Alfian Sa'at


Alfian bin Sa'at, better known as Alfian Sa'at, is a Singaporean playwright, poet, and writer. He is known for penning a body of English- and Malay-language plays, poems, and prose exploring race, sexuality, and politics, topics considered provocative in Singapore. Alfian has also translated Malay-language novels by Malay Singaporean writers to English. Alfian has received a number of national literature awards, such as the 2001 Young Artist Award and three Life! Theatre Awards for Best Original Script. Alfian is the resident playwright of theatre group W!LD RICE.

Early life

Born in Singapore in 1977, Alfian is a Malay-Muslim of Minang, Javanese, and Hakka descent. Alfian is an alumnus of Tampines Primary School, Raffles Institution, and Raffles Junior College, where he served as chairman of the drama societies in RI and subsequently in RJC. He took part in the National University of Singapore's Creative Arts Programme—an annual creative writing programme for secondary and junior college students—twice under the mentorship of Singaporean playwright Haresh Sharma, first at the age of fifteen, and a second time at seventeen. During his two years at RJC, Alfian received the Kripalani Award for Outstanding Contribution to Creative Arts. Alfian was a medical undergraduate at the National University of Singapore but did not graduate.

Career

In 1998, Alfian published his first collection of poetry, One Fierce Hour, which was described by poet Lee Tzu Pheng in The Straits Times as an "exciting, landmark collection." Alfian was described by Malaysia's New Straits Times as "one of the most acclaimed poets in his country... a prankish provocateur, libertarian hipster". A year later in 1999, Alfian published his first collection of short stories, Corridor, which won the Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award. Seven of the short stories from the collection were adapted for television. In 2001, he published A History of Amnesia, his second collection of poetry, which was shortlisted for a Kiriyama Asia-Pacific Book Prize. The same year, Alfian won both the inaugural National Arts Council-Singapore Press Holdings Golden Point Award for Poetry, as well as the National Arts Council's Young Artist Award for Literature.
Alfian's plays have been translated into German and Swedish, and have been read and performed in London, Zurich, Stockholm, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. He has worked as a playwright with theatre group The Necessary Stage as well as the Malay theatre group Teater Ekamatra. Alfian is currently the resident playwright of theatre group W!LD RICE. In 2015, Nadirah was selected by The Business Times as one of the "finest plays in 50 years" alongside productions by Goh Poh Seng, Michael Chiang and Haresh Sharma and others.
In 2016, it was reported that Alfian's co-written play sex.violence.blood.gore and his short story collection Malay Sketches was included on a reading list at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, while the University of York and West Virginia University has his poem "Singapore You Are Not My Country" and selected poems on their reading lists respectively. In particular, the University of York's Dr Claire Chambers noted that this was because Alfian "introduces non-Anglophone words and concepts, and puts together words in an expressive portmanteau style".

Works

Plays

;EnglishFighting Black Boards, White Walls Yesterday My Classmate Died sex.violence.blood.gore Asian Boys Vol. 1 What's The Difference? Don't Say I Say poppy dot dream The Corrected Poems of Minah Jambu The Optic Trilogy 7 Ten: Seven Original 10-minute Plays: Not In Landmarks: Asian Boys Vol. 2 Tekka Voices Mengapa Isa? The Importance of Being Kaypoh Harmony Daze Confessions of 300 Unmarried Men: Blush Homesick Happy Endings: Asian Boys Vol 3 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Beauty And The Beast Cooling Off Day Cook a Pot of Curry Monkey Goes West Hotel Tiger of Malaya
;MalayDeklamasi Malas Dongeng Anak Bulan di Kampung Wa' Hassan Madu II Causeway Peti Kayu Ibuku The Miseducation of Minah Bukit Tapak 7 Selamat Malam Ibu Keturunan Laksmana Tak Ada Anu Minah & Monyet Nadirah Pariah Kakak Kau Punya Laki GRC
;Mandarin
  • ''Fugitives''

Prose

;EnglishCorridor Malay Sketches
;Malay
  • ''Bisik: Antologi Drama Melayu Singapura ''

Poetry

One Fierce Hour A History of Amnesia
  • ''The Invisible Manuscript''

Works featuring Sa'at

  • "Nadira" in ''Southeast Asian Plays''

Awards

  • 1995 – Kripalani Award for Outstanding Contribution to Creative Arts
  • 1998 – Commendation Award by the Malay Language Council for Causeway
  • 1999 – Singapore Literature Prize Commendation Award for Corridor
  • 2001 – Golden Point Award for Poetry
  • 2001 – Young Artist Award for Literature
  • 2005 – Life! Theatre Awards for Best Original Script for Landmarks: Asian Boys Vol. 2
  • 2006 – FRONT Award
  • 2010 – Life! Theatre Awards for Best Original Script for Nadirah
  • 2014 – Life! Theatre Awards for Best Original Script for ''Kakak Kau Punya Laki ''