fbpx
Wikipedia

Gwee Li Sui

October 17, 2023

Gwee Li Sui (Chinese: 魏俐瑞; pinyin: Wèi Lìruì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Gūi Līsūi; Korean: 위리서; born 22 August 1970) is a poet, a graphic artist, a literary critic, and a translator from Singapore.

Biography Edit

Gwee went to the now-defunct MacRitchie Primary School and then Anglo-Chinese Secondary School and Anglo-Chinese Junior College. In 1995, he graduated from the National University of Singapore with a First-Class Honours degree in English literature and was awarded the NUS Society Gold Medal for Best Student in English. His Honours thesis was on Günter Grass's novel The Tin Drum (German: Die Blechtrommel). His Master's thesis was on Hermann Broch's novel The Death of Virgil (German: Der Tod des Vergil).[1]

In 1999, Gwee began his doctoral research on the period from the English Enlightenment to early German Romanticism at Queen Mary, University of London. His eventual thesis was on the discursive influence of Newtonianism on the poetry of Richard Blackmore, Alexander Pope, and Novalis.[2] From 2003 to 2009, he worked as an assistant professor at the NUS Department of English Language and Literature.

Gwee has been a full-time writer since leaving academia. A popular speaker, he continues to instruct at various universities and institutions. He is sought for his opinions on literature, language, and religion and has been on the evaluation panel for several top literary awards in Singapore, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. In 2010, he was an international writer- and critic-in-residence at the Toji Cultural Centre in South Korea.[3]

From 2008 to 2011, Gwee hosted public interviews with Singaporean cultural figures at the independent bookstore BooksActually. From 2013 to 2017, he ran The Arts House's "Sing Lit 101: How to Read a Singaporean Poem" and gave five seasons of public lectures on important Singaporean poems.[4] From 2018 to 2022, he led National Library Board's "How to Fall in Love with Classics" series for ten seasons, focusing on literary classics in different mediums and genres. He also fronted Yahoo! Singapore's flagship TV programme "Singlish with Uncle Gwee" for four seasons from 2018 to 2020.[5]

Works Edit

Gwee wrote what is considered Singapore’s first long-form graphic novel in English Myth of the Stone, published in 1993. Earlier such collections had involved short comic stories. Myth of the Stone is part-children's story, part-fantasy, and part-allegory and follows a boy's adventures in a realm of mismatched mythical creatures. A twentieth-anniversary edition, with two new related stories among its bonuses, was published by Epigram Books in 2013.

Gwee's poetry is known for its versatility and involves a wide range of styles and moods. His first book of verse was the well-loved Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems?, published in 1998. It is full of linguistic play, Singlish rhymes, and jabs at social history and culture.[6] About half of Who Wants to Buy an Expanded Edition of a Book of Poems?, published in 2015, concerns all the poems that could not be published in the first edition. The Straits Times named it one of the 50 greatest works of Singaporean literature in 2021.[7]

Gwee also famously writes on and in Singlish. In 2017, He published Spiaking Singlish: A Companion to How Singaporeans Communicate, which is hailed by pioneering Singlish writer Sylvia Toh as "the definitive book on Singlish".[8] In 2019, he translated Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince into Singlish. The Leeter Tunku became the first literary classic to appear in Singlish.[9] In 2021, his translations of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit and selected Brothers Grimm's Children's and Household Tales were released.

As an editor, Gwee worked on one of two seminal volumes on Singaporean and Malaysian literature in English Sharing Borders: Studies in Contemporary Singaporean-Malaysian Literature, published in 2009. His introduction exposes the problems of ideology that continue to plague the countries' literature in the name of postcolonial studies.

In 2010, Gwee edited the popular fiction collection Telltale: Eleven Stories, which was adopted as a Literature O-Level text. In 2011, his human rights-based anthology Man/Born/Free: Writings on the Human Spirit from Singapore pays tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela and was launched in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2015, he edited the two-volume Singathology: 50 New Works by Celebrated Singaporean Writers, a commemoration of Singapore's golden jubilee.

Controversies Edit

In 2009, during the AWARE Saga, Gwee wrote an influential Facebook note to advise fellow Christians against supporting covert action.[10] The AWARE saga was an event in Singapore's feminist, human rights, and LGBT history that involved the leadership of Association of Women for Action and Research.[11] In his note, Gwee objected to imposing religious beliefs on a secular organisation and warned against the implications on Christian witness.[12]

In 2014, the National Library Board controversially announced that it was pulping three children's books following a user's complaint that they had LGBT themes that undermined family values. Gwee, with fellow writers Adrian Tan, Prem Anand, and Felix Cheong, cancelled their library event on humour. He further declined to give his keynote speech at a National Schools Literature Festival that weekend.[13] Two books were eventually moved to the adults' section.[14]

In 2014, when Gwee was among the Singapore Literature Prize's English poetry judges, poet Grace Chia, whose collection Cordelia was shortlisted, accused the prize of sexism. Gwee responded by saying, "All entries have an equal chance of consideration for winning, and we discussed it based on that point alone, and on the strengths of the collections."[15] The other poetry judges were prominent female poet Leong Liew Geok and poet Boey Kim Cheng.[16] Gwee, in fact, wrote the preface to Cordelia.

In 2016, Gwee wrote an editorial in The New York Times on the growth of Singlish through the years.[17] It was responded to in a statement by the Press Secretary of the Prime Minister of Singapore and sparked a national debate.[18][19]

Select bibliography Edit

Graphic novels Edit

  • Myth of the Stone (East Asia Book Services, 1993) ISBN 978-981-00-4837-2
  • Myth of the Stone: 20th Anniversary Edition (Epigram Books, 2013) ISBN 978-981-07-6616-0
  • Old Man Solve Mystery (Self-published, 2018) ISBN 978-981-11-8605-9

Poetry Edit

Non-fiction Edit

Translations Edit

Picture book Edit

Fiction Edit

Monograph Edit

Edited volumes Edit

  • Sharing Borders: Studies in Contemporary Singaporean-Malaysian Literature II (National Library Board and National Arts Council Singapore, 2009) ISBN 978-981-08-3912-3 (hbk), ISBN 978-981-08-3913-0 (pbk)
  • From the Window of the Epoch: An Anthology of Malaysian and Singaporean Poems, edited with Shamsudin Othman, Mohamed Pitchay Gani bin Mohamed Abdul Aziz, Tan Chee Lay, and Seetha Lakshmi (National Institute of Translation Malaysia and National Arts Council Singapore, 2010) ISBN 978-983-068-480-2
  • Telltale: Eleven Stories (Ethos Books and National Arts Council Singapore, 2010) ISBN 978-981-08-6152-0
  • Man/Born/Free: Writings on the Human Spirit from Singapore (Ethos Books, 2011) ISBN 978-981-08-8277-8
  • Edwin Thumboo - Time Travelling: A Select Annotated Bibliography (With Recollections and Critical Essays), edited with Michelle Heng (National Library Board Singapore, 2012). ISBN 978-981-07-3347-6 (hbk), ISBN 978-981-07-3348-3 (pbk)
  • Singathology: 50 New Works by Celebrated Singaporean Writers, 2 volumes (National Arts Council Singapore and Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2015) ISBN 9789814721462, ISBN 978-981-47-2147-9
  • Written Country: The History of Singapore through Literature (Landmark Books, 2016) ISBN 978-981-41-8966-8
  • Places: A Graphic Anthology on the East of Singapore (National Library Board Singapore, 2016) ISBN 978-981-11-0389-6
  • Stranger to My World: The Covid Diary of a Bangladeshi Migrant Worker, by MD Sharif Uddin (Landmark Books, 2021) ISBN 978-981-18-0482-3

References Edit

  1. ^ "Delve into the Minds of Local Luminaries". NUS Libraries. National University of Singapore.
  2. ^ "Recently Completed Projects". School of English and Drama. Queen Mary, University of London.
  3. ^ . National Arts Council Singapore. National Arts Council Singapore. Archived from the original on 2012-04-11.
  4. ^ "Sing Lit 101: How To Read A Singaporean Poem". Singapore Research Nexus. National University of Singapore.
  5. ^ "What the Verizon Media rebrand means for Southeast Asia". Campaign. Campaign Asia-Pacific.
  6. ^ Pang, Alvin. "Excue me, I'm tue kiasue to queue in this haiku". Verbosity.
  7. ^ Ho, Olivia (12 December 2021). "The 50 Greatest Works in SingLit". The Straits Times.
  8. ^ "Ho Say Ah! Can Buy a Brand Bew Singlish Book Liao!". Yahoo! Style. Yahoo! Singapore. 20 October 2017.
  9. ^ Lim, 林嘉欣 (2020). "翻译功能与译语文化 ：以目的论来探析新加坡式英语译版的《小王子》". Digital Repository of NTU. Nanyang Technological University.
  10. ^ Low, Aaron; Au Yong, Jeremy; Zakir Hussain (2 May 2009). "Should Faith-driven Groups Take over Secular Oorganisations" (PDF). The Straits Times.
  11. ^ Ho, Stephanie. "Association of Women for Action and Research". Infopedia. National Library Singapore.
  12. ^ "Christians Against AWARE Takeover!". Facebook. 29 April 2009.
  13. ^ Nanda, Akshita (13 July 2014). "NLB 'Saddened by' Reaction over its Removal of Three Books with Homosexuality Themes, Says Chief Executive". The Straits Times.
  14. ^ Tan, Dawn Wei (18 July 2014). "NLB Saga: Two Removed Children's Books will Go into Adult Section at Library". The Straits Times.
  15. ^ Tan, Corrie (9 November 2014). . AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  16. ^ Tan, Corrie (6 November 2014). "Gender bias allegations over Singapore Literature Prize English Poetry results". The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  17. ^ Sui, Gwee Li (13 May 2016). "Opinion | do You Speak Singlish?". The New York Times.
  18. ^ . Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  19. ^ Au-Yong, Rachel (2016-05-24). "PM's press secretary rebuts NYT op-ed on Singlish". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2019-01-21.

October 17, 2023
gwee, chinese, 魏俐瑞, pinyin, wèi, lìruì, gūi, līsūi, korean, 위리서, born, august, 1970, poet, graphic, artist, literary, critic, translator, from, singapore, contents, biography, works, controversies, select, bibliography, graphic, novels, poetry, fiction, transl. Gwee Li Sui Chinese 魏俐瑞 pinyin Wei Lirui Pe h ōe ji Gui Lisui Korean 위리서 born 22 August 1970 is a poet a graphic artist a literary critic and a translator from Singapore Contents 1 Biography 2 Works 3 Controversies 4 Select bibliography 4 1 Graphic novels 4 2 Poetry 4 3 Non fiction 4 4 Translations 4 5 Picture book 4 6 Fiction 4 7 Monograph 4 8 Edited volumes 5 ReferencesBiography EditGwee went to the now defunct MacRitchie Primary School and then Anglo Chinese Secondary School and Anglo Chinese Junior College In 1995 he graduated from the National University of Singapore with a First Class Honours degree in English literature and was awarded the NUS Society Gold Medal for Best Student in English His Honours thesis was on Gunter Grass s novel The Tin Drum German Die Blechtrommel His Master s thesis was on Hermann Broch s novel The Death of Virgil German Der Tod des Vergil 1 In 1999 Gwee began his doctoral research on the period from the English Enlightenment to early German Romanticism at Queen Mary University of London His eventual thesis was on the discursive influence of Newtonianism on the poetry of Richard Blackmore Alexander Pope and Novalis 2 From 2003 to 2009 he worked as an assistant professor at the NUS Department of English Language and Literature Gwee has been a full time writer since leaving academia A popular speaker he continues to instruct at various universities and institutions He is sought for his opinions on literature language and religion and has been on the evaluation panel for several top literary awards in Singapore Southeast Asia and East Asia In 2010 he was an international writer and critic in residence at the Toji Cultural Centre in South Korea 3 From 2008 to 2011 Gwee hosted public interviews with Singaporean cultural figures at the independent bookstore BooksActually From 2013 to 2017 he ran The Arts House s Sing Lit 101 How to Read a Singaporean Poem and gave five seasons of public lectures on important Singaporean poems 4 From 2018 to 2022 he led National Library Board s How to Fall in Love with Classics series for ten seasons focusing on literary classics in different mediums and genres He also fronted Yahoo Singapore s flagship TV programme Singlish with Uncle Gwee for four seasons from 2018 to 2020 5 Works EditGwee wrote what is considered Singapore s first long form graphic novel in English Myth of the Stone published in 1993 Earlier such collections had involved short comic stories Myth of the Stone is part children s story part fantasy and part allegory and follows a boy s adventures in a realm of mismatched mythical creatures A twentieth anniversary edition with two new related stories among its bonuses was published by Epigram Books in 2013 Gwee s poetry is known for its versatility and involves a wide range of styles and moods His first book of verse was the well loved Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems published in 1998 It is full of linguistic play Singlish rhymes and jabs at social history and culture 6 About half of Who Wants to Buy an Expanded Edition of a Book of Poems published in 2015 concerns all the poems that could not be published in the first edition The Straits Times named it one of the 50 greatest works of Singaporean literature in 2021 7 Gwee also famously writes on and in Singlish In 2017 He published Spiaking Singlish A Companion to How Singaporeans Communicate which is hailed by pioneering Singlish writer Sylvia Toh as the definitive book on Singlish 8 In 2019 he translated Antoine de Saint Exupery s The Little Prince into Singlish The Leeter Tunku became the first literary classic to appear in Singlish 9 In 2021 his translations of Beatrix Potter s The Tale of Peter Rabbit and selected Brothers Grimm s Children s and Household Tales were released As an editor Gwee worked on one of two seminal volumes on Singaporean and Malaysian literature in English Sharing Borders Studies in Contemporary Singaporean Malaysian Literature published in 2009 His introduction exposes the problems of ideology that continue to plague the countries literature in the name of postcolonial studies In 2010 Gwee edited the popular fiction collection Telltale Eleven Stories which was adopted as a Literature O Level text In 2011 his human rights based anthology Man Born Free Writings on the Human Spirit from Singapore pays tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela and was launched in Cape Town South Africa In 2015 he edited the two volume Singathology 50 New Works by Celebrated Singaporean Writers a commemoration of Singapore s golden jubilee Controversies EditIn 2009 during the AWARE Saga Gwee wrote an influential Facebook note to advise fellow Christians against supporting covert action 10 The AWARE saga was an event in Singapore s feminist human rights and LGBT history that involved the leadership of Association of Women for Action and Research 11 In his note Gwee objected to imposing religious beliefs on a secular organisation and warned against the implications on Christian witness 12 In 2014 the National Library Board controversially announced that it was pulping three children s books following a user s complaint that they had LGBT themes that undermined family values Gwee with fellow writers Adrian Tan Prem Anand and Felix Cheong cancelled their library event on humour He further declined to give his keynote speech at a National Schools Literature Festival that weekend 13 Two books were eventually moved to the adults section 14 In 2014 when Gwee was among the Singapore Literature Prize s English poetry judges poet Grace Chia whose collection Cordelia was shortlisted accused the prize of sexism Gwee responded by saying All entries have an equal chance of consideration for winning and we discussed it based on that point alone and on the strengths of the collections 15 The other poetry judges were prominent female poet Leong Liew Geok and poet Boey Kim Cheng 16 Gwee in fact wrote the preface to Cordelia In 2016 Gwee wrote an editorial in The New York Times on the growth of Singlish through the years 17 It was responded to in a statement by the Press Secretary of the Prime Minister of Singapore and sparked a national debate 18 19 Select bibliography EditGraphic novels Edit Myth of the Stone East Asia Book Services 1993 ISBN 978 981 00 4837 2 Myth of the Stone 20th Anniversary Edition Epigram Books 2013 ISBN 978 981 07 6616 0 Old Man Solve Mystery Self published 2018 ISBN 978 981 11 8605 9Poetry Edit Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems Landmark Books 1998 ISBN 981 3065 19 2 One Thousand and One Nights Landmark Books 2014 ISBN 978 981 4189 53 8 Who Wants to Buy an Expanded Edition of a Book of Poems Landmark Books 2015 ISBN 978 981 4189 62 0 The Other Merlion and Friends Landmark Books 2015 ISBN 978 981 4189 63 7 Haikuku Landmark Books 2017 ISBN 978 981 4189 71 2 Death Wish Landmark Books 2017 ISBN 978 981 4189 79 8 This Floating World Landmark Books 2021 ISBN 978 981 1485 61 9Non fiction Edit Fear No Poetry An Essential Guide to Close Reading Ethos Books 2014 ISBN 978 981 09 0414 2 Spiaking Singlish A Companion to How Singaporeans Communicate Marshall Cavendish International 2017 ISBN 978 981 47 9418 3 The Leeter Spiaking Singlish Book 1 End Particles Marshall Cavendish International 2022 ISBN 978 981 4974 74 5 The Leeter Spiaking Singlish Book 2 Idioms Marshall Cavendish International 2022 ISBN 978 981 5009 61 3 The Leeter Spiaking Singlish Book 3 Loanwords Marshall Cavendish International 2022 ISBN 978 981 5009 65 1Translations Edit The Leeter Tunku Edition Tintenfass 2019 ISBN 978 3 947994 17 5 Singlish translation of Antoine de Saint Exupery s The Little Prince The Tale of Peter Labbit Edition Tintenfass 2021 ISBN 978 3 947994 71 7 Singlish English edition of Beatrix Potter s The Tale of Peter Rabbit Grimms Fairy Tales in Singlish Ten Chewren s and Household Tales Edition Tintenfass 2021 ISBN 978 3 947994 95 3 Singlish translation of the Brothers Grimm s Children s and Household Tales Winnie da Pooh in Singlish Edition Tintenfass 2023 ISBN 978 3 98651 041 1 Singlish translation of A A Milne s Winnie the Pooh Picture book Edit Amazing Things Yinthway Foundation 2019 ISBN 978 99971 54 30 9Fiction Edit 2719 Ethos Books 2020 ISBN 978 981 14 3112 8Monograph Edit Mein Kampf Re Examined NUS Department of English Language and Literature 1996 ISBN 978 981 00 8146 1Edited volumes Edit Sharing Borders Studies in Contemporary Singaporean Malaysian Literature II National Library Board and National Arts Council Singapore 2009 ISBN 978 981 08 3912 3 hbk ISBN 978 981 08 3913 0 pbk From the Window of the Epoch An Anthology of Malaysian and Singaporean Poems edited with Shamsudin Othman Mohamed Pitchay Gani bin Mohamed Abdul Aziz Tan Chee Lay and Seetha Lakshmi National Institute of Translation Malaysia and National Arts Council Singapore 2010 ISBN 978 983 068 480 2 Telltale Eleven Stories Ethos Books and National Arts Council Singapore 2010 ISBN 978 981 08 6152 0 Man Born Free Writings on the Human Spirit from Singapore Ethos Books 2011 ISBN 978 981 08 8277 8 Edwin Thumboo Time Travelling A Select Annotated Bibliography With Recollections and Critical Essays edited with Michelle Heng National Library Board Singapore 2012 ISBN 978 981 07 3347 6 hbk ISBN 978 981 07 3348 3 pbk Singathology 50 New Works by Celebrated Singaporean Writers 2 volumes National Arts Council Singapore and Marshall Cavendish Editions 2015 ISBN 9789814721462 ISBN 978 981 47 2147 9 Written Country The History of Singapore through Literature Landmark Books 2016 ISBN 978 981 41 8966 8 Places A Graphic Anthology on the East of Singapore National Library Board Singapore 2016 ISBN 978 981 11 0389 6 Stranger to My World The Covid Diary of a Bangladeshi Migrant Worker by MD Sharif Uddin Landmark Books 2021 ISBN 978 981 18 0482 3References Edit Delve into the Minds of Local Luminaries NUS Libraries National University of Singapore Recently Completed Projects School of English and Drama Queen Mary University of London Toji Cultural Centre Residency For Writers 2012 National Arts Council Singapore National Arts Council Singapore Archived from the original on 2012 04 11 Sing Lit 101 How To Read A Singaporean Poem Singapore Research Nexus National University of Singapore What the Verizon Media rebrand means for Southeast Asia Campaign Campaign Asia Pacific Pang Alvin Excue me I m tue kiasue to queue in this haiku Verbosity Ho Olivia 12 December 2021 The 50 Greatest Works in SingLit The Straits Times Ho Say Ah Can Buy a Brand Bew Singlish Book Liao Yahoo Style Yahoo Singapore 20 October 2017 Lim 林嘉欣 2020 翻译功能与译语文化 以目的论来探析新加坡式英语译版的 小王子 Digital Repository of NTU Nanyang Technological University Low Aaron Au Yong Jeremy Zakir Hussain 2 May 2009 Should Faith driven Groups Take over Secular Oorganisations PDF The Straits Times Ho Stephanie Association of Women for Action and Research Infopedia National Library Singapore Christians Against AWARE Takeover Facebook 29 April 2009 Nanda Akshita 13 July 2014 NLB Saddened by Reaction over its Removal of Three Books with Homosexuality Themes Says Chief Executive The Straits Times Tan Dawn Wei 18 July 2014 NLB Saga Two Removed Children s Books will Go into Adult Section at Library The Straits Times Tan Corrie 9 November 2014 Poet accuses Lit Prize of gender bias AsiaOne Archived from the original on 21 November 2015 Retrieved 20 November 2015 Tan Corrie 6 November 2014 Gender bias allegations over Singapore Literature Prize English Poetry results The Straits Times Retrieved 7 November 2014 Sui Gwee Li 13 May 2016 Opinion do You Speak Singlish The New York Times NYT op ed on Singlish makes light of efforts to promote standard English PM s press secretary Channel NewsAsia Archived from the original on 2016 05 28 Retrieved 2016 06 10 Au Yong Rachel 2016 05 24 PM s press secretary rebuts NYT op ed on Singlish The Straits Times Retrieved 2019 01 21 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gwee Li Sui amp oldid 1169777021, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.