Theophilus Kwek

Theophilus Kwek began writing as a student at Raffles Institution under the mentorship of Alvin Pang, Aaron Maniam and others. He has since authored three collections, They Speak Only Our Mother Tongue (2011), Circle Line (2013)—which was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in 2014—and Giving Ground (2016). He has also been nominated for various other awards, winning the Martin Starkie Prize in 2014, the Jane Martin Prize in 2015, and the inaugural New Poets’ Prize in 2016. His translation of Wong Yoon Wah’s poem “Moving House” was also placed Second in the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation in 2016.

His work has appeared in journals both in Singapore and abroad, including The Irish Examiner, Southword, The London Magazine, The North, and the Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore (QLRS). Having served as President of the Oxford University Poetry Society, he currently serves as a Co-Editor of Oxford Poetry.