SINGAPORE – He’s an acclaimed novelist and a senior newspaper sub-editor, and has simply bagged the Cultural Medallion – Singapore’s most prestigious award for the humanities.
However Chia Joo Ming, 62, continues to be, by his personal description, “an atypical uncle”.
The part-time senior government sub-editor at Chinese language each day Lianhe Zaobao, whose works typically concern historical past and the lives of on a regular basis individuals, takes all his achievements in his stride.
“These additional labels are a bonus,” he tells The Straits Occasions in Mandarin. “Simply be joyful about it for a day and that is sufficient.
“Tomorrow, you continue to have to return to work with a peaceful, regular thoughts. As soon as I stroll out of this door, I am nonetheless an atypical uncle.”
He acquired the Cultural Medallion on Wednesday (Nov 24). The award is conferred by the President on people who’ve contributed considerably to the humanities and tradition of Singapore. Administered by the Nationwide Arts Council and thought to be the best arts honour within the nation, it comes with a trophy and entry to the Cultural Medallion Fund for funding of as much as $80,000.
Chia, the fourth son of a chye tau kueh hawker and housewife, grew up within the Kallang space. He has written a dozen Chinese language-language books, together with the Singapore Literature Prize-winning novels Kian Kok (2018), m40 (2009) and Reconstructing Nanyang Pictures (2005).
His 2015 e book Exile Or Pursuit, a coming-of-age story of a younger Singaporean set in yesteryear, was added to the O-level Chinese language literature syllabus in 2018 and tailored as a stage play this 12 months.
When Chia was rising up, he devoured wuxia novels by well-known Taiwanese author Gu Lengthy and likewise learn kids’s magazines. He discovered some early success at 17, when his artistic writing was printed by Shin Min Every day Information. He saved writing.
In 1978, he printed an essay assortment together with his elder brother, poet and novelist Chia Hwee Pheng, who is best generally known as Xi Ni Er and acquired the Cultural Medallion in 2008.
After he graduated from the Singapore Technical Institute, he thought of working at an air-conditioning firm, however finally took up a suggestion from Shin Min Every day Information when it contacted him.
“For somebody with instructional {qualifications} like mine, I did not have many selections. Individuals selected you – you did not get to decide on them,” Chia says wryly.
In 1984, he joined the paper as a sub-editor and have become the founding editor of its City Literature pages. Three years later, he moved to the Singapore Broadcasting Company as a scriptwriter for the sitcom Neighbours.
Then, in 1988, he hopped over to Lianhe Zaobao, the place he sub-edited the literary pages and began what can be a greater than three-decade profession on the paper.
Chia, who comes throughout as modest however talkative in particular person – “males get long-winded with age” – says many members of Singapore’s Chinese language literary scene at the moment are “outdated, ragged troopers”.
He recollects that within the early Eighties, a poem by Taiwanese poet Luo Fu sparked a debate in Singapore that lasted greater than three months. Writers clashed over whether or not poetry must be obscure or extra limpid.
In 2018, the 12 months Luo Fu died, one of many writers concerned within the debate lamented in a Zaobao article: “At present, maybe nobody would argue a couple of poem any extra.”
Chia says: “The group was larger. Now, there are fewer of us and we’re huddling collectively for heat. From the late Eighties, Singapore began to change into a really capitalistic society, individuals began to maneuver away from these beliefs.”
He acquired the Younger Artist Award in 1993. His different prizes embrace the Golden Lion Literary Awards, Nationwide E-book Growth Council of Singapore’s E-book Awards and the S.E.A. Write Award.
He’s married to a former clerk, and their son, 23, is finding out enterprise on the Nanyang Technological College.
Requested if working within the media has affected his literary model, he says: “It is advisable to be self-aware. After some time, you slowly handle to separate the 2.”
Journalistic abilities have additionally turn out to be useful – having a watch for newsworthy element, understanding tips on how to write in an goal means and utilizing archival materials judiciously.
His SG50-centric novel Kian Kok, as an example, makes use of snippets of textual content from newspaper articles.
He provides: “Dong Qiao, the well-known Hong Kong author, as soon as mentioned that enhancing an article takes extra time than writing it.
“Once I write one thing for the primary time, I’m an writer. The second time spherical, I’m a sub-editor. Later, when it is accomplished, I would like to consider what I unnoticed and the way I can ‘fatten’ it up. Then, it’s worthwhile to trim it.”
He writes at a sluggish tempo, works greatest within the morning and tries to cease writing by 9 or 10pm. “If the thoughts is just too energetic, it impacts your sleep.”
He’s candid concerning the falling requirements of Mandarin in Singapore, and notes that most of the youth who win awards right here had been born in Malaysia and China.
Requested what might be completed to enhance younger individuals’s Chinese language requirements and get them extra within the language, he says: “(Founding prime minister) Lee Kuan Yew as soon as mentioned that language points in Singapore are political points. So, it’s worthwhile to return to the political insurance policies.”
Over time, he has given younger artistic writers a platform in the papers. He has additionally performed a key position in occasions such because the Zaobao E-book Alternative, Greatest Chosen Works of Literary Metropolis and Zaobao Literary Competition.
He feels Singapore Chinese language literature is in a “trough” in the meanwhile.
However maybe it isn’t all doom and gloom. “Particular person writers can nonetheless work in their very own ‘micro environments’ and proceed to put in writing – even when the broader atmosphere will not be beneficial to them.
“As soon as you set your pen down, you do not want a big sky – as an alternative, you’ll be able to preserve exploring, digging deep.”
