Rosetta Cultures 羅塞塔文化

“An uncategorisable, unrelentingly gorgeous tour de force.”
- Michael Copperman, Writer

“Li’s hybrid essays hover elegantly over the field of memory.”
- Jonathan Chan, Poet

“This is the kind of failure we should all aspire to.”
- Tse Hao Guang, Poet

__________

About The Inventors

A history of embarrassments in the garden begins a meditation on the nature of memory. Unfolding alongside notes and marginalia, a ghost story becomes a reflection on grief, remembrance, and identity. Failed writing projects coalesce into a contemplation on the limits of our narratives. The haunting essays in The Inventors explore the stories that we tell ourselves—and the ways in which we constantly invent and reinvent our / selves. 

About the Author

Daryl Li is a writer of literary fiction and nonfiction based in Singapore. His first book, The Inventors, is a collection of creative nonfiction published by Rosetta Cultures. His work has been longlisted for the Australian Book Review Calibre Essay Prize and Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, and been a finalist in the Georgia Review Prose Prize. He has won a Golden Point Award for short fiction. His work can be found in publications including Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, NANG, OF ZOOS, Unwinnable Monthly, and Gastronomica.

He can be found on Instagram, Twitter, and Threads at @nonstickpanda.

About Rosetta Cultures

Rosetta Cultures is an imprint by TrendLit Publishing that focuses on championing and bridging languages and the arts across cultures and communities.

Rosetta Cultures is currently based in Singapore, serving local and international readers.

Publication Information 

ISBN: 978-981-18-8244-9 (Paperback)
Publisher / Imprint: Rosetta Cultures 
Date of Publication: 01 November 2023
Suggested Categorization: Essays, Non-Fiction, Singapore Literature
Format: 19cm (H) x 13cm (W), 272 pages

Short Tongue is the Singaporean Chinese poet Wang Mun Kiat’s second collection of poetry, representing a distinct change in style from his previous work. The poems in this collection are deceptively short and seemingly simple, but they belie deep reservoirs of irony, wit and social commentary. The title, Short Tongue, hints at an ambiguity and a refusal to define oneself. You can think of each poem as a dagger — that both wounds and tickles. This bilingual edition is published in simplified Chinese and English, in hopes of bringing Wang Mun Kiat’s surprising poetry to a new audience of readers, as well as promoting exchanges between the different language literatures in Singapore.