Balestier Press

18/10/2024

Congratulations to , and translators Nadiyah Abdullatif, and Anam Zafar for being longlisted for the 2024 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation with our book 𝒀𝒐𝒈𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒂𝒎 (𝒐𝒓 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒆). A big congratulations as well to all the authors and translators on the longlist!

17/10/2024

Congratulations to Lena Merhej, and translators Nadiyah Abdullatif, and Anam Zafar for being longlisted for the 2024 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation with our book 𝒀𝒐𝒈𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒂𝒎 (𝒐𝒓 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝑴𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒆). A big congratulations as well to all the authors and translators on the longlist!

01/10/2024

Home Schedule Speakers Ticketing © Key Visual by Felicia Pang, commissioned by ACWP Join us at ACWP Practitioners Conference, 2 Nov 2024! How many stories reside in a face, and what kind of faces do we see in stories? This year, the ACWP Practitioners Conference peels back the layers with the theme...

03/08/2024

Congratulations to our authors and translators A.K. Kulshreshth, Jeremy Tiang, and Christina Ng for being shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in the Translation category.

25/07/2024

An extract of the poem "Residual Lives" by poet and writer Mi Chan Wai. The poem was included in Picking off new shoots will not stop the spring, a collection of poems and essays from . Find out more and download your free copy here: https://www.pen-international.org/news/picking-off-new-shoots-will-not-stop-the-spring Ethos Books Balestier Press

24/07/2024

Event in Singapore: 23 August 2024 (Friday)

Liang Wern F**k’s 'The Joy of a Left Hand', translated by Christina Ng (shortlisted at Singapore Literature Prize 2024). Liang Wern F**k, translator Christina Ng, and moderator Tan Chee Lay, long-time reader of Liang Wern F**k’s works, share their insights on writing and translation. Let us all experience the magic of writing and translation together!

🗓️ Friday 23 August, 2024
📍 National Library Building, L16, The Pod
🕒 7.30 - 9.30pm
🎟️ Free with registration: https://shorturl.at/Dx7u0

Singapore Book Council

21/05/2024

Renowned Burmese human rights writer, activist, and former prisoner of conscience joins PEN Perth for a conversation.

17/05/2024

Read an excerpt from Ma Thida's latest book "A-Maze: Myanmar’s Struggle for Democracy, 2011-2023."
Ma Thida is a Burmese medical doctor, writer, human rights activist and former prisoner of conscience. In Myanmar, Thida is best known as a leading intellectual, whose books deal with the country’s political situation. Previously the president of PEN Myanmar and a board member of PEN International, she is currently the chair of the Writer in Prison Committee of PEN International.

The Road to Democracy has been a nearly four-decade-long endeavour for the citizens of Burma, starting from 1988. We made a promising start, but as history often repeats itself, the military coup swiftly quashed the nationwide demonstrations after a mere six weeks.

11/05/2024

Event (Sydney Writers Festival, Thursday 23 May 2024) with PEN Sydney.

11/05/2024

"Creativity rest not in freedom, but in hunting for freedom. Creativity does not come from the freedom we have, but the freedom we want to have." - Ma Thida

04/05/2024

This book highlights that the decade-long quasi-civilian administration period (2011-2020) didn’t bring Myanmar to reach its way toward democracy, getting the country lost in a tortuous maze crafted by the military leaders. This book consists of three different categorized titles: The Walls, The Corners, and The Passages of the amazing Maze (A-maze).

This book attempts to answer these questions: How has the Spring Revolution gained its aimful momentum and maintained positivity so far? What are those hard-to-get-rid- of walls? Who created those corners? How are the majority of people of/from Myanmar trying to keep their march on current passages to reach back on the road to democracy?

About the author:

Ma Thida is a Burmese medical doctor, writer, human rights activist and former prisoner of conscience. In Myanmar, Thida is best known as a leading intellectual, whose books deal with the country’s political situation. Previously the president of PEN Myanmar and a board member of PEN International, she is currently the chair of the Writer in prison committee of PEN International.

This book attempts to answer these questions: How has the Spring Revolution gained its aimful momentum and maintained positivity so far? What are those hard-to-get-rid- of walls? Who created the corners? How are the majority of people of/from Myanmar trying to keep their march on current passages to...

17/02/2024

"SINGAPORE – Xinyao pioneer Liang Wern F**k is celebrating his 60th birthday with many firsts.

Ahead of his first concert collaboration with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in June, his first book in English translation is now out.

For those who know the revered singer-composer through his mellifluous vocals and heart-warming lyrics, reading the cheeky stories in his micro-fiction collection The Joy Of A Left Hand is likely to cast the Singaporean icon in a new light." (The Straits Times)

"The Joy of a Left Hand", Short Stories by Liang Wern F**k, Translated by Christina Ng

The Joy Of A Left Hand is likely to cast the Cultural Medallion recipient in a new light. Read more at straitstimes.com.

28/01/2024

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 Cha: An Asian Literary Journal 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖] Susan Blumberg-Kason (pictured) reviews Liang Wern F**k's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑜𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑑 (Balestier Press, 2023), translated from the Chinese by Christina Ng:

"Liang Wern F**k takes this idea of being forced to operate—in all senses of the word—as a right-hander when some people are naturally left-handed. What would happen if everyone were allowed to write freely without the need to stifle any part of oneself? His book 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑜𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝐿𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑑 is a compilation of 52 very short stories—many just a page or two long—about people, mainly in Singapore, who do not censor their thoughts. He wrote this book in 2006 and Christina Ng’s flawless English translation came out in 2023. "

Read the review here: https://chajournal.blog/2024/01/27/left-hand/
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20/12/2023

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 Cha: An Asian Literary Journal 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖] Lorenzo Donelli reviews Shen Yang'𝑠 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑: 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝐼𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 (Balestier Press, 2021, translated from the Chinese by Nicky Harman.

/// Shen Yang’s memoir 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 tenderly unfolds an intimate and profoundly touching narrative that delves into the struggles of being an “excess child” (known as 黑孩子 ℎ𝑒̄𝑖 ℎ𝑎́𝑖𝑧𝑖 “black child” in Mandarin) during the reign of China’s stringent One-Child Policy. This policy, initiated in 1979 and officially phased out in 2015, was a sweeping and controversial government mandate aimed at controlling population growth. Under this policy, most urban couples were restricted to having only one child, while exceptions and variations existed in rural areas, particularly for families with specific circumstances, such as ethnic minorities or agricultural backgrounds. ///

Read the review here: https://chajournal.blog/2023/12/20/one-child/
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18/11/2023

World Literature from West Asia Book Series Yoghurt and Jam (or how my mother became Lebanese) by Lena Merhej, translated from the Arabic by Nadiyah Abdullatif and Anam Zafar, received English PEN Award 2023.

23/08/2023

(pre-order) Short Stories by Liang Wern F**k, Translated from the Chinese by Christina Ng Confucius sits in his chair. A mute uncle utters his first word in decades. A talking potato is sworn to confidentiality. These are stories written with Liang Wern F**k’s left hand. All autho...

10/06/2023

[𝐍𝐄𝐖 Cha: An Asian Literary Journal 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰] Serena De Marchi reviews Liu Liangcheng's 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑 (Balestier Press, 2023), translated by Jeremy Tiang:

/// If we consider the etymological meaning of the English word “translate”, which is “to carry across” (from the Latin trans– and latus), we realise that Liu [Liangcheng]’s novel really is a story of translation, of what it means to carry across sounds and creatures. Ku, then, is the archetypal translator—the one who does the act of carrying. In fact, it was interesting to find out that the Chinese character used for the name of Ku is “库”, which literally means “warehouse”. This would make our protagonist an archive of some sort, a travelling repository of a people’s memory that war and time threaten to destroy or simply leave behind.

Liu’s novel has been translated into English by Jeremy Tiang, and I am so thankful these words have not been lost to the desert wind or destroyed by enemies’ armies, but have been carefully collected and skillfully carried across to a time and place where I could find them. I hope many other readers will find them too.///

FULL review: https://chajournal.blog/2023/06/09/bearing-word/
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09/06/2023

📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Liu Liangcheng (author), Jeremy Tiang (translator), Bearing Word, Balestier Press, 2023. 340 pgs. Liu Liangcheng’s B…

09/05/2023

◼︎ 阅读如切 / Reading at Joo Chiat / Baca di Joo Chiat


Book 1:
UNREST / Yeng Pway Ngon (Translated by Jeremy Tiang)
Book 2:
LONELY FACE / Yeng Pway Ngon (Translated by Natascha Bruce)

✪ Address:
The Modules
387 Joo Chiat Road, #03-02 Singapore 427623
Tel: 6901 1583
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Monday - Sunday (except Tuesday) , 11am - 6pm
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0302 then the 🔔sign
✪ 前往书店新址的短视频：
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＃在最酷的地方等你

09/04/2023

In this witness poem from the anthology Picking Off New Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring, Burmese poet Nga Ba finds that repression always leads to resistance.

26/03/2023

20/03/2023

“If you like then is definitely a Must Read🌟 One woman’s epic odyssey, an amazing generation exploring their own relationship with culture, heritage, identity and love ❤️ A truly inspiring, touching, and compelling personal 🤗I highly recommend it to anyone seeking insight into Chinese-American women, whose histories and lives interweave as they navigate life.“ ---- Shen Yang (author of , translated by Nicky Harman)

Before I read The Strength of Water, all I knew about the gold rush in California was how Chinese men suffered and struggled to make a living; After reading the story, I had a much deeper understanding of how Chinese women survived and thrived in a totally foreign environment.

17/09/2022

[NEW Cha Review of Books and Films] Sharyn Phu reviews 𝐴𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑘: 50 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑖 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ (Balestier Press, 2022), curated by Alam Khorshed and translated from Bangla into English by Nabina Das. [Full review: https://bit.ly/3SavEJz]

Sharyn:

/// 𝐴𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑘 presents voices that flow with the force of a river as they whisper, poke, prod, and scream. This is a collection that challenged me to derive my own meaning from the works, while simultaneously considering the historical and modern Bangladeshi contexts that inspired these poems. [...] Above all, these poems are thoughtful in the way they paint a multi-faceted view of Bangladeshi women’s experiences. ////

Read the full review here:
https://chajournal.blog/2022/09/16/arise/

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