Xiaohan
Odds and EndsSingapore (食荒人)
Lingzi Media
Author
Book title
Publisher
Xiaohan
Odds and EndsSingapore (食荒人)
Lingzi Media
Singapore
Singapore is a multicultural nation publishing books in all four of its main languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Diversity is hearing from a spectrum of perspectives and experiences, especially social minorities: from race and class, to gender and sexuality, to mental health and survivors of trauma. This collection features novels and essays from Indian and Malay women in Chinese-majority Singapore, important memoirs surrounding mental health, and histories of gay rights, disability, and inclusion.
To give voice to all corners of the community, share empathy, and find common ways forward, is a core requirement for a city’s sustainable future.
Of course, sustainability is also about environmental sustainability, systems of consumption and waste, and relationships to the land itself. As a land-limited island known for being a ‘city in a garden’, Singapore is constantly concerned with these ideas. The books here range from critical novels with innovative futures, essays exploring the unique environmentalism in Singapore and the intersection of eco-feminism, and even a picture book teaching children about reusing materials.
Crossing genres and ages, diversity and sustainability are especially crucial to Singapore’s future, and thus important topics in current conversations. Here is just a small selection of books that reflect that.
Author
Book Title
Publisher
Danielle Lim
The Sound of Sch: A Mental Breakdown, A Life Journey
Ethos Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Danielle Lim
The Sound of Sch: A Mental Breakdown, A Life Journey
Ethos Books
Lynette J. Chua
Mobilising Gay Singapore
NUS Press
Author
Book title
Publisher
Lynette J. Chua
Mobilising Gay Singapore
NUS Press
Teo You Yenn
This is What Inequality Looks Like
Ethos Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Teo You Yenn
This is What Inequality Looks Like
Ethos Books
Balli Kaur Jaswal
Sugarbread
Epigram Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Balli Kaur Jaswal
Sugarbread
Epigram Books
Filzah Sumartono & Margaret Thomas (editors)
Growing Up Perempuan
Association of Women for Action and Research/Ethos Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Filzah Sumartono & Margaret Thomas (editors)
Growing Up Perempuan
Association of Women for Action and Research/Ethos Books
Sofia Abdullah
The Years of Forgetting
Epigram Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Sofia Abdullah
The Years of Forgetting
Epigram Books
Li Ruiwu
Pursuing a Green and Sustainable Dream in Singapore
Lingzi Media
Author
Book title
Publisher
Li Ruiwu
Pursuing a Green and Sustainable Dream in Singapore
Lingzi Media
Esther Vincent & Angelia Poon (editors)
Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore
Ethos Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Esther Vincent & Angelia Poon (editors)
Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore
Ethos Books
Lorraine Tan, Eric Wong
Karung Guni Boy
Epigram Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Lorraine Tan, Eric Wong
Karung Guni Boy
Epigram Books
Kuansong Victor Zhuang, Meng Ee Wong & Dan Goodley (editors)
Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore
Ethos Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Kuansong Victor Zhuang, Meng Ee Wong & Dan Goodley (editors)
Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore
Ethos Books
Matthew Myerson (editor)
Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene (逐绿狮城，落地生根)
Ethos Books
Author
Book title
Publisher
Matthew Myerson (editor)
Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene (逐绿狮城，落地生根)
Ethos Books
Odds and EndsSingapore (食荒人)
Xiaohan
More than 1.3 billion tons of food are discarded globally each year. A large percentage of the food is in an edible state. The richer and more developed the countries are, the worse the situation. Like a plague, food waste has become the daily routine of consumers and restaurateur. Ugly, leftovers, substandard sized, improperly stored, over-produced ingredients whose prices have plummeted, will all end up in the landfill. While the world is wasting all this food, more than 800 million people are still suffering from hunger every single day. Fortunately, restaurants that turn leftovers into exquisite meals are quietly emerging in major cities currently, and these respectful, waste-reducing, unbiased chefs happen to be the biggest names in the culinary world. “Sauver” is a boutique restaurant that specializes in recycling “garbage” that they retrieve from various sources into gourmet food. The book explores and satirizes modern attitudes towards the words: “Food”, “Love” and “Value”, by telling the story of the growth, maturity, and success of a restaurateur from a broken family.
N/A Pages | 978-9814856645
Rights Contact | Denon Lim
Lingzi Media
Odds and EndsSingapore (食荒人)
Xiaohan
More than 1.3 billion tons of food are discarded globally each year. A large percentage of the food is in an edible state. The richer and more developed the countries are, the worse the situation. Like a plague, food waste has become the daily routine of consumers and restaurateur. Ugly, leftovers, substandard sized, improperly stored, over-produced ingredients whose prices have plummeted, will all end up in the landfill. While the world is wasting all this food, more than 800 million people are still suffering from hunger every single day. Fortunately, restaurants that turn leftovers into exquisite meals are quietly emerging in major cities currently, and these respectful, waste-reducing, unbiased chefs happen to be the biggest names in the culinary world. “Sauver” is a boutique restaurant that specializes in recycling “garbage” that they retrieve from various sources into gourmet food. The book explores and satirizes modern attitudes towards the words: “Food”, “Love” and “Value”, by telling the story of the growth, maturity, and success of a restaurateur from a broken family.
N/A Pages | 978-9814856645
Lingzi Media
The Sound of Sch: A Mental Breakdown, A Life Journey
Danielle Lim
The Sound of SCH (pronounced S-C-H) is the true story of a journey with mental illness, beautifully told by Danielle Lim from a time when she grew up witnessing her uncle’s untold struggle with a crippling mental and social disease, and her mother’s difficult role as caregiver. The story takes place between 1961 and 1994, backdropped by a fast-globalising Singapore where stigmatisation of persons afflicted with mental illness nevertheless remains deep-seated. Unflinchingly raw and honest in its portrayal of living with schizophrenia, The Sound of Sch is a moving account of human resiliency and sacrifice in the face of brokenness.
N/A Pages | 978-9810918538
Rights Contact | Ng Kah Gay
Ethos Books
The Sound of Sch: A Mental Breakdown, A Life Journey
Danielle Lim
The Sound of SCH (pronounced S-C-H) is the true story of a journey with mental illness, beautifully told by Danielle Lim from a time when she grew up witnessing her uncle’s untold struggle with a crippling mental and social disease, and her mother’s difficult role as caregiver. The story takes place between 1961 and 1994, backdropped by a fast-globalising Singapore where stigmatisation of persons afflicted with mental illness nevertheless remains deep-seated. Unflinchingly raw and honest in its portrayal of living with schizophrenia, The Sound of Sch is a moving account of human resiliency and sacrifice in the face of brokenness.
N/A Pages | 978-9810918538
Ethos Books
Mobilising Gay Singapore
Lynette J. Chua
From private meetings in living rooms in the 1990s to the emergence of annual rallies and decriminalization campaigns in the past six years, Singapore’s gay rights activists have sought equality and justice in a state that does not recognise their rights to seek protection of their civil and political liberties. In her groundbreaking book, Mobilizing Gay Singapore, Lynette Chua tells the history of the gay rights movement in Singapore and asks what a social movement looks like under these circumstances. She examines the movement’s emergence, development, strategies, and tactics, as well as the roles of law and rights in social processes. Chua uses in-depth interviews with gay activists, observations of the movement’s activities, movement documents, government statements, and media reports. She shows how activists deploy “pragmatic resistance” to gain visibility and support, and tackle political norms that suppress dissent, while avoiding direct confrontations with the state.
N/A Pages | 978-9971698157
Rights Contact | Peter Schoppert
NUS Press
Mobilising Gay Singapore
Lynette J. Chua
From private meetings in living rooms in the 1990s to the emergence of annual rallies and decriminalization campaigns in the past six years, Singapore’s gay rights activists have sought equality and justice in a state that does not recognise their rights to seek protection of their civil and political liberties. In her groundbreaking book, Mobilizing Gay Singapore, Lynette Chua tells the history of the gay rights movement in Singapore and asks what a social movement looks like under these circumstances. She examines the movement’s emergence, development, strategies, and tactics, as well as the roles of law and rights in social processes. Chua uses in-depth interviews with gay activists, observations of the movement’s activities, movement documents, government statements, and media reports. She shows how activists deploy “pragmatic resistance” to gain visibility and support, and tackle political norms that suppress dissent, while avoiding direct confrontations with the state.
N/A Pages | 978-9971698157
NUS Press
This is What Inequality Looks Like
Teo You Yenn
What is poverty? What is inequality? How are they connected? How are they reproduced? How might they be overcome? Why should we try? The way we frame our questions shapes the way we see solutions. This book does what appears to be a no-brainer task, but one that is missing and important: it asks readers to pose questions in different ways, to shift the vantage point from which they view ‘common sense,’ and in so doing, to see themselves as part of problems and potential solutions. This is a book about how seeing poverty entails confronting inequality. It is about how acknowledging poverty and inequality leads to uncomfortable revelations about our society and ourselves. And it is about how once we see, we cannot, must not, unsee.
N/A Pages | 978-9811437496
Rights Contact | Ng Kah Gay
Ethos Books
This is What Inequality Looks Like
Teo You Yenn
What is poverty? What is inequality? How are they connected? How are they reproduced? How might they be overcome? Why should we try? The way we frame our questions shapes the way we see solutions. This book does what appears to be a no-brainer task, but one that is missing and important: it asks readers to pose questions in different ways, to shift the vantage point from which they view ‘common sense,’ and in so doing, to see themselves as part of problems and potential solutions. This is a book about how seeing poverty entails confronting inequality. It is about how acknowledging poverty and inequality leads to uncomfortable revelations about our society and ourselves. And it is about how once we see, we cannot, must not, unsee.
N/A Pages | 978-9811437496
Ethos Books
Sugarbread
Balli Kaur Jaswal
Pin must not become like her mother, but nobody will tell her why. She seeks clues in Ma’s cooking when she’s not fighting other battles—being a bursary girl at an elite school and facing racial taunts from the bus uncle. Then her meddlesome grandmother moves in, installing a portrait of a watchful Sikh guru and a new set of house rules. Old secrets begin to surface but can Pin handle learning the truth?
N/A Pages | 978-9814757300
Rights Contact | Felinda
Epigram Books
Sugarbread
Balli Kaur Jaswal
Pin must not become like her mother, but nobody will tell her why. She seeks clues in Ma’s cooking when she’s not fighting other battles—being a bursary girl at an elite school and facing racial taunts from the bus uncle. Then her meddlesome grandmother moves in, installing a portrait of a watchful Sikh guru and a new set of house rules. Old secrets begin to surface but can Pin handle learning the truth?
N/A Pages | 978-9814757300
Epigram Books
Growing Up Perempuan
Filzah Sumartono & Margaret Thomas (editors)
Growing up as a woman is hard. Growing up as a woman in the Muslim community is harder. In a world still filled with superstitions, if you die during childbirth you become a vampiric ghost and if you survive you might get attacked by a flying ghost. You collect experiences in the workplace that should be office satire but aren’t. You face constant judgement, try to live up to endless expectations, and somehow…still fall short. Growing Up Perempuan is a collection of stories written by women, for women. This book offers stories of love and loss, strength and endurance, confidence and courage—stories that inspire and empower. This is a book about challenging the status quo and learning to chart our own paths instead of having the world define them for us.
N/A Pages | 978-9811176838
Rights Contact | Ng Kah Gay
Association of Women for Action and Research/Ethos Books
Growing Up Perempuan
Filzah Sumartono & Margaret Thomas (editors)
Growing up as a woman is hard. Growing up as a woman in the Muslim community is harder. In a world still filled with superstitions, if you die during childbirth you become a vampiric ghost and if you survive you might get attacked by a flying ghost. You collect experiences in the workplace that should be office satire but aren’t. You face constant judgement, try to live up to endless expectations, and somehow…still fall short. Growing Up Perempuan is a collection of stories written by women, for women. This book offers stories of love and loss, strength and endurance, confidence and courage—stories that inspire and empower. This is a book about challenging the status quo and learning to chart our own paths instead of having the world define them for us.
N/A Pages | 978-9811176838
Association of Women for Action and Research/Ethos Books
The Years of Forgetting
Sofia Abdullah
How does one rise above the trauma of child sexual abuse? Sofia Abdullah is now an international women’s and children’s rights champion, fighting for equality and fair treatment for disempowered groups all over the world. But she comes from a painful past—one in which she was sexually abused as a child by a family member. Taking many years to heal from the trauma, these are pages from her notes documenting her journey of coming to terms with what had happened. This is her journey of moving on.
N/A Pages | 978-9814901642
Rights Contact | Felinda
Epigram Books
The Years of Forgetting
Sofia Abdullah
How does one rise above the trauma of child sexual abuse? Sofia Abdullah is now an international women’s and children’s rights champion, fighting for equality and fair treatment for disempowered groups all over the world. But she comes from a painful past—one in which she was sexually abused as a child by a family member. Taking many years to heal from the trauma, these are pages from her notes documenting her journey of coming to terms with what had happened. This is her journey of moving on.
N/A Pages | 978-9814901642
Epigram Books
Pursuing a Green and Sustainable Dream in Singapore
Li Ruiwu
In his new book, Li Ruiwu shares his numerous life experiences entrepreneurial stories observations reflections and insights from starting and developing a green environmental enterprise in Singapore. He also discusses the implications of industrialization and urbanization on humanity from an ecological perspective and what the increasing number and height of skyscrapers in the city with their enclosed windowless indoor environments mean for our physical and mental health. At a time when ESG has become a global buzzword and with 80% of Singaporeans taking ESG into account in their investment decisions the author provides a wealth of valuable knowledge and practical guidelines for entrepreneurs and all businesses committed to ESG and sustainable development.
N/A Pages | 978-9815099362
Rights Contact | Denon Lim
Lingzi Media
Pursuing a Green and Sustainable Dream in Singapore
Li Ruiwu
In his new book, Li Ruiwu shares his numerous life experiences entrepreneurial stories observations reflections and insights from starting and developing a green environmental enterprise in Singapore. He also discusses the implications of industrialization and urbanization on humanity from an ecological perspective and what the increasing number and height of skyscrapers in the city with their enclosed windowless indoor environments mean for our physical and mental health. At a time when ESG has become a global buzzword and with 80% of Singaporeans taking ESG into account in their investment decisions the author provides a wealth of valuable knowledge and practical guidelines for entrepreneurs and all businesses committed to ESG and sustainable development.
N/A Pages | 978-9815099362
Lingzi Media
Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore
Esther Vincent & Angelia Poon (editors)
Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore contemplates and re-centres Singapore women in the overlapping discourses of family, home, ecology and nation. For the first time, this collection of ecofeminist essays focuses on the crafts, minds, bodies and subjectivities of a diverse group of women making kin with the human and non-human world as they navigate their lives. From ruminations on caregiving, to surreal interspecies encounters, to indigenous ways of knowing, these women writers chart a new path on the map of Singapore’s literary scene, writing urgently about gender, nature, climate change, reciprocity and other critical environmental issues. In a climate-changed world where vital connections are lost, Making Kin is an essential collection that blurs boundaries between the personal and the political. It is a revolutionary approach towards intersectional environmentalism.
N/A Pages | 978-9811809279
Rights Contact | Ng Kah Gay
Ethos Books
Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore
Esther Vincent & Angelia Poon (editors)
Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore contemplates and re-centres Singapore women in the overlapping discourses of family, home, ecology and nation. For the first time, this collection of ecofeminist essays focuses on the crafts, minds, bodies and subjectivities of a diverse group of women making kin with the human and non-human world as they navigate their lives. From ruminations on caregiving, to surreal interspecies encounters, to indigenous ways of knowing, these women writers chart a new path on the map of Singapore’s literary scene, writing urgently about gender, nature, climate change, reciprocity and other critical environmental issues. In a climate-changed world where vital connections are lost, Making Kin is an essential collection that blurs boundaries between the personal and the political. It is a revolutionary approach towards intersectional environmentalism.
N/A Pages | 978-9811809279
Ethos Books
Karung Guni Boy
Lorraine Tan, Eric Wong
Ming is a very creative boy who loves to make things and he would love the chance to create his fanciful inventions. He didn’t have the money to buy the things to make his inventions, and was wondering what to do when the sound of the Karung Guni man’s car horn beeped. This gave Ming an idea: he would become Karung Guni boy and make things out of things he collected instead. So he went door-to-door to his neighbours asking for things they no longer wanted. Soon he had enough to build his machine. The grateful neighbours came to the unveiling of Ming’s invention and were delighted to see that he had built a machine that would serve as a helper for them, whenever they needed an extra hand.
N/A Pages | 978-9814615839
Rights Contact | Felinda
Epigram Books
Karung Guni Boy
Lorraine Tan, Eric Wong
Ming is a very creative boy who loves to make things and he would love the chance to create his fanciful inventions. He didn’t have the money to buy the things to make his inventions, and was wondering what to do when the sound of the Karung Guni man’s car horn beeped. This gave Ming an idea: he would become Karung Guni boy and make things out of things he collected instead. So he went door-to-door to his neighbours asking for things they no longer wanted. Soon he had enough to build his machine. The grateful neighbours came to the unveiling of Ming’s invention and were delighted to see that he had built a machine that would serve as a helper for them, whenever they needed an extra hand.
N/A Pages | 978-9814615839
Epigram Books
Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore
Kuansong Victor Zhuang, Meng Ee Wong & Dan Goodley (editors)
Disability is all around us—among people we meet, the media, sports, our own family and friends. Undeniably, all of us have or will one day come to experience or encounter disability. But how can we reckon with the realities of those who live with disability, or its reality in our own lives? In a city-state slowly moving towards inclusion, how do those meant to be ‘included’ feel about such efforts? Not Without Us: perspectives on disability and inclusion in Singapore is a groundbreaking collection of essays that takes a creative and critical disability studies approach to centre disability, and rethink the ways in which we research, analyse, think and know about disability in our lives. Across multiple domains and perspectives, the writings in this volume consider what it means to live with disability in a purportedly inclusive and accessible Singapore. “The book will be extremely valuable not only to readers in Singapore but also to those throughout the world who seek a broader perspective on significant issues in disability studies, arts, policy and activism.” —Lennard J. Davis, Distinguished Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois in Chicago.
N/A Pages | 978-9811830709
Rights Contact | Ng Kah Gay
Ethos Books
Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore
Kuansong Victor Zhuang, Meng Ee Wong & Dan Goodley (editors)
Disability is all around us—among people we meet, the media, sports, our own family and friends. Undeniably, all of us have or will one day come to experience or encounter disability. But how can we reckon with the realities of those who live with disability, or its reality in our own lives? In a city-state slowly moving towards inclusion, how do those meant to be ‘included’ feel about such efforts? Not Without Us: perspectives on disability and inclusion in Singapore is a groundbreaking collection of essays that takes a creative and critical disability studies approach to centre disability, and rethink the ways in which we research, analyse, think and know about disability in our lives. Across multiple domains and perspectives, the writings in this volume consider what it means to live with disability in a purportedly inclusive and accessible Singapore. “The book will be extremely valuable not only to readers in Singapore but also to those throughout the world who seek a broader perspective on significant issues in disability studies, arts, policy and activism.” —Lennard J. Davis, Distinguished Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois in Chicago.
N/A Pages | 978-9811830709
Ethos Books
Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene (逐绿狮城，落地生根)
Matthew Myerson (editor)
In this era of climate crisis, in which our very futures are at stake, sustainability is a global imperative. Yet we tend to associate sustainability, nature, and the environment with distant places, science, and policy. The truth is that everything is environmental, from transportation to taxes, work to love, cities to cuisine. This book is the first to examine contemporary Singapore from an ecocultural lens, looking at the ways that Singaporean life and culture is deeply entangled with the nonhuman lives that flourish all around us. The authors represent a new generation of cultural critics and environmental thinkers, who will inherit the future we are creating today. From chilli crab to Tiger Beer, Changi Airport to Pulau Semakau, O-levels to orang minyak films, these essays offer fresh perspectives on familiar subjects, prompting us to recognise the incredible urgency of climate change and the need to transform our ways of thinking, acting, learning, living, and governing so as to maintain a stable planet and a decent future.
Rights Contact | Ng Kah Gay
Ethos Books
Eating Chilli Crab in the Anthropocene (逐绿狮城，落地生根)
Matthew Myerson (editor)
In this era of climate crisis, in which our very futures are at stake, sustainability is a global imperative. Yet we tend to associate sustainability, nature, and the environment with distant places, science, and policy. The truth is that everything is environmental, from transportation to taxes, work to love, cities to cuisine. This book is the first to examine contemporary Singapore from an ecocultural lens, looking at the ways that Singaporean life and culture is deeply entangled with the nonhuman lives that flourish all around us. The authors represent a new generation of cultural critics and environmental thinkers, who will inherit the future we are creating today. From chilli crab to Tiger Beer, Changi Airport to Pulau Semakau, O-levels to orang minyak films, these essays offer fresh perspectives on familiar subjects, prompting us to recognise the incredible urgency of climate change and the need to transform our ways of thinking, acting, learning, living, and governing so as to maintain a stable planet and a decent future.
Ethos Books
