Words on Art: Ayatana

Edwin Thumboo, one of Singapore’s pioneering literary voices, brings his incisive awareness of socio-cultural history to this volume of poetry. With a humanist’s eye, narratives spanning the domestic, the politic and the mythic form intertextual responses to the works of art hanging on the walls of the National Gallery Singapore. This volume is the second title in the Gallery’s Words on Art series: books dedicated to examining the intersections between visual and literary art.

Publisher: National Gallery Singapore
Author Biography: Born in Singapore in 1933, Edwin Thumboo is Emeritus Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore. He was previously Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (1980–1991) and Director Centre for the Arts (1993–2005), and also held Visiting Professorships in the UK, America, Austria, Australia and elsewhere. His poetry includes Rib of Earth (1956), Gods Can Die (1977), Ulysses by the Merlion (1979), A Third Map (1993), Still Travelling (2008), Best of Edwin Thumboo (2012), Word-Gate (2013) and A Gathering of Themes (2018). He has received the Singapore Cultural Medallion (1980), the ASEAN Cultural and Communication Award in Literature (1987), the Raja Rao Award (2002) and the Meritorious Service Medal Singapore (2006).
Language: English
Country of Origin: Singapore
Page count: 84
Binding: Paperback
Search words: Edwin Thumboo, poetry, art, ekphrasis, National Gallery Singapore