Robert Yeo (born Robert Yeo Cheng Chuan; 1940) is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

an poet, playwright and novelist.

Career

Yeo is a retired lecturer of the

National Institute of Education The National Institute of Education (NIE) is an autonomous institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Ranked 12th in the world and 2nd in Asia by the QS World University Rankings in the subject of Education in 2015, the ...

and

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various in ...

. In 2011, he is a teacher of creative writing at the Singapore Management University and mentors the Mentor Access Programme of the National Arts Council. In 1978, he attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

International Writing Program The International Writing Program (IWP) is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since 2014, the program offers online courses to many writers and poets around the world. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted o ...

and was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

in 1995. For more than a decade, from 1977 onwards, he was chairman of the Drama Advisory Committee which helped develop theatre in Singapore, especially English-language theatre. For this work, he received the ''

Bintang Bakti Masyarakat The Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (English: Public Service Star) is a Singaporean decoration instituted in 1963, is awarded to any person who has rendered valuable public service to the people of Singapore, or who has distinguished themselves in the ...

'' (Public Service Star) in 1991, and was awarded the

S.E.A. Write Award The S.E.A. Write Award, or Southeast Asian Writers Award, is an award that is presented annually since 1979 to poets and writers of Southeast Asia. The awards are given to the writers from each of the countries that comprise the Association of S ...

in 2011. He has published four poetry collections: ''Coming Home Baby'' (1971); ''And Napalm Does Not Help'' (1977), ''A Part of Three'' (1989) and ''Leaving Home, Mother'' (1999) and has been included in several anthologies, including ''Five Takes'' (1974). His venture into novel writing resulted in a sole book: ''The Adventures of Holden Heng'' (1986) about the sexual education of its anti-hero. Yeo has written six plays: ''Are You There, Singapore?'' (1974), ''One Year Back Home'' (1980), ''Second Chance'' (1988), ''The Eye of History'' (1991), ''Changi'' (1996) and ''Your Bed is Your Coffin''. All the plays except the last have been staged in Singapore. ''Are You There, Singapore?'', ''One Year Back Home'' and ''Changi'' are collectively known as "the Singapore trilogy". Yeo has also edited collections of short fiction, plays and textbooks, a memoir, as well as the libretto for an opera, ''Fences'' (2012).

Works

Poetry collections

*''Coming Home Baby'' (1971, Federal Publications) *''And Napalm Does Not Help'' (1977, Heinemann Educational Books (Asia)) *''A Part of Three'' (1989, Select Books) *''Leaving Home, Mother'' (1999, Angsana Books) *''The Best of Robert Yeo'' (2012,

Epigram Books Epigram Books is an independent publishing company in Singapore. It publishes works of Singapore-based writers, poets and playwrights. History Epigram was originally set up in 1991 by Edmund Wee as a design agency. Epigram began the publish ...

)

Novels

*''The Adventures of Holden Heng'' (1986, Heinemann Publishers Asia; 2011,

)

Plays

*''Are You There, Singapore?'' (1974, National University of Singapore Society) *''One Year Back Home'' (1980, National University of Singapore Society) *''Second Chance'' (1988, 1992, TheatreWorks) *''The Eye of History'' (1992) *''Your Bed is Your Coffin'' (Unstaged) *''Changi'' (1997, National University of Singapore Society) *''The Singapore Trilogy'' (2001, Landmark Books)

Libretto

*''Kannagi–The Ankle Bracelet'' (2009, 2014) *''Fences'' (2012)

Non-fiction

*''Routes: A Singaporean Memoir, 1940-75'' (2011, Ethos Books)

Anthologies

* Gwee Li Sui, ed. '' Written Country: The History of Singapore through Literature'' (2016,

Landmark Publications A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

)

Personal life

Yeo is married to Esther Leong, who he met on the set of ''Are You There, Singapore?'' in 1974, when she played the character Hua after responding to an audition call in the newspapers.

References

Yeo Bibliography
of critical writings about Yeo {{DEFAULTSORT:Yeo, Robert 1940 births Living people Recipients of the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat Singaporean dramatists and playwrights Singaporean novelists Singaporean male writers Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean poets S.E.A. Write Award winners Singaporean non-fiction writers International Writing Program alumni Male non-fiction writers Fulbright alumni