There are no statistics on how many LGBT people there are in Singapore or what percentage of the population they constitute. While homosexuality is legal in the country, the country is largely conservative.
This article deals with writing that deals with LGBT themes in a Singapore context. It covers literary works of fiction, such as novels, short stories, plays and poems. It also includes non-fiction works, both scholarly and targeted at the general reader, such as dissertations, journal or magazine articles, books and even web-based content. Although Singapore lacks a dedicated gay book publisher or gay bookshop, it does have at least one dedicated gay library, Pelangi Pride Centre, which is open weekly to the public. Many of the works cited here may be found both in Pelangi Pride Centre, as well as the National Library or other academic libraries in Singapore, as well as in some commercial bookshops under 'gender studies' sections.
The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by Singaporeans. It is written chiefly in the country's four official languages: English, Malay, Standard Mandarin and Tamil.
Cyril Wong is a poet, fiction author and literary critic.
Edwin Nadason Thumboo B.B.M. is a Singaporean poet and academic who is regarded as one of the pioneers of English literature in Singapore.
The Singapore Literature Prize is a biennial award in Singapore to recognise outstanding published works by Singaporean authors in any of the four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. The competition is organised by the Singapore Book Council (SBC) with the support of the National Arts Council.
Eleanor Wong Siew Yin is a Singaporean playwright, poet, lawyer and legal academic. She is an associate professor of law at the National University of Singapore, where she is vice dean of student affairs and director of the legal skills programme. She is also a member of the Remaking Singapore Committee.
Daren Shiau, BBM, PBM, is a Singaporean novelist, poet, conservationist, and lawyer in private practice qualified in Singapore, England and Wales. He is an author of five books.
Ng Yi Sheng is a Singaporean gay writer. He has published a collection of his poems entitled last boy, which won the Singapore Literature Prize, and a documentary book on gay, lesbian and bisexual Singaporeans called SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century in 2006.
Boey Kim Cheng is a Singaporean Australian poet.
The Singapore Writers Festival is a literary event organised by the National Arts Council. Inaugurated in 1986, the festival serves a dual function of promoting new and emerging Singaporean and Asian writing to an international audience, as well as presenting foreign writers to Singaporeans.
Wong May is a poet who was born in China, grew up in Singapore, and now lives in Ireland. She won the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for poetry in 2022.
Wong Phui Nam was a Malaysian economist and poet. Born to a Peranakan family in Kuala Lumpur, Wong began learning English at age 9. He became interested in poetry, and while studying at the University of Malaya Singapore campus he wrote English language poetry while participating in a student literary magazine.
Tania De Rozario is a writer and visual artist, generally emphasising themes of gender, sexuality, loving and losing.
Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light is a poetry collection by the Singaporean poet Cyril Wong about "two lovers who are in the process of losing each other," bringing into play his background in music, intermingling the lives of gay male-partners with the tribulations of lovers distant and near, including the romance between "two shape-shifting Hindu deities", Shiva and Mohini. It brings into focus the experience of living with H.I.V. within the homosexual context. The book was chosen by The Straits Times as among the best five books of 2007 and described by the reviewer as "a luminous symphony".
Let Me Tell You Something About That Night is a short-story collection by the Singaporean poet Cyril Wong. His first published foray into prose and listed by The Straits Times as among the best five books of the year, described by the reviewer as possessing "the sharp bite of contemporary issues", the book "takes fairytales and works them into a surreal lustre" and "gestures to a time before fairytales were saccharine fantasies", while a few stories also deal openly with sexuality: "The Boy with the Flower That Grew out of His Ass is a fable of wounding poignancy about homophobia; The Queen & Her Eventual Knowledge of Love is a post-mortem coming-out story."
The Lover's Inventory is a poetry collection by the Singaporean poet Cyril Wong inventorying objects, places, sensations, and other memorabilia that serve as springboards for memory and philosophical insight; its Confessional verse "confesses without dreary interrogation...in which masks slip on and off in pure, poetic theatre", while the poetry's openness has been transformed into "a defiant act against cultural hypocrisy." The book is "a self-portrait built out of an inventory of intimacies", offering "a critical and tender exploration of how love and sex both help and prevent us from fully understanding ourselves and each other." The book received the Singapore Literature Prize for English poetry in 2016.
Jerrold Yam is a Singaporean poet and lawyer whose poetry has been widely published and anthologised.
firstfruits publications is an independent book publisher based in Singapore. It is an imprint of mediaexodus LLP, a design firm which offers copy-editing and translation services. firstfruits publications is known to publish a diverse range of writers from Singapore. It has published numerous poetry volumes and anthologies by writers including Aaron Maniam, Cyril Wong, Eleanor Wong, Madeleine Lee, Ng Yi-Sheng, and Yong Shu Hoong.
Paul Tan Kim Liang is a Singaporean poet and current deputy chief executive of the National Arts Council (NAC) of Singapore.
