“In every cathedral, a man is waiting/ to be ruined.” Three poems by Conan Tan about the life and death, the movement and the stillness, of desire.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 29, 2023Conan TanComment

Queer Bodies

Marylyn Tan’s poem “Queer Bodies” inspires a dramatic response written and directed by Audrey Forman.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 22, 2023Audrey FormanComment

“naked in our times” and “… the enemy has only images, the shaolin say”

If you could speak with Mr. Sulu, what would you say? What about Anna May Wong? Kathleen Hellen knows what she would say.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 22, 2023Kathleen HellenComment

What Paprika Is Really About: And what it meant to Director Satoshi Kon

Branden Zavaleta explains the method in the madness of the anime film "Paprika.”

ReviewJee KohSeptember 15, 2023Branden ZavaletaComment

Absolute Control: Illustrating Marylyn Tan’s “Nasi Kang Kang”

Kelly Sadikun responds to Marylyn Tan’s poem “Nasi Kang Kang” with a fantastic visualization.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 15, 2023Kelly SadikunComment

Viewed Aslant

Eschewing the merely personal in his poetry, Shangyang Fang explores new possibilities in Burying the Mountain, as Kendrick Loo delineates in his review.

ReviewJee KohSeptember 8, 2023Kendrick LooComment

"The Tar Road" and Other Poems

In the poems of Shatrughna Pandab, translator Pitamber Naik urges you to hear the voice of the original inhabitants of Odisha, India, who live like strangers in their own land.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 1, 2023Pitambar Naik, Shatrughna Pandab Comments

Art, Reality, and K-Pop In Between

In Esther Yi’s novel Y/N, the author blurs the line between fiction and fanfiction, as Elise J. Choi explains in her review.

ReviewJee KohAugust 25, 2023Elise J. ChoiComment

#YISHREADS August 2023

Ng Yi-Sheng honors Good Elders and Younger Brothers in this roll-call of books about spirits and spirituality in the modern world.

ReviewJee KohAugust 25, 2023Ng Yi-ShengComment

“On Bewilderment” and Other Poems

What is it like to give birth in America? What is it like to be praised for speaking good English? Three new poems, by Mia Ayumi Malhotra, find a way out of the bewilderment.

PoetryJee KohAugust 18, 2023Mia Ayumi MalhotraComment

Getting Up to Fight

Does terrorism derive from ‘tierra’, Spanish for land, or ‘err’, Greek for incorrect, or is it close to ‘terremoto’, Spanish for earthquake? Jonathan Chan reviews Diaries of a Terrorist by Christopher Soto.

ReviewJee KohAugust 11, 2023Jonathan ChanComment

Winners of the 9th Singapore Poetry Contest

Announcing the winners of the 9th Singapore Poetry Contest, aka, the snail contest.

PoetryJee KohAugust 3, 2023Hanna Stone, Bella Stoddart, Tytti HeikkinenComment

Emotional Curiosity

What is the magnetic hold that Hua exercises over Ming after so many years and across such a wide distance? A new story by Yuan Changming.

FictionJee KohJuly 28, 2023Yuan ChangmingComment

#YISHREADS July 2023

On the menu this month: rojak! Ng Yi-Sheng reviews a collection of randomly themed prose fiction works that caught his interest.

ReviewJee KohJuly 28, 2023Ng Yi-ShengComment

“Morph Sis!” and Other Poems

The body as a vessel of experience. The body out of place. Three visceral poems by Yashasvi Vachhani.

PoetryJee KohJuly 21, 2023Yashasvi VachhaniComment

Autofiction, History, and Beyond

In this conversation between two women writers, Shawna Yang Ryan discusses artistic influences, autofiction, oral history, and motherhood with Fiona Sze-Lorrain.

InterviewJee KohJuly 21, 2023Shawna Yang Ryan, Fiona Sze-LorrainComment

A Poem On The Nature of Things

The dangers of looking are ameliorated by the beauty of singing in two new poems by Ashish Kumar Singh, “A Poem on the Nature of Things” and “Me Looking At Him.”

PoetryJee KohJuly 7, 2023Ashish Kumar SinghComment

#YISHREADS June 2023

Bad gays, old gays, crocodile lesbians, the third sex—Ng Yi-Sheng reviews and reveals the diverse, complex, and multifaceted project that is queerness.

ReviewJee KohJune 30, 2023Ng Yi-ShengComment