Yeng Pway Ngon wins SEA Write Award

Writer Yeng Pway Ngon is this year's Singapore winner of the South East Asian Writers Award (SEA Write Award), given annually in Thailand to ASEAN authors for literary excellence.

The writer, noted for his novels in Chinese, receives an all-expenses paid trip to Bangkok for the awards ceremony on Oct 14.

He says he is "very happy" about the award and the trip will be a birthday present for his wife and translator Goh Beng Choo.

She turns 62 on the day of the prize- giving and has translated several of his works into English.

"Since we married almost 40 years ago, we seldom go on holiday, so it will be quite special to go with my wife," says Yeng, 66, who received the Cultural Medallion for literature in 2003.

The SEA Write Award is his latest accolade following the Singapore Literature Prize for his 2011 novel Art Studio.

The book follows a group of artists as they explore themes of life, love and loneliness and was named one of the top 10 books of 2011 by influential Hong Kong weekly Yazhou Zhoukan.

An English translation of the book by Madam Goh and teacher Loh Guan Liang will be out next year from Singapore imprint Math Paper Press.

Italian publisher Metropoli d'Asia is bringing out an Italian version by the end of the year.

Yeng, who has a grown-up daughter, has published 25 books, including five novels, two collections of short stories, three volumes of poetry, two collections of stage plays and 11 volumes of essays.

His novels Tumult (2002), about political unrest in the 1950s, and Trivialities About Me And Myself (2006), in which the Chinese-educated protagonist finds himself out of touch in the English-speaking modern day, also won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

He remains worried that his writing will not measure up to reader's expectations and says receiving the SEA Write Award has been reassuring.

"I'm very happy about this award because it means my work has been recognised," he says.

"When I write, I have an invisible reader in my mind who watches me and gives me the passion to continue. The award is like a visible reader and I know I'm doing something right."

The SEA Write Award has been given out annually by the Thai government since 1979 and honours writers from each of the 10 member countries of the Association of South-east Asian Nations.

The winners may be poets, novelists or writers of short stories and are selected by peers in their countries.

They may win for individual works or for a lifetime's contribution to literature, as in the case of last year's winner Suchen Christine Lim

Lim was on the selection committee for Singapore this year and the 12- member group was chaired by noted Chinese poet and Cultural Medallion recipient Wong Yoon Wah.

A spokesman for the National Book Development Council of Singapore, which administers the award here, says Yeng won for work that "is noted for its examination of the modern human condition" and "for his outstanding literary merit and his many years of contributions to the literary community in Singapore".

akshitan@sph.com.sg

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