Read Local: 8 Books & Magazines To Own in 2015
Time to refresh your bookshelf! The growing literary and publishing scene in Singapore has encouraged the population of vibrant and varied genres of books and magazines that many of us love. Here are the 8 books and magazines we have selected for you to add on to your shelf of awesome book collection. Support local, read local!
1. SingPoWriMo: The Anthology edited by Ann Ang, Joshua Ip, Pooja Nansi
SingPoWriMo: Singapore Poetry Writing Month. What started out as an online challenge for writers, known or unknown, to write a poem a day for 30 days in April, becomes this current anthology in front of your eyes. This anthology brings together the best of the hundreds of poems that were submitted, from verses written in response to fiendish "include-all-these-six-words-in-your-poem" challenges, to impromptu poems written on whim. Pretty amazing read, we would say.
AFTERGLOBE is an annual Singapore-based art and literary travel magazine. Featuring crowd-sourced writing, photography, art, and more, it aims to capture the exhilaration of journeying abroad. The result? A carefully curated visual feast that mulls over the human side of travel. Fun fact: 1 of Team Naiise's members has contributed a piece in the first issue.
3. Love Is An Empty Barstool by Pooja Nansi
For those of you who love your love poems beautiful and depressing, Love is an Empty Barstool by Pooja Nansi is the book for you. Be warned: it will leave you with a void after reading.
HABIT©AT is an inquiry into how street cats in Singapore inhabit the man-made spaces of the suburban landscapes. This publication explores the intrinsic relationship between cats and their surrounding, encouraging the viewing of our urban landscape not simply as public space but one charged with possibilities through the cats’ adaptive appropriation.
5. Objects of Affection by Krishna Udayasankar
Objects of Affection by Krishna Udayasankar writes about how everyday objects surround us, the unconditional keepers of confessions and secrets. They are with us in those private moments when we think we are alone, perhaps in an abandoned stairwell or an empty lift, as we adjust our clothes, check ourselves in the mirror, scratch an itch or allow ourselves a sigh or a sob.
6. How Loneliness Goes by Nguan
If photo book is your cup of tea, this one will hit the right spot. How Loneliness Goes by Nguan is a book about those of us who abide in the city. His wish is for this book to wander in his stead, exist as a testament to existence, and credibly proffer the possibility of beauty as a balm for everyday sorrow.
7. What Gives Us Our Names by Alvin Pang
He’d gotten the idea from a book, not unlike the one you last read and loved, whose lurid covers you have already forgotten. For a canvas, he used not his own skin but his very life, spending his days as if he were made up of the most telling bits of other people. To do this, he learned to watch quietly and look deeply, past the busy surfaces until he could discern the colours beneath, the ones that did not change. One by one he would name them as he wove them into his heart in the deep of night. He touched you once, borrowing pieces of your story in passing. They are here still, in case you wish to look.
Vulture is a platform to explore ideas that would influence the new establishment of a creative class. Contemporary culture, curating and reflecting highlights of the current zeitgeist - this magazine will make a great afternoon read with your favourite cuppa coffee.
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