Book A Writer / Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

ABOUT

Desmond Kon (b. 1971)is the author of 18 books, spanning fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. The former journalist has edited over 25 titles. Desmond trained in publishing at Stanford University, and received his world religions masters from Harvard University and creative writing masters from the University of Notre Dame. He is the recipient of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, Singapore Literature Prize, two Independent Publisher Book Awards, two Illumination Christian Book Awards, and five Living Now Book Awards, among other accolades. He has taught writing for over two decades.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 2022 – The Jesuit: Finding God in All Things [Commemorating the Quadricentennial Canonization of St. Francis Xavier & St. Ignatius of Loyola] (Eds. Desmond Kon, Eric Tinsay Valles. Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2022)

• 2021 – Depth of Field: My Guided Journal to Self Healing (Singapore: Penguin Random House, 2021)

• 2021 – Atelier of Healing: Poetry About Trauma and Recovery (Eds. Desmond Kon, Eric Tinsay Valles. Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2021)

• 2021 – A Given Grace: An Anthology of Christian Poems [Commemorating the Philippine Quincentennial & Singapore Bicentennial of Catholicism] (Eds. Desmond Kon, Eric Tinsay Valles. Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2021)

• 2020 – Found Texts of the AAI Anon, Circa 3119: Eight Lyric Essays (Singapore: Ethos Books, 2020)

• 2019 – Seven Hundred Lines: A Crown of Found//Fount Sonnets [A Singapore Bicentennial Tribute] (Ed. Desmond Kon. USA: Glass Lyre Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2019)

• 2019 – The Good Day I Died: A Quasi-Memoir (Singapore: Penguin Random House, 2019)

• 2018 – Hermitage of Dreamers: Lyric Essays (USA: Glass Lyre Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2018)

• 2018 – SingPoWriMo 2018: The Anthology (Eds. Stephanie Chan, Desmond Kon, Ng Yi-Sheng, Rodrigo Dela Peña, Jr. Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2018)

• 2018 – Anima Methodi: The Poetics of Mirroring (Eds. Desmond Kon, Eric Tinsay Valles. Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2018)

• 2017 – Reading to Ted Hesburgh (USA: Glass Lyre Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2017)

• 2017 – Asingbol: An Archaeology of the Singaporean Poetic Form (Ed. Desmond Kon. USA: Glass Lyre Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2017)

• 2017 – Eye/Feel/Write: Building Architectonics (Ed. Desmond Kon. Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2017)

• 2016 – Mirror Image Mirage (USA: Glass Lyre Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2016)

• 2016 – Thirty-Seven Reasons Red Is Rad (USA: Glass Lyre Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2016)

• 2015 – Eye/Feel/Write: Experiments in Ekphrasis (Ed. Desmond Kon. Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2015)

• 2015 – The Wrong/Wrung Side of Love (USA: Glass Lyre Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2015)

• 2014 – Singular Acts of Endearment: A Novel (USA: Grey Sparrow Press; Singapore: Squircle Line Press, 2014)

• 2013 – The Arbitrary Sign (Singapore: Red Wheelbarrow Books, 2013)

• ​2004 – I’m A Volunteer Too: Forty Heartwarming Singaporean Stories (Eds. Maryam Abdullah, Desmond Kon, Clair Marie Yeo. Singapore: Beaumont Publishing & National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, 2004)

• 2002 – Doing A Little Good (Ed. Desmond Kon. Singapore: Riding for the Disabled Association, 2002)

• 1995 – Top Ten TCS Stars (Singapore: Caldecott Publishing, 1995)

ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2023 - Living Now Gold Book Award (Digital Media) Co-Winner

• 2023 - Illumination Christian Gold Book Award (Digital Media) Co-Winner

• 2023 - eLit Gold Book Award (Anthologies) Co-Winner

• 2022 - Living Now Gold Book Award (Digital Media) Co-Winner

• 2022 – Independent Publisher (IPPY) Gold Book Award (Book/Author/Publisher Website) Co-Winner

• 2022– Illumination Christian Gold Book Award (Digital Media) Co-Winner

• 2022 – eLit Gold Book Award (Best Book Website) Co-Winner

• 2020 – International Poetry Studies Institute (IPSI) Poetry on the Move Meniscus Award (First Prize)

• 2016 – Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Benjamin Franklin Gold Award (Poetry)

• 2016 – Singapore Literature Prize (English Poetry) Co-Winner

• 2016 – NTU-NAC Creative Writing Residency

• 2016 – Living Now Gold Book Award (Death & Dying)

• 2015 – Independent Publisher (IPPY) Silver Book Award (Multicultural Fiction)

• 2015 – National Indie Excellence (NIEA) Book Award (Poetry)

• 2015 – Living Now Silver Book Award (Inspirational Fiction)

• 2015 – Living Now Bronze Book Award (Metaphysical)

• 2014 – Poetry World Cup

• 2013 – National Arts Council Writer-in-the-Gardens Residency (Gardens by the Bay)

• 2012 – Little Red Tree Publishing International Poetry Prize

• 2011 – PEN American Center Shorts Prize

• 2011 – Smartish Pace Erskine J. Poetry Third Prize

• 1999, 2001 & 2013 – Ngee Ann Distinguished Teaching Award

TALKS

THE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY: FROM IDEA TO BOOK (ASSEMBLY TALK)
For: lower sec, upper sec, junior college; min. 5 pax
Availability: 1-1.5 hours per session; single session or multiple (up to 3) sessions
Description: What is the life of an author like? What writing habits are healthy to develop? How does one get inspiration for one’s writing, and follow-through from the seed of an idea, to completing a full book manuscript? How does one look for a publisher, and what are the considerations an authors should have in getting the book to print? What of the editing process? What of publicity and marketing? What of author branding? What of book readings and critical reviews? In this talk, participants hear the author share his insights on the challenging and rewarding journey of getting one’s book made.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will learn about the demands of the writer’s life; understand the complexities of writerly inspiration, discipline, and revision; recognise elements of the editorial process towards book publication; gather useful tips on developing a career as a professional writer.

WORKSHOPS

TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY POETRY
For: upper sec, junior college; 5-25 pax
Availability: 2-3 hours per session; single session or multiple (up to 4) sessions
Description: What does the landscape of contemporary poetry look like? What are the latest trends? Explore various techniques that will help you explore the limits of language, experimenting with structure and voice. These tips will not only aid in idea generation, they will help you gain control over your aesthetic, to be as conscious a reader of your own work as you are a writer. Through reading a specially curated selection of contemporary poems, quickly gain a better sense of the state of poetry today, and what aesthetic considerations go into such artistic creation.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will sample the diverse offerings seen in contemporary poetry; recognise texts within the traditional-experimental spectrum; assess whether their own poetry is commercial or avant-garde; learn specific poetic devices to provide their work currency; better understand what literary editors look for in publishable poems.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD POEM?
For: lower sec, upper sec, junior college; 5-25 pax
Availability: 2-3 hours per session; single session or multiple (up to 4) sessions
Description: Almost anyone nowadays can dash off a few lines, and call themselves a poet. What is the difference between a good poem and an unconsidered poem? What kind of deliberate intelligence goes into the crafting of a poem of literary merit, something that might measure up against award-winning writers of our time? Through analysing a specially curated selection of prize-winning poems, participants encounter stellar texts which have attracted the admiration of literary critics, readers, and writers alike.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will learn the general and detailed qualities of what makes for a good poem; attempt close readings to uncover essential craft elements; understand how a contest judge might assess the literary merit of a poem; explore the aesthetic sensibilities of contemporary poetry.

THE WITNESS OF POETRY: EMOTIONS, TRAUMA & HEALING
For: upper sec, junior college; 5-25 pax
Availability: 2-3 hours per session; single session or multiple (up to 3) sessions
Description: How have poets engaged with their personal history, and rendered particular experiences through verse? How do trauma, testimony, and longing find a voice through lyric and narrative? Participants discover how poetry may offer a powerful means of healing, in excavating buried emotions and expressing them in crafted language. Indeed, the truth of experience may articulate itself through captivating image and sound. How does one also gain empathy through such art creation? In looking at the lessons of the past, this workshop investigates how contemporary poets might at once celebrate the personal and voice the concerns of the present.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will understand the relevance and importance of poetry as witness; identify particular personal struggles as opportunities for new writing; learn about poetry as a healing art; adopt various literary techniques to edit such personal poems for polish.

BETWEEN GENRES: WRITING ACROSS FICTION, POETRY & NONFICTION
For: lower sec, upper sec, junior college; >5 pax
Availability: 1-1.5 hours per session; single session or multiple (up to 3) sessions
Description: What is it like to work across not just two, but multiple writing genres—those of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, journalism, and even hybrid texts? What are the craft demands of each genre? How does a writer play with the strengths of each, and cross-pollinate their aesthetic sensibilities to write up something innovative and extraordinary? In this talk, participants hear the author share his insights on the serious fun when one frees oneself from genre categories, and attempts such delightful language play.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will learn about the demands of different writing genres; explore the possibilities of textual hybridity and transformation; recognise the literary merits of textual experimentation; gather useful tips on developing a career as a professional writer. Eligible for Tote Board Arts Grant Subsidy