Join us for the Singapore launch of Commonwealth, Theophilus Kwek’s latest poetry collection
The afternoon unfolds with Theophilus reading from the collection, before Cheng Nien Yuan and Crispin Rodrigues join him in a spirited conversation on poetry, memory, and the histories we carry. Stay on for a Q&A and book signing to round off the day.
One of Singapore’s oldest public housing estates, the name “Commonwealth” also gestures to the long tail of the British Empire and still-potent dreams of equitable distribution. Theophilus Kwek’s Commonwealth uncovers rich seams of history, replete with conquests, tragedies and shared visions of the future. Taking its starting-point as the massive Bukit Ho Swee fires of the 196os – an event as deeply seared into the history of the poet’s family as the nation’s own – Commonwealth traces the dislocations and relocations that have come before it, and in its wake.
Theophilus’s earlier poetry collections dealt with questions of personal rootedness and larger-scale displacement. With his signature adeptness in poetic form, Theophilus embarks on a new departure with Commonwealth, drawing on a wide array of documentary and oral history sources to address upheavals of individual and collective lives within our densely populated city.
📍Venue: Book Bar
🏢 Address: 57 Duxton Road, Singapore 089521
🗓️ Date: Sunday, 29 June 2025
🕛 Time: 3.00 pm - 4.30 pm
🎟️ Admission: Free with registration
Register here.
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