The Lounge Chair Interview: 10 Questions with Alvin Pang

By Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Why do you write?

To make something meaningful out of nothing.

Tell us about your most recent book or writing project. What were you trying to say or achieve with it?

My latest set of poems all seem to have to do with a sense of endings; they are elegies and aubades and goodbyes – perhaps I am subconsciously trying to come to terms with impending middle age. I also have a couple of anthologies of Singapore writing due for US and UK publication; these are introductory scans of some of our best, more cutting edge work to date. Very SG50!

Describe your writing aesthetic.

Restless.