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You Jin

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You Jin
Native name尤今
BornTham Yew Chin
1950 (age 73–74)
Ipoh, British Malaya
OccupationWriter
LanguageChinese, English
Alma materNanyang University
Period1970-present
GenreNovel
Notable worksJinse Daishu
Release Your Happiness
Even The Heart Soars
Chinese name
Chinese尤今
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinYóu Jīn
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese譚幼今
Simplified Chinese谭幼今
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinTán Yòujīn
Wade–GilesTham Yew Chin

Tham Yew Chin (Chinese: 谭幼今; born 1950), known by her pseudonym You Jin (尤今), is a Singaporean writer. She received the Cultural Medallion Award in 2009 for her contributions to Singapore's literary arts scene.

Early life and family

Tham was born 1950 in Ipoh, British Malaya. Her family relocated to Singapore when she was eight years old. Moving to Singapore, she suffered from a language barrier as she only spoke Cantonese. Her father was a construction worker, and her paternal grandfather was an immigrant from then-poverty-torn China.

Career

Tham has published close to 160 literary works under the pseudonym of You Jin. In 2009, she received the Cultural Medallion in literary arts for the first time. Tham contributed an essay titled A Fish in Water for former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew's 2012 book, My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey.

In 2012, Tham's writing was translated into English for the first time. Her 2004 collection of short stories, 听, 青春在哭泣 : 短篇小说, was translated by Sylvia Li-chun Lin and published by Epigram Books as Teaching Cats to Jump Hoops as part of its Cultural Medallion series. Her 2005 autobiography, A Life in Words (文字就是生命} was then translated by Shelly Bryant and published in 2016 by the same company, marking the fourth time she would win the award.

In 2014, three of Tham's books, Jinse Daishu (金色袋鼠), Release Your Happiness (释放快乐) and Even The Heart Soars (心也飞翔), entered the Singapore Literature Prize shortlist for Chinese fiction and non-fiction. Eventually, Even The Heart Soars (心也飞翔) won a merit award for Chinese non-fiction.

Awards

  • 1982: National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Award
  • 1991: National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Award
  • 1991: Singapore Chinese Literary Award (from the Singapore Literature Society)
  • 1996: Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award
  • 2009: Cultural Medallion for Literature

Selected works

References

  1. ^ Lee, Kuan Yew (2012). My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey. Straits Times Press. pp. 349–352. ISBN 9789814342032.
  2. "Teaching Cats to Jump Hoops". Epigram Books. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  3. Editions Didier Millet (2011). Singapore at Random. Editions Didier Millet. pp. 141–. ISBN 978-981-4260-37-4.
  4. "Teaching Cats to Jump Hoops". Epigram Books. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  5. Jin, You (2016). A Life in Words. Epigram Books. ISBN 978-981-4615-44-0.
  6. "Singapore Literature Prize 2014 Shortlist". The Book Council. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  7. Martin, Mayo (4 November 2014). "S'pore Literature Prize 2014 winners announced". MediaCorp. TODAY. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
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