One Fierce Hour

“This is one of the most exciting collections of poetry by a Singaporean in recent years …. He is what I call a ‘natural’ poet – one to whom image-making comes by instinct, without strain or struggle; or at least that is how his art looks.”
—Lee Tzu Pheng

“Alfian writes brutally honest poetry that is not so much grievances from an angry young man, but wry observations of a ‘surprising Singapore’ … laced with sarcasm, poignancy, and yes, a lot of love.”
—BigO Magazine

“One of the most acclaimed poets in his country… a prankish provocateur, libertarian hipster.”
—New Straits Times

“Rereading this collection made me realize two things. 1: this is the poetic equivalent of 12 Storeys, with a dose of Ginsberg thrown in. 2: Sa'at at 21 writes atomically, soaring over many 20somethings of this generation.”
—Tse Hao Guang, author

Alfian Sa’at is the Resident Playwright of Wild Rice. His published works include three collections of poetry: ‘One Fierce Hour’, ‘A History of Amnesia’ and ‘The Invisible Manuscript’; a collection of short stories, ‘Corridor’; a collection of flash fiction, ‘Malay Sketches’; three collections of plays as well as the published play ‘Cooling Off Day’. In 2001, Alfian won the Golden Point Award for Poetry as well as the National Arts Council Young Artist Award for Literature. His plays and short stories have been translated into German, Swedish, Danish and Japanese.