SINGAPORE and Malaysia's common heritage is celebrated in an anthology of poems at the Singapore Writers Festival.

Dari Jendela Zaman Ini, or From The Window Of This Epoch, contains 100 poems published in Malay and English by authors from both sides of the Causeway. It is the first collaboration between Singapore's National Arts Council (NAC) and the National Translation Institute of Malaysia. One thousand copies of the book will be printed for each country.

The works are united by the themes of 'relationship and humanity', ranging from the love poetry of Malaysia's S.M. Zakir to Singapore poet Edwin artist Iskandar Jalil.

'There is much that we share in common, not least of all literature,' Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew said at the launch at The Arts House on Monday.

He said: 'It is important for each generation of new writers and the audience to come together to refamiliarise themselves with not only the works of the past but also more modern works of literature.'

He added that the joint project spoke well of the relationship between both countries, especially in the literary arts.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times, Life!.