Ovidia Yu (born 1961) is a writer from
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
who has published award-winning plays and short stories. She has won several awards, including the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Singapore Foundation Culture Award (1996), the National Arts Council (NAC)
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
(1996) and the Singapore Youth Award (1997).
["Ovidia Yu."]
Singapore Infopaedia. National Library Board Singapore, 1 January 2004. Web. 30 September 2014. She has had more than thirty of her plays produced and is considered one of the most well-known writers in Singapore, according to HarperCollins Publishers.
Early life
Yu was born in 1961 to a middle-class family in Singapore. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a teacher. She attended
Methodist Girls' School
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
, where her mother taught, and developed a love for reading and writing at an early age. She became particularly interested in the characters that she read about and would continue their stories in her own 'sequels' to the books. She was writing her own short stories by the time she was ten years old.
Despite her interest in liberal arts, she was pressured into becoming a doctor by her parents and friends at school. She originally attended the
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...
in pursuit of a
medical degree
A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...
, but soon dropped out to pursue literature instead. Before publishing any books, she had earned a living by writing scripts for corporate training videos and translating manuals for machinery.
["Singapore Writer Ovidia Yu Inks a New Life."]
The Straits Times Communities. 7 October 2013. Web. 30 September 2014.
Personal life
Ovidia Yu lives in and sets her plays, books and stories primarily in Singapore, although she deals with many issues especially trying to examine the lives of women and LGBTQ in Singapore.
Yu also suffers from
epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...
and carries notebooks around with her to counter memory lapses. These notebooks are also used for writing, as she gets many of her ideas for stories and plays by observing people in their everyday lives.
When she is not writing, she practices
yoga
Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...
daily and volunteers at the
SPCA
A Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a common name for non-profit animal welfare organizations around the world. The oldest SPCA organization is the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which was founded ...
weekly.
[Yi-Sheng, Ng]
"Hitting on Ovidia Yu."
/ref>
Writing
Ovidia Yu is known for using humour and unique characters throughout her writing to explore changing roles and identities throughout society, especially for women. She is considered one of Singapore's first feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
writers and continues to write thought-provoking plays and novels.
Plays
Her plays include:
Fiction
Her works of fiction include:The Frangipani Tree Mystery
''The Frangipani Tree Mystery'' is a 2017 novel by Ovidia Yu, published by Constable (publisher), Constable.
The novel is a murder mystery set in Singapore in 1936. The main character, an alumna of Mission School, Chen Su Lin, a Peranakan, is 1 ...
''
* 2018 : ''The Betel Nut Tree Mystery''
* 2019 : ''The Paper Bark Tree Mystery''
* 2020 : ''The Mimosa Tree Mystery''
* 2021 : ''The Cannonball Tree Mystery''
* 2022 : ''The Mushroom Tree Mystery''
* 2023 : ''The Yellow Rambutan Tree Mystery''
* 2024 : ''The Angsana Tree Mystery''
Non-fiction
Her works of non-fiction include:
Awards
She has received the following awards:
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Ovidia
1961 births
Living people
Singaporean dramatists and playwrights
Singaporean women dramatists and playwrights
Singaporean crime fiction writers
Singaporean novelists
Singaporean women novelists
Feminist writers
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Mystery writers
National University of Singapore alumni
International Writing Program alumni
Lesbian dramatists and playwrights
Lesbian novelists
Singaporean LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights
Singaporean LGBTQ novelists
Women mystery writers