In a post-colonial, English-medium country like Singapore, the consolidation of a literary tradition and establishment of a distinctive genre depends on the emergence of new, younger voices. Fortunately, there are many voices now being heard in Singapore, including the lawyer Claire Tham.
Born in 1967, Tham was educated at the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus and at Hwa Chong Junior College, both in Singapore, and then at Oxford University in Britain, where she read Law. Now employed as legal officer in a bank, she began writing fiction at a very early age, and once hoped to write “the ultimate rock and roll story”. Literary recognition, too, came early. At the tender age of seventeen, Tham won two second prizes in the National Short Story Writing Competition of 1984, followed by the
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Citation: Wicks, Peter Charles. "Claire Tham". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11820, accessed 09 December 2024.]