18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Singaporean writer Ng Yi-Sheng's short story in the running for Japanese literary prize
Singaporean author and poet Ng Yi-Sheng's literary work The World's Wife has been shortlisted in the Best Translated Short Story category of Japan's Seiun Awards. PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE – Singaporean writer Ng Yi-Sheng has been shortlisted for a Japanese science fiction award.
The 44-year-old two-time winner of the Singapore Literature Prize has been given a nod in the Best Translated Short Story category of Japan's Seiun Awards , which honours the best in original and translated works of science fiction.
His shortlisted work is the 1,060-word short story The World's Wife, translated by Kujirai Hisashi. The story, originally published in December 2023 in the science fiction and fantasy magazine Clarkesworld, tells the tale of a woman whose husband's dead body forms a new planet in space.
Ng will face stiff competition, going up against The Three-Body Problem's (2008) famed Chinese author Liu Cixin for her short story Time Immigrant, and the American author of the Hugo Award-winning Wayfarers series (2014 to 2021) Becky Chambers, who was nominated for her solarpunk novella A Psalm for the Wild-Built.
The Seiun Awards (which means the Nebula Awards, not to be confused with the American science fiction award of the same name) is often described as the Japanese equivalent of the Hugo Awards.
The annual Hugo Awards, which honours science fiction or fantasy works, are given out at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. In a similar vein, the Seiun Awards are given out at the Japan Science Fiction Convention and picked by its participants via voting.
On May 18, Ng posted the news on Facebook and admitted he felt 'intimidated' to be nominated alongside Liu.
He said: 'I've been shortlisted for the 2025 Seiun Awards... first time I've ever been on the shortlist (not longlist) for any international affair, so I'm thrilled.'
'I've got this honour less due to my own merit than due to the kindness of friends and the talent of translators,' he added.
Aside from The World's Wife, the poet and activist has written Lion City, a short story collection of speculative fiction which won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2020. His debut poetry collection Last Boy won the same prize in 2008.
Voting for the awards runs until June 30, and the winners will be announced in mid-July, with the awards ceremony held in conjunction with the Japan Science Fiction Convention on Aug 31.
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
