Winner, Singapore Literature Prize 2024 (English Fiction)
"A clear-sighted and ruthlessly principled observer, Ram shows with remorseless precision the damage women inflict on each other and on the men in their families, yet the book is not patronisingly didactic. She trusts her readers to respond appropriately to stories that depict with powerful simplicity the failure to treat the marginalised with respect or humanity. Her writing is skilful, assured, comedic at times, and profoundly moving." – Judges' Citation, Singapore Literature Prize 2024
"Quite simply, this latecomer is one of the best debut books of Singapore fiction in 2023." – The Straits Times
"A thoroughly enjoyable and meaningful work of fiction about family, community and the reverberations of migration and displacement." – Balli Kaur Jaswal
"Nine Yard Sarees is an uncommonly rich and precise debut, closely observed, magically empathetic and formally ambitious." – Jee Leong Koh
About
Prasanthi Ram is a Singaporean writer of Tamil descent. She holds a PhD in creative writing, and teaches writing. Her short stories have been anthologised in the Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Five (Epigram Books: 2021) and published online in The Tiger Moth Review and The Willowherb Review among others. She has served as an Essay Reader for Singapore Unbound's arts and culture centered SP Blog (now SUSPECT). She is also the co-founder and fiction editor of Mahogany Journal, an online literary journal dedicated to South Asian anglophone writers in Singapore. Her debut work of fiction Nine Yard Sarees was published in 2023 by Ethos Books.
Contact
If you are interested in my creative or critical work & wish to discuss potential projects with me, leave a message & I will get back to you as soon as time permits.
Please note that I only take on paid work.