“I write to decompress, process, release; my stories contain everything I am unable to articulate in real life.”
Photo credit: Diana Rahim
“No one knew she was now in a foreign coastal city where she could not understand a word. It was only after hours of touring on foot that she found people who spoke her language- in a forgotten alley, at a quaint café.”
Delicately pressed onto your fresh bag of coffee beans are words by Singaporean writer Prasanthi Ram. This excerpt is from an unpublished work by Prasanthi, just fresh off her win at the 2024 Singapore Literature Prize awards.
Prasanthi Ram is a writer, editor and lecturer. Her debut short story cycle Nine Yard Sarees (2023) won the Singapore Literature Prize (SLP) for English Fiction in 2024, and was also shortlisted for SLP’s “Best Debut” category and Singapore Book Awards’ “Best Literary Work” category in the same year. Her writing has been published in the Best Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Five (2022), Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore (2021) and the award-winning Eat Here or Take Away (2022) among others. She also co-founded and is the prose editor of Mahogany Journal, which spotlights South Asian writers born or based in Singapore. Connect with Prasanthi here: Website / Instagram
NINE YARD SAREES: A SHORT STORY CYCLE (2024)
Winner, Singapore Literature Prize 2024 (Fiction, English), Finalist, Best Literary Work, Singapore Book Awards 2024
Nine Yard Sarees is a multigenerational portrait of a fictional Tamil Brahmin family. Comprising eleven interlinked stories, this short story cycle traces the lives of nine women from 1950 all the way to 2019, shedding light on the community and its evolution through the decades. As the stories take us from India to Singapore, Australia and even America, we follow the experiences of the women in the family: Raji the matriarch who lives in seclusion at an ashram; her daughter Padma who struggles to raise her family the traditional way; Padma’s daughter Keerthana who is about to be married and don the nine yard saree, a symbol of womanhood. Tender, dynamic and full of heart, this cycle is a resonant portrayal of female solidarity and the complexities of the diasporic experience in contemporary Singapore.
This collaboration is made possible through a joint partnership between a literary arts charity Sing Lit Station and ECHO.
ABOUT SING LIT STATION
Sing Lit Station is a registered charity and Institution of Public Character (IPC). Our vision is to be a platform where readers and writers can meet. Our core mission is to serve the local literary community of writers and readers by:
Supporting local writers to develop their artistic and professional lives
Inviting readers to explore Singapore’s literary culture
Bring communities and partners together to develop dynamic literary communities
Supporting impactful and efflorescent work that extends and renders anew the country’s rich literary lineage through our publishing arm AFTERIMAGE
Some of more established programmes include 2024’s Poems on the MRT, Singapore Poetry Writing Month (SingPoWriMo) and our annual literary arts practitioner fellowship, the Jalan Besar Fellowship. We also support other writing initiatives such as the Migrant Writers of Singapore, poetry.sg and various other writing groups.
Interested in finding your written tribe? Follow us here:
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A donation would help add colour to Singapore’s reading and writing scene in more ways you can imagine - trust us! We’re an imaginative bunch.
ABOUT ECHO
ECHO goes beyond just the café—it’s a pause amidst the rush of city life. Started by Zilennial-preneurs who look to go against the grain, ECHO is our way of stepping beyond the 9-to-5 grind to build something that resonates. It’s a space for balance, where the clinking of cups and the soft hum of conversations create a comforting rhythm for those navigating the dynamic pace of modern life.
Serving up everyone's favourite pick-me-ups, from specialty coffee to matcha, tea and light bites, every provision at ECHO reflects this vision, blending high-quality ingredients with genuine care to leave a lasting impression. True to its name, ECHO mirrors the dreams and desires of young people seeking connection, comfort, and a break from the hustle. It’s a testament to finding moments of pause, where small joys and meaningful connections can brighten the day.
Follow the journey:
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Visit ECHO
KADA, #01-08, 5 Kadayanallur Street, Singapore 069183