Kadamundu: The Spice Road Review

18/09/2023

Kadamundu, Kodrah Kristang and Merlionsman are thrilled to present Singapore's first-ever Indigenous Writing Circle, a new initiative that seeks to support the development and revitalization of indigenous literature in Singapore for all peoples regardless of ethnicity, and to provide a safe space for writing and creative expression in any of Singapore’s indigenous, community and non-official languages, as well as in literature in any other language, including the four official languages of English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, that discusses or relates to indigeneity, revitalization and individuation in some way. Work produced in the Writing Circle can be published on Kadamundu, and participation in the Writing Circle is free-of-charge. The Writing Circle will meet on Tuesday evenings starting Tuesday 3 October from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at City Gate, next to Nicoll Highway MRT (CC5).

Like Kadamundu, the Circle seeks to celebrate the true diversity of Singaporean and Sundaland culture and identity, to use literature as a means of creative expression for the negotiation of trauma and/or personal voice, and to provide a space for like-minded people interested in individuation and creative expression to meet and connect. Each week, the Circle will thus use one of the 512 stages of the Kristang Via Hierosa in sequential order as that week’s theme for those participating to use as their broad point of reference and inspiration; however, this is only a starting point, and participants will still be free to work with other starting points.

Find out more about the structure of each session in the slides, and sign up by dropping an email to [email protected] with the subject header Indigenous Writing Circle sign-up: and indicating on which Tuesday evening you’d first like to join us. We're looking forward to seeing you!

16/06/2023

Ja chegah! We are proud to announce that volume 1, issue 2 of Kadamundu is now published at kadamundu.com 🎉 beng les!

12/04/2023

Undi bos ta prendeh linggu sigredu, linggu di korasang? Beng les Sonia Zuzartee sa poesia, 'Ta prendeh na spasu stranjeru', na Kadamundu Volume 1, issue 1 🌼

22/03/2023

Ki bos sperah pra humanidadi? Bos teng speransa pra nus jenti sapiensu? Beng les Yuan Weiye sa skritura keninu "Yo lo dah espera kung humanidadi", na Volume 1, Issue 1 di Kadamundu 💗

16/03/2023

Our new world of wonder is finally here! We're proud to finally present volume 1, issue 1 of Kadamundu: The Spice Road Review, which, just like the majestic Portuguese and Malay fleets of old, will arrive on the shores of the online world in stages, and will be published gradually over the next few days and weeks.

Interested in joining our voyages? Check out our submissions page for more details, follow us on Instagram and skribeh, skribeh, skribeh — we can't wait to see what treasures and riches you have found on your own journey 🔱

17/10/2022

THE EDWIN TESSENSOHN MEMORIAL PRIZE FOR CREOLE, INDIGENOUS AND UNDERREPRESENTED LITERATURE
Deadline for submissions: Saturday, 31 December 2022, 2359 h (GMT +8)

Kadamundu: The Spice Road Review and Kodrah Kristang are very proud to announce the inaugural edition of the Edwin Tessensohn Memorial Prize for Creole, Indigenous and Underrepresented Literature.

Edwin John Richard Tessensohn (1855-1926) was one of the most important indigenous voices in the Straits Settlements and colonial Singapore, spearheading not just the sociocultural and economic development of the Kristang and Eurasian community, but the rights of the constituent colonised peoples of the Lion City to represent themselves in governance, on the stage and in everyday life as full, intelligent and expressive human beings devoted to the well-being of their island and city in a manner that celebrated diversity and multicultural cosmopolitanism with nuance, respect and finesse. He contributed to not just the founding of the Eurasian Mutual Improvement Society, the Portuguese Amateur Dramatic Company, the Eurasian Literary Association and later the Eurasian Association of Singapore and the Singapore Recreation Club, but to numerous public works and committees permitted by the British authorities for the sake of Singaporean self-determination, including the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Committee on Public Band Performances, the Eurasian Subscription Ball Committee, the Town Hall Fund Committee, the Straits and Malayan South African War Relief Fund Committee, the Singapore Catholic Club Committee, and eventually in a permanent fashion as a Municipal Commissioner and Justice of the Peace. He was fittingly honoured as the first ever Eurasian to be elected to the Straits Settlements Legislative Council in 1923, and was awarded the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) in 1926, the year of his passing. So respected was he in the Straits Settlements for his tremendous energy and public service that at his funeral, "one of the biggest ever seen in Singapore", his body was accompanied to its internment by a motorcade numbering in the hundreds.

In the open spirit of calls for a Tessensohn Scholarship first made 100 years ago to support underprivileged members of the Eurasian community in the Straits Settlements, Kadamundu: The Spice Road Review and Kodrah Kristang are pleased to present the Edwin Tessensohn Memorial Prize for Creole, Indigenous and Underrepresented Literature, for the best short story (up to 10,000 words) written in any language that is categorised by the global Endangered Languages Project consortium as Endangered or Severely Endangered, from anyone anywhere in the world. Prizes for first (S$100), second (S$50) and third (S$25) place will be announced in February 2023, and the winning entries will be published on Kadamundu: The Spice Road Review.

More details and the process for submission are available at the link below. Nus sperah les bolotu sa stori — we're very much looking forward to reading your stories!

In the spirit of calls for a Tessensohn Scholarship first made 100 years ago to support underprivileged members of the Eurasian community in the Straits Settlements, and in conjunction with Kodrah Kristang, Kadamundu: The Spice Road Review presents the Edwin Tessensohn Memorial Prize for Creole, Ind...

08/10/2022

Welcome to Kadamundu: The Spice Road Review 🌿

Kadamundu, which means "cardamon" and "every world" in the critically endangered language Kristang, is a new biannual online magazine of creative writing that seeks to provide a space for the development of the literature of creole, indigenous (including First Nations and Aboriginal peoples in any part of the world), minority and/or underrepresented cultures, languages and identities, especially from creole and indigenous communities who are not traditionally represented in the media and/or who presently lack a substantial body of written and/or published creative expression, and from LGBTQ+ members of these communities, though we welcome work by all writers by both published and unpublished writers who identify with any of the above from anywhere in the world. We also seek to publish work in the languages of these communities, especially minority and/or endangered languages whose continued existence would be greatly supported by the development of such creative expression.

We are presently open to submissions for our inaugural issue to be published in February 2023 online. For our inaugural issue, we are primarily accepting short fiction of up to 6,000 words; however, we also are more than happy to consider other creative work, including poetry, plays, graphic/visual narratives and creative non-fiction, as well as work does not fit into the aforementioned categories, but which does belong to a genre or written art form that is extant in your own culture or community. We are also welcoming work in the languages our two editors are fluent in: English, Malay and Kristang, as well as in any other language that fits the categories described above, accompanied by a translation in English.

Please contact us at [email protected] if you have further inquiries, and please, as we say in Kristang, nang bergonya (don't be shy): we want to hear from you! The official closing date for Issue 1 submissions is December 31, 2022.

Share this call far and wide: nus kereh bos sa stori di tudu sorti: rainya kung renggu, alegri kung tristi! The roads are open, and we're looking forward to hearing from you 🧡💜