Yong Shu Hoong
Born1966
OccupationPoet, tutor at Nanyang Technological University
NationalitySingaporean
Alma materSt. Gabriel's Primary School
Raffles Institution
Raffles Junior College
National University of Singapore
Texas A&M University

Yong Shu Hoong (born 1966) is a Singaporean poet and educator.

Biography

Yong was born in Singapore in 1966. He grew up in a bilingual household and published his first story in a Chinese student literary magazine.[1]

Yong studied Computer Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS) after his National Service, and worked as a programmer at the Development Bank of Singapore in 1990. It was at NUS that he began writing. He was a contributor to the campus newspaper, and would regularly publish tabloid articles.

Two years later, Yong left his job at DBS and enrolled in Texas A&M University to read for a Masters in Business Administration. Hee started writing poetry in the form of love songs, emulating New Wave bands he looked up to like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. Later, he joined the literary magazine Inkshed Press.[2]

Yong is a part-time tutor at Nanyang Technological University, and is a regular contributor to newspapers like The Straits Times and My Paper.

Literary activities

In 1994, Yong submitted a manuscript of forty to fifty poems to the Singapore Literature Prize and was shortlisted. It was through this that he met Enoch Ng, who would prove instrumental in his literary career. Ng's eventual founding of Firstfruits Publications gave Yong a platform on which to present his work, and his shrewdness of editing provided Yong with a literary rigor he had not been exposed to previously. Enoch would go on to publish four of Yong's poetry collections under the publishing house Firstfruits Publications.[3]

Yong's work has also appeared in journals like the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore,[4] Asia Literary Review, and anthologies like Language for a New Century (2008) and Balik Kampung (2012).[5]

Apart from writing, Yong has also contributed to the growth of the literary scene in various ways. In 2001, Yong founded subTEXT, a forum for readings by authors.[6] He also managed the Mentor Access Project through Mediaexodus Limited Liability Partnership, which provided aspiring writers exposure to the Singaporean literary scene, and gave them access to guidance from older writers.[7]

Works

Poetry
Title Year Publisher ISBN Notes
Isaac: Poems 1997 Firstfruits Publications ISBN 978-981-00-9473-7
Isaac: Revisited 2001 Ethos Books ISBN 9810437048
Dowhile 2002 Firstfruits Publications ISBN 9810468628
Frottage 2005 Firstfruits Publications ISBN 9810528892 Singapore Literature Prize for English Poetry (2006)
From Within the Marrow 2010 Firstfruits Publications ISBN 978-981-08-6033-2
The Viewing Party 2013 Ethos Books ISBN 978-981-11-0974-4 Singapore Literature Prize for Poetry (2014)
Lost Bodies: Poems Between Portugal and Home 2016 Ethos Books ISBN 978-981-11-0974-4 with Phan Ming Yen, Heng Siok Tian and Yeow Kai Chai
Right of the Soil 2018 Ethos Books ISBN 978-981-09-6092-6
Prose
Title Year Publisher ISBN Notes
The Adopted: Stories from Angkor 2015 Ethos Books ISBN 978-981-09-4458-2 with Phan Ming Yen, Heng Siok Tian and Yeow Kai Chai


Edited Anthologies
Title Year Publisher ISBN Notes
Passages: Stories of Unspoken Journeys 2013 Ethos Books ISBN 978-981-07-7695-4
Here Now There After 2018 Marshall Cavendish ISBN 978-981-47-7903-6

References

  1. ↑ Kirpal Singh (1998). Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature. Ethos Books. ISBN 978-981-04-0880-0.
  2. ↑ "Yong Shu Hoong". Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  3. ↑ Singapore, National Library Board. "Yong Shu Hoong | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 2018-03-26. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  4. ↑ "QLRS Contributor : Yong Shu Hoong". www.qlrs.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-18. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  5. ↑ "Balik Kampung". www.goodreads.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  6. ↑ "QLRS - Criticism : Willing to Share | Vol. 9 No. 4 Oct 2010". www.qlrs.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-22. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  7. ↑ "NAC - Literary Mentorship Project". www.nac.gov.sg. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
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