About 200 people attended a commemorative public forum on 23 May 2010 at the National Library in memory of Fang Xiu (the late Mr Goh Tze Kwong), Singapore’s literary pioneer, who passed away at the age of 88 in March 2010 after a long illness.
This forum was jointly organised by the National Library Board and the Tropical Literature & Art Club, in recognition of the achievements and contributions of the writer. The event attracted many local writers, Fang Xiu’s friends, family members, admirers and scholars who came forward to join and share their thoughts about Fang Xiu, his legacy and works, including Ms Ngian Lek Choh, Director National Library Singapore. Two main speakers gave a critical review of Fang Xiu’s work, while some composed songs, poems and anecdotes on Fang Xiu’s encouragement and support on their path to becoming writers. This event was well covered by the press, Lianhe Zaobao on 21 May & 28 May and The Straits Times on 7 June.
Fang Xiu was a pioneer in the study of Malayan-Singapore Chinese literature since the 1950’s. He completed a 10-volume work called “A Comprehensive Anthology of Modern Malayan Chinese literature”, which was published in 1972. This anthology is a collection of short stories, poems, plays, literary criticisms by early authors from Singapore and Malaysia, published in the local Chinese newspapers and magazines between 1919-1969. It took Fang Xiu 20 years to complete this literary work, which is an important and authoritative reference source on Chinese literature in Southeast Asia. Fang Xiu also penned and edited more than 100 literary publications, besides writing essays, short stories and literary criticisms, he had also composed 69 poems. Fang Xiu was awarded the first Nanyang Literature Award in 2008 for his outstanding contributions on Chinese literature.
To read more about the writer and his works, please refer to the NLB website and the printed bibliography on Fang Xiu (2008).
Contributed by the National Library Singapore