Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Who is Vyvyane Loh?

A local writer has been shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Prize - one of the world's major literary awards ... I needed Dreamer Idiot to nudge my elbow and point it out to me. (Who learns from who, hey, on this blog?)

Vyvyane was born in Ipoh, and grew up in Singapore. She's a dancer, a choreographer, studied medicine at Boston University Medical School, travelled to Brazil and Nepal to do medical electives, worked up to four jobs (spinning/aerobics instructor, personal trainer, dance instructor, moonlighting doctor) while pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing ... her life-story is fascinating (makes me feel utterly totally inadequate), go take a look. Not to mention she has a body to die for. I'm not jealous. Not really.

And of course, there's the novel. Her first. Breaking the Tongue, which chronicles the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in World War II. And she's been compared to Rushdie and Ondaatje.

This is for sure someone we should be cheering on and learning from.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am sure the book's great! do i get it from amazon?

now when will i ever get cracking on mine... sigh... so lazy mah

Anonymous said...

aiyoh sharon went to her site. she's an over-achiever. i feel so ashamed of myself! doctor, dancer, writer. does she sleep? eat?

i'm already intimidated by her.

will google her book!

FBT said...

well, I hate her already. Let me know if the book is any good.

Lydia Teh said...

Hi Sharon, I'm so glad I bought her book at the last Times' warehouse sale. RM15 for hardcover, quite a steal. Haven't read it yet, will read it now that I've finished Wally Lamb's She's Become Undone which is so touching and funny at the same time.

Lil Ms D, you don't have to buy Vyvane's book from Amazon, it's available at Popular.

mystic said...

Hi Sharon,

Stumbled upon ur blog. The book is good. I am a great fan of Asian Lit.

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

Miss Biblio,

GE passed me The Sea, which i have duly passed to The Angel.

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

i still have to return Hawksmoor to you.

will pass it to The Angel when she is due to meet u next.

Lotus Reads said...

Yeay! I have had this book sitting on my bookshelf for the longest time. This is just the push I needed to get me to take it down, dust it off and read it! Thanks, Sharon.

Anonymous said...

Site looks unfinished. Lots of missing pages.

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

always be wary of over-achievers. trust me.

bibliobibuli said...

superwoman? overachiever? my my what sour grapes! just pick yourselves up and aim a bit higher

lydia, lotus reads - you have her book? okay read and let us know how it is

mystic - welcome, glad to see you here

visitor - ms biblio? why so formal just call me bib! thanks for acting as go-between for my booklending service!

=] - aiyoh! and there was thinking that singapore WAS local. goodness i forgot just how wide that causeway really is