature Prize 1997.^[2] His second collection seeks to project the poet's relationship with the larger world ^[2] and according to poet Dr Cyril Wong, "regularly stops short of divulging enough about the poet’s persona for readers to enter a more rewarding and connective relationship with the poetry".^[5]

Tan's third collection, First Meeting of Hands, represented a departure from his previous style of writing and contains poems that "achieve a balance between social critique and the characterisation of a distinct and authentic—even if disillusioned and resentful—Singaporean voice".^[5]

Tan has also penned the lyrics to the National Day Parade 2012 song "Love at First Light", composed by Iskandar Ismail, and sung by Olivia Ong and Natanya Tan.^[2]

Tan's fifth collection, When the lights went off, captures the sentiment of middle age and the poet's changing priorities towards love and mortality.^[7]

Works[edit]

Poetry[edit]

Short stories[edit]

References[edit]