CLAY|WORDS
Clay makers and writers
Izyanti
Asa’ari is a writer and designer. Her poetry explores the gestures the body makes, willingly or otherwise, in response to place, memory and myth. Her works
have previously appeared in New Singapore Poetries (Gaudy Books, 2022), The Opening Act (Layl Ash-Shayr, 2024) and most recently, blood/work (AFTERIMAGE Press, 2026).
IG: @fellowbyfellas
Regina Bautista is an illustrator and artist behind Ocio Ceramics, a small batch pottery and illustration studio that champions colour and the wonder of storytelling through clay. She takes inspiration from comics, folk art, and children’s literature, spinning and moulding her works through a whimsical and playful lens to create joyful accents for the home.
IG: ocio.ceramics
Jonathan Chan is a writer, editor and translator of poems and essays based in Singapore. His debut poetry collection, going home, was shortlisted for the 2024 Singapore Literature Prize. His second collection is bright sorrow and forthcoming collection is azalea dialogues. He serves as Managing Editor of poetry.sg. Read more at jonbcy.wordpress.com.
Hans Chew is a ceramic artist currently based in Singapore. He graduated with a major in ceramics from Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan. His works often deal with themes of foreignness, discord and nostalgia. As clay is a highly tactile medium, he strongly believes that the ability to think with both hands is equally as important as the ability to conceptualize and communicate one’s thoughts.
Amanda Chong is a lawyer who explores gender and power in her writing. Her poetry collection, Professions was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize, and her poetry features in the Cambridge International GCSE syllabus. Her plays include the sold-out one woman show Psychobitch, the musical The Feelings Farm and the award-winning #WomenSupportingWomen. Her work has been staged in Singapore, Cambridge and Edinburgh.
Goh Eck Kheng is a potter, publisher and children’s book writer. He began pottery lessons at Sam Mui Kuang dragon kiln in 1993, joined Eastern Universities Press in 1981 and founded Landmark Books in 1986. He is the author of Friends: a Counting Book, Jun and the Octopus, Ayu and Yoong’s Frist Day of School and The Mysterious Orangutan.
IG: quiet_streams_pottery
Gwee Li Sui loves to write, draw, and make all kinds of books. He believes that the world has become a less frightening place because of the work he does.
Heng Siok Tian has published six poetry collections: Crossing the Chopsticks and Other Poems (1993), My City, My Canvas (1999), Contouring (2004), Is my body a myth (2011), Mixing Tongues (2011) and Grandma’s Attic, Mom’s HDB, My Wallpaper (2021). She co-authored The Adopted: Stories from Angkor (2015), Lost Bodies: Poems between Portugal and Home (2016) and Lilla Torg (2023). Her short play The Lift, staged in 1991, was read at the Third International Women Playwrights’ Conference in Adelaide.
www.landmarkbooks.sg/heng-siok-tian
Joshua Ip is a Singaporean poet, editor and literary organiser. He has won some prizes and published some books. His latest book, sonnets from a servant (Landmark Books, 2026), contains reflections on leadership, management, and public service in rhyming iambic pentameter that literally no one asked for.
Lee E Mae is a ceramic artist based in Singapore. Clay entered her practice in 2016 through mixed-media installations, eventually drawing her toward wheel-throwing and hand-building under the tutelage of Lim Meng Khuang and Karen Lim.
Laura Jane Lee is a poet and literature teacher. She is a Bread Loaf alum and an awardee of the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize. Her works have been recognized by the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize and the Bridport Prize. Recent works include “flinch & air” (Out-Spoken Press, 2021).
IG: laurajaneleepoetry
IG: keenbeanceramics
Leong Liew Geok is a long-retired academic who has now grown accustomed to life as a Domestic Goddess. A diehard fan of ceramics but no potter, she prefers to admire and examine, not execute. She is putting together a poetry collection, 31 x 62, to be published in 2027.
www.poetry.sg/leong-liew-geok-bio
Abraham Ling listens to clay’s ancient dialogue with earth, fire, and water. Inspired by Yohen, he designed his Aquagama kiln, using water as a reduction agent. Working with Singapore wild clay and reclaimed earth, each piece is hand-shaped and wood-fired, surrendering to the unpredictable poetry of chance, nature, and time.
IG: 01010earth
Lim Kim Hui is a Singaporean ceramic artist and educator with over 45 years of experience in ceramics. His practice explores the relationships between form, clay and fire, with a particular focus on high-fired porcelain, traditional glazes and reduction firing. He continues to create work and teach at Ceramic House in Singapore.
www.ceramichousesg.com/our-potters
Daryl Lim Wei Jie is a poet, literary curator and art critic from Singapore. His latest collection of poetry is Mistranslations from a Future Vernacular. He conceptualised and co-edited several celebrated literary anthologies, the latest being Free to Play: A Video Games Anthology. In 2023, he was awarded the Young Artist Award, Singapore’s highest honour for art practitioners under the age of 35.
Tricia Lim is a ceramic artist exploring materiality, tactility, and site specificity. Trained in visual arts at the Victorian College of the Arts, Australia, and Pratt Institute, New York City, she founded Pinch Ceramics Studio in 2020. Her practice brings together her interests in sculpture and painting with the sensory qualities and material possibilities of clay and glaze.
Ng Yi-Sheng is a multi-disciplinary writer, researcher and activist fascinated by Southeast Asian history and myth. His books include the short story collection Lion City and the poetry collection last boy – both winners of the Singapore Literature Prize – as well as the historical fantasy novel Utama. IG: yishkabob
Anitha Devi Pillai is an applied linguist, author, translator, educator, and artist working in clay. She is Assistant Dean at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. Her research in applied and anthropological linguistics, together with her creative practice, is deeply interested in migration, memory, language, and the emotional inheritances carried across families, communities, and place. ‘Still Holding’ marks her first public exhibition of clay work.
www.prose.sg/anitha-devi-pillai-bio
Desmond Pravin is a Singaporean artist working primarily in ceramics and sculptural installation. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, he works with clay, wood, and found material. Desmond’s practice explores memory, ritual and material impermanence, while drawing on his experience as a queer Indian.
Jana Quahe is a hobbyist potter that enjoys experimenting with various clay techniques and challenging herself with unusual forms. She is frequently inspired by nature and movement and will often incorporate either into her work.
IG: quizziclay
Suriani Suratman started pottery under Dr. Iskandar Jalil in 2001 at the Centre for the Arts, NUS. ‘Pusat: Conversations with my mama Saerah’, her third solo exhibition, was held at The Arts House, Singapore in 2022. Her artworks are currently on display at the DBS Singapore Gallery, National Gallery Singapore.
www.mayagallery.com.sg/main/artist/43
Tse Hao Guang is the author of The International Left-Hand Calligraphy Association and White Dust From Mongolia. He edited the new edition of Windham-Campbell prize-winning poet Wong May’s 1969 debut, A Bad Girl’s Book of Animals, co-edits literary journals OF ZOOS (online) and AMOK (print), and publishes literary pamphlets under Paper Jam.