Joshua Ip

Joshua Ip attended Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Raffles Junior College before completing a degree in Creative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. He was mentored by Lee Tzu Pheng and Heng Siok Tian.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nac.gov.sg/naccorp/dam/jcr:74b2124b-5e59-482f-88a1-fd353205126b/03-JOSHUA-IP-HR.pdf|title=Young Artist Award 2017: Joshua Ip|date=2017|website=National Arts Council|access-date=29 March 2020}}

Ip has published four volumes of poetry with Math Paper Press and edited nine anthologies. His first collection, "sonnets from the singlish" (Math Paper Press, 2013) co-won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://bookcouncil.sg/awards/singapore-literature-prize|title=Singapore Literature Prize | Awards | Singapore Book Council|first=Singapore Book|last=Council|website=bookcouncil.sg}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.todayonline.com/blogs/forartssake/spore-literature-prize-2014-winners-announced|title=S'pore Literature Prize 2014 winners announced|website=TODAYonline}} The collection has been referred to in The Straits Times as "a playful subversion of the form's rhythm and rhymes".{{cite news |last= Tan|first= Corrie |date= 2 September 2012 |title= Poetry in Motion |url= https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Microfilm/Search?RN=NL32246|location= The Straits Times |access-date= 4 April 2020}} Ip's work in "sonnets from the singlish" has been described as building "a distinctly contemporary Singapore slant through the formalism of his verse",{{cite journal |last1= Tse |first1= Hao Guang |date= December 2017|title= The Postcolonial Sonnet|url= https://www.axonjournal.com.au/issue-13/postcolonial-sonnet|journal= Axon |volume= 7|issue= 2 |access-date= 4 April 2020}} and "[his] greatest strength lies in crafting these absurd scenarios, which vividly and concisely capture the gist of his philosophising."{{Cite web|url=https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/twice-the-fun-with-upsized-edition|title=Twice the fun with upsized edition|website=The Business Times Singapore|date=January 2016}} Ip's focus on formal poetry has been compared to the "freeer approach to the writing of poetry of Singapore's first generation of postcolonial poets."{{cite journal |last1= Talib |first1= Ismail S.|title= Malaysia and Singapore|journal= The Journal of Commonwealth Literature |year= 2019|volume= 53|issue= 4 |pages= 643–660|doi= 10.1177/0021989419877064|s2cid= 220087538}} Of his latest collection, "footnotes on falling", Rain Taxi wrote that "Ip's work binds together the morbid curiosity of our sourest livelihoods and the relief of wordplay",{{Cite web|url=https://www.raintaxi.com/siblings-four-recent-poetry-titles-from-singapores-math-paper-press/|title=Four recent poetry titles from Singapore's Math Paper Press|website=Rain Taxi Review|date=14 August 2019}} and The Straits Times described the collection as "poems that work as puzzles to be decoded.".{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/poems-that-work-as-puzzles-to-be-decoded|title=Poems that work as puzzles to be decoded|date=14 August 2018|website=The Straits Times}}

Ip is a often-cited editor of contemporary Singapore poetry anthologies, having co-edited with Christine Chia the collection "A Luxury We Cannot Afford", a response to the 1969 pronouncement by then-PM of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew that "poetry is a luxury we cannot afford."The collection brings together "a rich variety of poems by both established figures and newly emergent voices",{{Cite web|url=http://www.qlrs.com/critique.asp?id=1165/|title=The Myth That Dare Not Speak Its Name|website=Quarterly Literary Review Singapore}} and "endeavors to imagine and create spaces for literature in Singapore.".{{cite encyclopedia |chapter= Contemporary Literature from Singapore |encyclopedia= Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature |date= November 2017 |publisher= Oxford Research Encyclopedia|doi= 10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.189 |url=https://oxfordre.com/literature/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-189|last1= Gui |first1= Weihsin |isbn= 9780190201098 }} More recent anthologies include "Unfree Verse" (2015), the first collection of Singaporean formal poetry spanning 80 years of history, which "represents an unprecedented attempt to plug the gap where Singaporean formal poetry is concerned",{{Cite web|url=http://www.qlrs.com/critique.asp?id=1431|title=An Open Prison|website=Quarterly Literary Review Singapore}} and "Call and Response"(2019), reviewed in The Straits Times as "[taking] Singapore's burgeoning migrant worker poetry scene a step further by pairing works by more than 30 migrants, the bulk of them low-wage transient workers, with poems written in response by locals."{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/poetic-pairings-on-the-migrant-experience|title=Poetic pairings on the migrant experience|website=The Straits Times|date=4 February 2019}} The Journal of Commonwealth Literature notes that "he has emerged as a prolific contributor to the genre... [having] either individual collections or edited volumes each year."

Ip won the Golden Point Award for Prose in 2013 for his short story, "The Man Who Turned Into a Photocopier",{{Cite web|url=https://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/spore-writers-fest-golden-point-award-2013-winners-announced|title=S'pore Writers Fest: Golden Point Award 2013 winners announced|website=TODAYonline}} and was first runner-up for Poetry in 2011.{{Cite web|date=6 August 2013|title=Golden Point Award|url=http://www.nac.gov.sg/events/competitions/golden-point-award|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806004816/http://www.nac.gov.sg/events/competitions/golden-point-award|archive-date=6 August 2013|access-date=2 November 2021|website=}} He was selected as one of the National Arts Council's "New Voices of Singapore" in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.nac.gov.sg/docs/resources/new-voices-of-singapore-2014.pdf |title=New Voices of Singapore 2014 |access-date=11 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223201447/https://nac.gov.sg/docs/resources/new-voices-of-singapore-2014.pdf |archive-date=23 February 2015 }} He was the recipient of the Young Artist Award in 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/meet-this-years-cultural-medallion-and-young-artist-award-winners|title=Meet this year's Cultural Medallion and Young Artist Award winners|date=25 October 2017|website=The Straits Times}}

Ip founded the inaugural Singapore Poetry Writing Month in April 2014, a movement which gathered poets online to write a poem a day for 30 days.{{Cite web|url=https://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/read-poets-society-singapores-poetry-scene-booming|title=Read Poets Society: Singapore's poetry scene is booming|website=TODAYonline}}{{Cite web |title=New Poems by Ten Singapore Poets: A Postscript | Blue Lyra Review |url=http://bluelyrareview.com/a-postscript-by-jee-leong-koh/ |url-status=dead |access-date=11 June 2016 |archive-date=20 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420164416/http://bluelyrareview.com/a-postscript-by-jee-leong-koh/ }} Recent editions reached an audience of 6,000 and included physical events such as MRT-based poetry readings {{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/singapore-poetry-in-motion|title=Singapore poetry in motion|date=1 May 2016|website=The Straits Times}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/poetry-20|title=Poetry 2.0|first=Tan Teck|last=Heng|date=10 June 2016|website=The Business Times}} and performance-poetry-professional-wrestling hybrid performances.{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/wrestling-with-poetry|title=Poets take wrestling classes for Sing Lit Body Slam|date=3 October 2017|website=The Straits Times}} He co-founded Sing Lit Station, a literary non-profit that was awarded a National Arts Council seed grant to develop writing in Singapore through literary bootcamps and workshops.{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/singapores-literary-boom|title=Singapore's literary scene enjoying revival|date=17 May 2016|website=The Straits Times}}

{{Cite web|url=https://kitaab.org/2015/04/07/the-words-are-what-they-are-interview-with-joshua-ip/|title=The words are what they are: Interview with Joshua Ip|first=Zafar|last=Anjum|date=7 April 2015}}

Ip has represented Singapore at international literary festivals and publishing conferences including the Griffith Review New Asia Now tour of Australia,{{Cite web|url=https://www.griffithreview.com/editions/new-asia-now/|title=New Asia Now|website=Griffith Review}} Asia-Pacific Writers Festival in Bangkok,{{Cite web |url=http://apwriters.org/bangkok-what-happened-and-whats-next/ |title=Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT) formerly Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership' | APWT builds, promotes and helps sustain the careers of authors and literary translators in the Asia Pacific region. | Bangkok Conference 2013 — What Happened |access-date=11 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417002231/http://apwriters.org/bangkok-what-happened-and-whats-next/ |archive-date=17 April 2016 |url-status=dead }} the Goa Literary Festival,{{Cite web|url=http://www.goaartlitfest.com/galf2014/participants2014.php#Joshua|title=Speakers 2014 | Goa Arts and Literature Festival|website=goaartlitfest.com}} the London Book Fair,{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/local-lit-in-london-book-fair|title=Local lit in London book fair|date=15 April 2013|website=The Straits Times}} and the New York Singapore Literature Festival.{{Cite web |url=http://www.singaporeliteraturefestival.com/authors/ |title=Authors |access-date=11 June 2016 |archive-date=10 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810073934/http://www.singaporeliteraturefestival.com/authors/ |url-status=dead }} He has been a featured writer at the Singapore Writers Festival since 2012.

• sonnets from the singlish (Math Paper Press, 2012) {{ISBN|978-981-07-1550-2}}
• making love with scrabble tiles (Math Paper Press, 2013) {{ISBN|978-981-07-4779-4}}
• sonnets from the singlish upsize edition (Math Paper Press, 2015) {{ISBN|978-981-09-7884-6}}
• footnotes on falling (Math Paper Press, 2018) {{ISBN|978-981-11-5283-2}}
• Farquhar (Ethos Books, 2020) {{ISBN|978-981-14-2705-3}}
• translations to the tanglish (Math Paper Press, 2021) {{ISBN|978-981-18-1345-0}}

• SingPoWriMo 2014: The Anthology (Math Paper Press, 2014) {{ISBN|978-981-09-2652-6}}
• A Luxury We Cannot Afford (Math Paper Press, 2014) {{ISBN|978-981-09-2653-3}}
• SingPoWriMo 2015: The Anthology (Math Paper Press, 2015) {{ISBN|978-981-09-7322-3}}
• A Luxury We Must Afford (Math Paper Press, 2016) {{ISBN|978-981-09-8661-2}}
• SingPoWriMo 2016: The Anthology (Math Paper Press, 2016) {{ISBN|978-981-11-1294-2}}
• UnFree Verse (Ethos Books, 2017) {{ISBN|978-981-11-3726-6}}
• Twin Cities: An anthology of twin cinema from Singapore and Hong Kong (Landmark Books, 2017) {{ISBN|978-981-4189-81-1}}
• Call and Response: a migrant/local poetry anthology (Math Paper Press, 2018) {{ISBN|978-981-11-8919-7}}
• 11 x 9: Collaborative poetry from the Philippines and Singapore (Math Paper Press, 2019) {{ISBN|978-981-14-3000-8}}
• to let the light in: an anthology (Landmark Books / Asia Pacific Hospice Network, 2021)

• Peace is a Foot Reflexology Parlour, Balik Kampung 2A, 2013
• ROBOTZ ATTACKZ THE CITEH, From the Belly of the Cat, 2013
• The Man Who Turned Into a Photocopier, Golden Point Award, 2011

• Young Artist Award Singapore, 2017
• Singapore Literature Prize – Co-winner (English Poetry), 2014
• National Arts Council Creation Grant, 2014

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• [http://www.poetry.sg/joshua-ip-intro poetry.sg profile]
• {{facebook|joshua.ip.man}}

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Category:Singapore Literature Prize winners

Category:Living people

Category:Singaporean poets

Category:Singaporean literature

Category:Male poets

Category:Anglo-Chinese School alumni

Category:Raffles Junior College alumni

Category:1982 births