On The Same Page: Powerful LGBTQ+ Books by Local Authors to Read This Pride Month

PUBLISHED June 23rd, 2021 05:00 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 12:35 pm

Giving your reading list the rainbow treatment this month? In a society like Singapore’s, being queer is still far from something that’s openly represented, much less talked about. LGBTQ+ literature by local authors have historically been – and will continue to be – a powerful way for this suppressed community to speak and find a sense of identity. From queer fairytales to intense personal accounts, here are some of our favourite reads.

The Boy With The Flower That Grew Out of His Ass, Cyril Wong

All roads lead to a hetero happily-ever-after in your childhood fairytales. For those who stick out in a straight world? Not so much. Famed poet Cyril Wong queers the fairytale with The Boy With The Flower That Grew Out of His Ass, a short story with a bitter punch that lingers long after.

First published as a hand-stitched chapbook in 2005, this poignant tale tells of a little boy with a peculiar appendage blossoming from his ass. It earns him his father’s hatred, and he learns to hide it from the world – until one day, he meets another boy with a queer appendage of his own.

The Boy With The Flower That Grew Out of His Ass is available on BooksActually. 

Invitation to Treat, Eleanor Wong

Written over two decades ago by lawyer-slash-playwright Eleanor Wong, this trilogy was a pioneer in putting lesbianism under the spotlight. First staged in 1993, Mergers and Accusations opens with smart, sharp-talking lawyer Ellen Toh in a heterosexual marriage of convenience with her best friend, and her foray into relationships with other women. Wills and Secession sees Ellen now divorced from her husband and happily married to her wife in London – till she must return to care for her ailing father. Rounding up the trilogy is Jointly and Severably, and its lyrical tale of love turned sour.

Sprawling over three decades, Invitation to Treat‘s power lies in its ability to weave together all the threads of a rich life – from coming out to finding community, family to frayed marriages. Expect a heavy dash of heartache, cut through with the sparkle of Wong’s lively wit.

Invitation to Treat is available from the National Library Board. 

I Will Survive, edited by Leow Yangfa

In a society that suppresses, misrepresents, and refuses space to queer lives, I Will Survive is a an extraordinary record of endurance. Edited by Executive Director of Oogachaga Leow Yangfa, this collection brings together the real-life voices and stories of 21 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Singapore.

There are poignant accounts of bullying and ostracism at school; of facing abuse from a same-sex partner; of negotiating sexuality and religion; of carving out a meaningful life with HIV; and most of all, of the long road to accepting oneself. First published over a decade ago and now in its third edition, this tapestry of tales from diverse races and religions still has power to resonate today.

I Will Survive is available on BooksActually. 

A Certain Exposure, Jolene Tan

The debut novel of rising powerhouse Jolene Tan, A Certain Exposure begins in the aftermath of death. High-flying, scholarship-holding, Cambridge-enrolled student Andrew has taken his own life, and it is his twin, Brian, who must belatedly struggle to fill in the blanks of his perfect brother’s life. What surfaces is an unspeakable tangle of homosexual discovery and desire, submerged in a society of placid conformity.

Clocking in at only a little over two hundred pages, this novel packs some of Singapore’s most inflammatory social questions into one raw wound: elitism and religious egotism, the pressure to succeed and what we smother along the way. Tan’s precise, unflinching language pulls back the tidy veils that shroud the everyday, even as it sings with a tender lyricism.

A Certain Exposure is available on Epigram Books. 

EXHALE: An Anthology of Queer Singapore Voices

Settle in for a rainbow reading binge with Singapore’s newest anthology of queer voices, EXHALE. Fresh off the presses this June, this landmark anthology draws together the best works of no less than eighty local LGBTQ+ writers. It’s a true melting pot of texts written in English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil – a medley of spoken word and sci-fi, poetry and fantasy, essays, and even songs of worship are all stirred into the mix. There’re words from well-known writers like Amanda Lee Koe, Marylyn Tan, Jerrold Yam, Jennifer Anne Champion, and Jeremy Tiang, but you’ll also find powerful voices from budding wordsmiths.

EXHALE: An Anthology of Queer Singapore Voices is available on BooksActually. 

Top Image: Garmin Bao on Unsplash