May 16, 2019

Emeritus Professor Edwin Thumboo from the NUS Department of English Language and Literature was recently featured in The Straits Times for his latest poetry collection, A Gathering of Themes (Ethos Books, 2019).

Prof Thumboo is one of Singapore’s foremost pioneer poets, and has achieved several accolades such as the first Cultural Medallion for literature and the Meritorious Service Medal. Although he has published several books over the years, it has been more than a decade since his last major poetry collection, Still Travelling (Ethos Books, 2008). A Gathering of Themes showcases 109 poems that reflect on not just history and nationhood, but also religion and love—the greatest range of topics that he believes he has covered in any anthology to date.

According to Prof Thumboo, one of his reasons for bringing out the collection was his concern about his health, following a frightening “decline, a losing of energy” after his 85^th birthday last November. Even then, he does not intend for A Gathering of Themes to be his last book. In fact, he is currently occupied with being the poet-in-residence at the National Gallery of Singapore, where the work he produces will likely be featured in his next book.

Get A Gathering of Themes here.

Read the full article here.