The Colour of Twilight

“In the crepuscular space between history and memory, an ageing Singaporean-Chinese writer reflects on his life, his creativity, and the local culture milieu. With candour and compassion, Yeng’s vignettes of the everyday build to a subtly stirring tale that lingers beyond the page. The Colour of Twilight reframes the value of an artist’s life.”
—Dr Chan Cheow Thia, author of Malaysian Crossings

“Amid the absurdity of life, Yeng Pway Ngon finds the true meaning of existence.”
—Dr Liw Pei Kien, author of Modernism in Singapore Chinese Literature

Yeng Pway Ngon (1947-2021) received the Cultural Medallion for Literature in 2003. He published 31 volumes of poetry, fiction, essays, plays and literary criticism in Chinese. In 2013, he taught novel and short story writing at Nanyang Technological University’s Chinese Language Department, under the Chinese Writing Residency Project. In the same year, he received the S.E.A. Write Award (Southeast Asian Writers Award). Yeng received the National Book Development Council’s Book Award for 1987-88 and the Singapore Literature Prize in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. His poetry and novels have been translated into English and Italian.

Jeremy Tiang is a novelist, playwright and the International Booker longlisted translator of over 30 books from Chinese, including Yeng Pway Ngon’s previous novels Unrest and Costume. He is a two-time winner of the Singapore Literature Prize, for his translation of Zhang Yueran’s Cocoon and for his novel State of Emergency; his short story collection It Never Rains on National Day was shortlisted for the same prize. His plays include Salesman之死 (Obie Award for Outstanding New Play), The Last Days of Limehouse and A Dream of Red Pavilions.