Singapore Literature Prize releases first longlist after cutting categories from 18 to 8

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) has announced a longlist for the first time in its 34-year history amid a cut in prize categories from 18 in the 2024 edition to eight in the 2026 edition.

Thirty writers – 10 each from the categories of English poetry, English prose and Chinese prose – have been longlisted, award organiser Singapore Book Council (SBC) announced in a media statement on Sept 15. Of the longlisted writers, 16 are first-time nominees and nine are debut authors.

In response to The Straits Times’ queries, SBC executive director William Phuan said the longlist will be a feature of future editions of the SLP, assuming there are sufficient submissions. He added: “This is the first time we’re introducing a longlist as we want to recognise the wide number of outstanding works and writers this year in these categories. Over the years, we see that there are more quality works being submitted.”

There are no longlists for the other five categories – Chinese poetry, Malay poetry, Malay prose, Tamil poetry and Tamil prose. Only categories with 20 or more eligible submissions proceed through a longlist stage, SBC said.

The 2026 edition of the SLP received 156 eligible submissions of books published between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2025.

The debut authors on the English poetry list are Shivram Gopinath (Dey), Chim Sher Ting (Burn After Dawn) and the late Adeline Loh (dream girl, loading). They are up against SLP veterans Cyril Wong (Flung), Gwee Li Sui (Look How We’ve Already Forgotten), Theophilus Kwek (Commonwealth) and Daryl Lim Wei Jie (Mistranslations From A Future Vernacular).

The list is rounded off by Shilpa Dikshit Thapliyal (Aerial Roots: Loops Of Infinity And Other Poems), Jonathan Chan (Bright Sorrow) and Crispin Rodrigues (dragon.paper.wind).

Fiction outstrips creative non-fiction in the newly merged English prose category. The longlisted fiction titles, dominated by speculative fiction books, are Amanda Lee Koe’s Sister Snake, Jemimah Wei’s The Original Daughter, Wen-yi Lee’s When They Burned The Butterfly, Meihan Boey’s The Mystical Mister Kay, Ng Yi-Sheng’s Utama, Choo Yi Feng’s The Waiting Room and Daryl Qilin Yam’s Be Your Own Bae.

The non-fiction longlistees are all forms of memoir: Tania De Rozario’s Dinner On Monster Island; Simon Tay’s Enigmas: Tay Seow Huah, My Father, Singapore’s Pioneer Spy Chief; and Shze-Hui Tjoa’s The Story Game.

Longlistees in the Chinese prose category include Wong Koi Tet and Hai Fan.

The biennial SLP, which now boasts a $5,000 top prize for each category, is billed as the country’s most prestigious multilingual literary prize. The shortlist will be announced on Oct 13, 2026, and winners crowned in early December.