Lin Gao (Chief Judge)

Lin Gao is an invited member of the Singapore Association of Writers board of directors. He is an adjunct senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore Department of Chinese Studies. His notable works include The Feeling of Being Chased, Reading by the Window, Flash Fiction by Lin Gao, Poetic Encounter by Lin Gao, and Framing the Worldly Matters. In 2013, Lin spent three months in South Korea as a writer-in-residence under the Toji Cultural Residency programme. Lin was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 2015.

Ng Yean Leng

Dr Ng Yean Leng is Dean of the New Era University College Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She is an associate professor of its Department of Chinese Language and Literature and teaches courses in Malaysian Chinese literature, Chinese corporate culture, and Chinese classical novels. She is the current Executive Director and Vice Secretary of the Malaysia Chinese Writers Association. Currently, Ng is also involved in editing a publication on Malaysian Chinese literature in textbooks.

Yau Ching

Yau Ching is a poet, scholar, and film and video artist from Hong Kong. She is an honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong and visiting scholar at the Academia Sinica, Taiwan. She participated in the Iowa International Writing Program and her poetry collections include Pre-historic Documents, Big Hairy Egg, and The Impossible Home. She won the Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature for poetry. She has also won the Hong Kong Awards for Creative Writing in Chinese (prose) twice and the Words Without Borders international poetry translation prize.

Yong Shu Hoong has authored six poetry collections. Frottage (2005) and The Viewing Party (2013) which both won the Singapore Literature Prize (SLP), and Right of the Soil (2018), which was shortlisted for SLP 2020. His poems and short stories have been published in literary journals like Quarterly Literary Review, Asia Literary Review, and anthologies like Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond.  He is one of the co-authors of The Adopted: Stories from Angkor (2015) and Lost Bodies: Poems Between Portugal and Home (2016). 

Photo credit: Daniel Sim

George Szirtes’s book of poems, Reel (2004) won the T S Eliot Prize and his later works The Burning of the Books and Other Poems (2009) and Bad Machine (2013) were shortlisted for the Prize. George has translated numerous collections of Hungarian poetry and has won several awards for them. His own work has been translated into numerous languages and widely anthologised. His latest collection is Fresh Out of the Sky (2021). His memoir of his mother, The Photographer at Sixteen was awarded the James Tait Black Prize in 2020.

Mary Jo Bang is the author of eight books of poems—including A Doll for Throwing, The Last Two Seconds and Elegy, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her translation of Dante’s Inferno was published in 2012, and the continuation Purgatorio was published in 2021. Bang has received numerous honours and awards for her work, including the Berlin Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Bellagio Foundation. She is a Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where she teaches creative writing.

Photo credit: Matt Valentine

Hamed Ismail (Chief Judge)

Hamed Ismail has won awards for his poetry, short stories and scripts for theatre and television. He has written essays on literature and television dramas. His published works include a poetry collection Suara Dalam and the novel Bunga Tanjong which won the Singapore Literature (SLP) Prize (Merit) in 2017 and the Malay Literary Award (TV drama script) in 2018. Tafsiran Tiga Alam, a poetry anthology by Hamed Ismail and two other poets won the SLP (2016) and the Malay Literary Award (2017).

Kredit foto: Sani Bangi

Lim Swee Tin

Dr. Lim Swee Tin is a laureate from Malaysia whose literary pursuits in poetry, short stories, novels and critical essays span more than 50 years. He has produced more than 100 individual works and an additional 220 anthologies. He has won more than 30 literary prizes and in 2020 he received the S.E.A. Write Award. He has been a panel member and head adjudicator for many literary prizes and awards in Malaysia.

Puti Reno Raudha Thaib

Puti Reno Raudha Thaib or Upita Agustine was born on August 31, 1947 into the royal family of Pagaruyung, West Sumatra. She is the female head of her clan, the Bundo Kanduang. She is a poet, author and cultural practitioner. She is a professor at Andalas University. Her current works deal with Minangkabau and Indonesian identity, and the role of women in Minangkabau (Indonesia) history.

Rathinamala Parimalam (Chief Judge)

Rathinamala Parimalam has an extensive knowledge of Tamil language and literature.  She is a keen observer of trends in Modern Tamil literature and a voracious reader of Tamil books. Rathinamala has been continuously reading books for more than 50 years. She is a Senior Curriculum specialist and has been involved in the development of Primary and Secondary Schools’ Tamil instructional materials for the past eight years. Rathinamala Parimalam has an M.A. in Tamil Language and Literature.

T. Sumathy

Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian is an acclaimed Tamil poet whose areas of interest include post–colonial literatures, diasporic literatures, translation, criticism and the performing arts. She has published 20 publications in Tamil including award-winning publications such as Enjottue Penn and Vanapechi which have been adopted as literature texts. Sumathy has won multiple awards for her works including the prestigious Pavendhar Bharathidasan Virudhu 2009, the Kalaignar Porkizhi Award 2013 and the Justice M.M. Ismail Memorial Award 2017.

Yuma Vasuki

Yuma Vasuki’s birth name is D. Marimuthu. He has a Diploma in Fine Arts from the Kumbakonam Arts and Crafts College and his paintings have been included in various exhibitions. Yuma has written 12 books in various genres and translated over a hundred books from Malayalam to Tamil. He has been the editor-in-chief of five children’s magazine and is the publisher of the literary magazine, Kuthiraiveeran Payanam. Yuma is the recipient of various awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award and the Padaippu Kuzhumam Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lee Huay Leng (Chief Judge)

Lee Huay Leng is the Head of the Chinese Media Group of Singapore Press Holdings. She was a Lianhe Zaobao foreign correspondent in Hong Kong and the Bureau Chief in Beijing. When writing poems, she goes by the pen name Fei Xin. She has published a number of works including Hong Kong Sentiments Revealed, Every Cautious Step, Forgotten into Water. She has also co-edited several books, the more recent ones include In the Founders’ Footsteps: 30 years of Singapore-China diplomatic relations and George Yeo on Bonsai, Banyan and the Tao.

Shiu Wen Wei

Professor Shiu Wen Wei is a poet and Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the National Taiwan Normal University. He has a Master’s degree and PhD in journalism from the National Chengchi University. He was the chief editor for poetry publications such as The Epoch Poetry Quarterly and Chien Kun Poetry Quarterly. His works include poetry collections, as well as academic publications on literature and literary reportage.

Woo Kam Loon

Malaysia-born Woo Kam Loon is a humanities graduate from the University of Science, Malaysia. He also has a Master’s degree in Chinese Literature from the National Chengchi University. With previous work experience at Macmillan Publishing and Linking Publishing, he is a Chief Editor at China Times Publishing. He has won a number of literary awards at various levels both in Malaysia and Taiwan.

Photo Credit: 張峻健 (Zhang Junjian)

Gene Tan is the Assistant Chief Executive at the National Library Board. Prior to this, as the Executive Director of the Singapore Bicentennial Office, he helmed the planning of the commemoration including its flagship event.  Gene was also the Creative Director of The Future of Us Exhibition, a multimedia national exhibition which capped Singapore’s 50th year of independence. He also created the Singapore Memory Project and was the President of the Library Association of Singapore.

Christopher Merrill has published seven collections of poetry; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War, and Self-Portrait with Dogwood. His writings have been translated into nearly forty languages; his journalism appears widely. His honours include a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government and numerous translation awards. He has been the director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000.

Kate Griffin is Associate Head of Programmes at the National Centre for Writing in Norwich, UK. She focuses on international partnerships, literary translation and residencies, both virtual and in-person. Kate previously worked for the British Centre for Literary Translation, Arts Council England, British Council Russia and as a freelancer for organisations including PEN International, the London Review of Books, Wasafiri and And Other Stories. In the 1990s she lived and worked in Brussels and Moscow. Her photography blog is kategriffin.org.

Mardiana Abu Bakar (Chief Judge)

A former journalist and feature writer, Dr Mardiana Abu Bakar is now a lecturer and programme leader at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. She has been published by leading academic publishers such as Pearson Education South East Asia, Springer Nature and Routledge. A critical scholar interested in issues of curriculum access and equity, Mardiana believes that schools are places of possibilities, and her passion is to contribute towards nurturing reflexive educators.

Aprinus Salam

Aprinus Salam heads the Masters programme in Literary Studies at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and Pakem Literacy Village Yogyakarta. A former member of UGM’s Academic Senate, he held key positions at the Cultural Studies Centre of UGM and at the Cultural Office of Yogyakarta. His published nonfiction works include Opposition of Sufi Literature; Let Him Die; Politics and the Culture of Crime; Literature, State and Politics; Theoretical Fragments, and Errors and Offences in Language. He has published two poetry collections.

Maman S Mahayana

Literary critic and award-winning writer Maman S. Mahayana has lectured at several international universities in Seoul, Paris, Azerbaijan, Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia. He lectures at the University of Indonesia and is well known for his prose, poetry and articles related to literature. Maman has received more than 13 awards including the MASTERA Literary Award for Nonfiction for his book Nine Answers to Indonesian Literature. He was conferred the Sagang Regional Award for his contributions to Malay culture.

Neelakandan Sivanantham (Chief Judge)

Neelakandan Sivanantham is a voracious reader, both in English and Tamil. His essay collection Dissolving Moral Limits, 2019, won the M. K. Ramachandra Memorial Book Prize in 2021. His other work in Tamil, Singapore Tamil Community - History and Fiction, is a compilation of research articles. He is a volunteer editor of The Serangoon Times, a Tamil monthly published in Singapore since 2015.

M. Gopalakrishnan

M. Gopalakrishnan, hails from a handloom weaving family. He was born in Tiruppur, Coimbatore, a district of Tamil Nadu and holds a Postgraduate in Commerce and Hindi. Gopalakrishnan writes in Tamil and has published four novels; Amman Nesavu, Manal Kadigai, Manai Maatchi and Theertha Yaathirai, four short story collections, three nonfiction collections and an anthology of poems. He also translates from English into Hindi.

S. Thenmozhi

S. Thenmozhi was born in an ancient Indian city Thiruvavur in Tamil Nadu. She holds a Ph.D in Art History from the Tamil University, Thanjavur. Thenmozhi has authored more than 13 books in various genres and is published in The Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing. She was selected by the Indian Express as one of the 10 best young writers of India in 2018, honoured by the Sparrow Awards in 2011 and by Barathidasan University for the Best Woman Achievers Award in 2015.

Li Zishu

Li Zishu was born in Malaysia in 1971. She won the Hua Zong Literature Award organised by the Sin Chew Daily of Malaysia on multiple occasions. She is the recipient of numerous awards for Chinese literature, including those organised by Taiwan United Daily News and Taiwan Times. In 2016, she was awarded the Nanyang Chinese Literature Award. She has published more than 10 works, including the novels An Age of Farewell, Fulfilled Land, and a flash fiction collection, The Rest of Your Life.

Wang Anyi

Wang Anyi has published 15 long novels, including The Song of Everlasting Sorrow and The Knife and Words, a series of eight medium-length novels and eight novellas. She has also written short stories, plays, and essays. Wang has won many awards, amongst them the Mao Dun Literature Prize. Her works have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Israeli, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai etc. She is a professor at Fudan University and Vice Chairperson of the Chinese Writers Association.

Balli Kaur Jaswal is the author of four novels, including Singapore Literature Prize finalist Sugarbread, and the international bestseller Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows. Translation rights to this novel have been sold to 11 countries including France, Spain, Italy, China and Sweden. Jaswal's nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's Bazaar and Salon.com, among other publications. Currently a lecturer at Yale-NUS College, she is preparing for the 2023 release of her upcoming novel.

Shirley Geok-lin Lim has published poetry and short story collections, novels, and edited numerous literary and critical anthologies. She won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1980 with her first poetry collection Crossing the Peninsula and received the American Book Award for her memoir Among the White Moon Faces. She is the recipient of Multi-ethnic Literatures of the United States and Feminist Press Lifetime Achievement Awards. Her more recent poetry collections, Do You Live In? and  Ars Poetica for the Day are published by Singapore publisher Ethos Books.

Xu Xi is an Indonesian-Chinese from Hong Kong and author of fourteen books of fiction and nonfiction. Her work has been anthologised internationally and her novel Habit of a Foreign Sky was shortlisted for the inaugural Mana Asia Literary Prize in 2007. Xu Xi’s new titles include The Art and Craft of Asian Stories (2021) and Monkey in Residence and Other Speculations (2023). She co-founded Authors at Large and is the William H.P. Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters.

Isa Kamari (Chief Judge)

Isa Kamari writes in genres such as fiction, poetry, essays, theatre scripts and song lyrics. His works in Malay have been translated into languages such as English, Turkish, Urdu, Arabic, Indonesian, Spanish, Thai, Korean, French and Chinese. His first novel in English, Tweet was published in 2016. Isa was conferred the S.E.A Write Award (2006), the Singapore Cultural Medallion (2007), the Tun Seri Lanang Award from Malay Language Council, Singapore (2009), and the MASTERA Literary Award from Brunei Darussalam (2018).

Norhayati Ab. Rahman

Dr. Norhayati Ab. Rahman lectures at the University of Malaya in Comparative Literature, Literary Criticism, and Literarure and Gender. She has published numerous academic writings and has presented over 100 papers. Her book Indonesian and Malaysian Women’s Literary Poetry won the Malaysia Premier’s Literary Award (2013) and the National Academic Award (2014). Her experience as an assessor includes the S.E.A Write Award (Malaysia), Malaysia Premier’s Literary Award, Utusan Group Literary Prize, MASTERA Literary Prize, and Kuala Lumpur World Book Capital Prize.

Seno Gumira Ajidarma

Seno Gumira Ajidarma was born in 1958. He became a journalist in 1977 and is now part of PanaJournal.com. He writes both fiction and nonfiction, which are published in mass media and scientific journals, and has received several literary awards. Formally educated in cinematography, philosophy, and literature, he currently teaches cultural studies at some institutes of higher learning. His published works include comics and novels and amount to more than 40 titles. He is currently working on silat chronicle Nagabumi.

Sithuraj Ponraj (Chief Judge)

Sithuraj Ponraj lives and works in Singapore. He writes in English, Tamil and Spanish and has written in various genres including young adult books in Tamil between 2016-2020. His book, Maariligal won the Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) for Tamil fiction in 2016 and his poetry collection It is Easy to be an Italian won the SLP for Tamil Poetry in 2020. He has completed his first English collections, Keynesian Crocodiles and an untitled short story collection. Both will be published in late 2022.

A. Vennila

Dr. A. Vennila is an eminent poet and writer of short stories and historical novels. She has compiled the writings of 54 popular women writers, is the co-editor The Private Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, a 12-volume diary of a 18th century Governor of Pondicherry and has republished the works of popular Historian Pa. Sivanadi's works. She is currently writing a series in Ananda Vikatan, a Tamil language weekly on the Mullaperiyar dam, titled Neeradhikaram.

R. Suneel Krishnan

Dr R. Suneel Krishnan, a Tamil writer, has authored 15 books including three short story collections and a novel. His first short story collection, Bed of Arrows (Ambu Padukai) won him the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar Award in 2018. He has also written books on Gandhi and critical essays on various modern Tamil writers. The latest collection, Ascending Light (Valaroli) looks at the works of nine young Tamil authors. Suneel has also translated books from English to Tamil.