False starts, chance encounters, careless mistakes, strokes of luck: Are we the sum of our actions, or of our possibilities?
Somewhere Else, Another You is a literary game-book inspired by theories of the multiverse: Each time the reader makes a choice, the universe of the narrative splits, creating a story in which all outcomes exist at the same time but cannot be experienced concurrently. A cross between a Pick Your Own Path novel and an existential crisis, this book invites you to meander through its paths, and towards your own conclusions.
***
“Tania De Rozario has woven a fascinating web of possibilities, intricately crafted and full of
surprises. You’ll never look at your life in the same way again!”
– Michael Brooks, author of The Quantum Astrologer’s Handbook.
In 2003, a young woman leaves home without telling her family that she is not coming back. She spends the next six years moving from house to house and living hand-to- mouth; at first with her lover, and then alone.
And The Walls Come Crumbling Down parallels three events in the author’s life: the physical deterioration of the house in which she lives, the emotional disintegration of a couple once in love, and the unearthing of childhood ghosts that can’t seem to be cast off. Part memoir and part poetic rumination, it is an ode to love, loss and the people and places we call home.
***
“This is a stylish piece of writing ... a tremendous sense of setting and character using language that is poetic yet simple. The narrator's relationship with her lover is depicted in a way that is lush and affecting; the sex scenes are refreshingly erotic (as opposed to the many cliché filled romances currently filling shelves).” - Kate Gould, author of Exposing Phallacy
"Tania De Rozario is a marvel. Her writing evokes the same feeling as when I first
discovered the music of Trent Reznor, with words raw and biting, but above
all honest. In this truly remarkable memoir, she lays bare the emotional turmoil and
heartbreak that comes from multiple betrayals: by the stroke that steals her grandmother's voice, by the righteous religiosity that forces her mother to choose intolerant belief over parental love, by her homeland's unreasonable standard of living that manifests as constant, literal dislocation, by the callous disregard of a significant lover that upends her whole world. Written in agonisingly beautiful prose, De Rozario presents her pain, unvarnished, for all to bear witness. Her voice is vital, and desperately necessary." —Jason Erik Lundberg, author of Strange Mammals
"And The Walls Come Crumbling Down is the work of an accomplished author. At once intimate and restrained, De Rozario moves readers to consider what home really is. There is a dream-like quality to De Rozario's prose, yet familiar details give us a strong sense of place in another person's story. De Rozario's voice is confident and assured, a necessary feat to lend universality to such personal subject matter." - Balli Kaur Jaswal, author of Inheritance.
Poetry + Prose
• New Ohio Review, USA Forthcoming Fall 2020
• Malahat Review, Canada, Spring 2020.
• subTerrain Magazine, Canada Issue 84, 2020
• Peregrine Journal, Amherst Writers & Artists, USA.
• Jogos Florais, Portugal, Sep 2019
• The Laurel Review, Missouri State University, USA. Issue 50.2
• Line Sparks Code, Ethos Books, Singapore, 2017
• Burning Words Literary Journal, USA, Issue 83, 2017
• Punch Drunk Press, USA, Sept 2017
• The Margin – Asian American Writers Workshop Online Journal, USA, Sep 2017
• We Contain Multitudes – Twelve Years of Softblow, Epigram Books, Singapore, Nov 2016
• Written Country: A Literary History of Singapore, Landmark Books, Singapore, Oct 2016
• Other Worlds, Sangam House Reader Vol. III, Sangam Books, India, Jan 2016
• Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume 2, Epigram Books,Singapore, Nov 2015
• UNION: 15 Years of Drunken Boat, Drunken Boat, USA Nov 2015
• LONTAR #5, Epigram Books, Singapore, Nov 2015
• The Substation 25th Anniversary Publication, The Substation, Singapore, Sep 2015
• Singapore Unhomed - Literary Supplement, IFA Gallery Berlin, Germany, Apr 2015
• Blue Lyra Review, USA, Aug 2014
• Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, USA Autumn, 2014
• Body Boundaries, The Literary Centre , Singapore, Mar 2014
• Prairie Schooner Online Journal, USA, Issue 8, Feb 2014
• Stories in the End, The Substation, Singapore, Nov 2013
• Balik Kampung 2B, Math Paper Press, Singapore, Nov 2013
• 24 Flavours Issue 1, Math Paper Press, Singapore, Apr 2013
• Moving Words Poetry Journal, Ethos Book, Singapore, Oct 2011
• The Substation’s Love Letter Project, Singapore, 2011
• Softblow Poetry Journal, Singapore, Dec 2010
• The Substation’s Love Letter Project, Singapore, 2010
• GASSP: A Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry & Prose, The Literary Centre, Singapore. Oct 2010
• Santa Fe Writers Project Online Journal, USA, Apr 2009
• Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Singapore, Vol.5 no 2, 2006
• Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Singapore, Vol.4 no 3, 2005
Comics
• More Then Metaphor, carte blanche, Canada. Issue 36, July 2019
Art (Essays + Research)
• Visual Analysis & Research for Local + SEA Collections, National Gallery Singapore Apr 2013-Apr 2015
• The River re-Membered, re-Moved, re-Mapped, The Substation, Singapore Sep 2010
• Singapore: The Encyclopedia (Co-contributor, Art section), Editions Dider Millet, Singapore 2006
Art (Opinion)
• Keeping Art Dangerous, (On Art & Activism), ISSUE by The Substation, Singapore Issue Jul-Sep 2014
• Why is Skin a Sin?, (On figure drawing) TimeOut Singapore Issue Jan 2009
• Painting the Town Dead, (On blockbuster festivals) TimeOut Singapore Issue Dec 2008
• Of Gimmicks and Grammar, (On Conceptual Photography) GRAIN, Singapore Issue 12_2005
Interviews & Features
• Interview: Naomi Shihab Nye, Nineteen Questions, Canada Nov 2018
• Interview: Thea Lim, PRISM International, Canada Nov 2018
• Interview: Beyond Borders – The Guerilla Girls etiquette.sg Issue Aug 2012
• Interview: Beyond Borders – Jessica Valenti etiquette.sg Issue Jul 2012
• Explain Your Show – Shinji Ohmaki, TimeOut Singapore Issue May 2012
• Interview: Beyond Borders – Kimiko Suda etiquette.sg Issue Mar 2012
• iLight Marina Bay, TimeOut Singapore Issue Apr 2012
• Before We Forget, (On the film Before We Forget) TimeOut Singapore Issue Mar 2012
• M1 Singapore Fringe Festival: Art & Faith, TimeOut Singapore Issue Feb 2012
• Interview: Beyond Borders – Amy Wheeler etiquette.sg Issue Jan 2012
• Interview: Beyond Borders – Elisha Lim etiquette.sg Issue Dec 2011
• Amanda Heng: Singapore’s National Enquirer, TimeOut Singapore Issue Sep 2011
• Snapshots of the Past: MOP Asia, TimeOut Singapore Issue Jul 2011
• Interview: Alexandra Novosselof, TimeOut Singapore Issue Jul 2011
• Interview: Aubrey Edwards, TimeOut Singapore Issue Apr 2011
• Keep an Open Mind (On the 3rd Singapore Biennale) TimeOut Singapore Issue Mar 2011
• Vasan Sitthiket – A Head of the Rest, TimeOut Singapore Issue Feb 2011
• 30 Instrumental Art Achievements in 10 Years, TimeOut Singapore Issue Jan 2011
• Under Lock & Key: Performance Artist Lynn Lu, TimeOut Singapore Issue Oct 2010
• Interview: Audrey Wong, TimeOut Singapore Issue Sep 2010
• The Art of Law (on the M1 Fringe Festival 2009), TimeOut Singapore Issue Dec 2009
• Thrillers from Manila, (On Filipino Art) TimeOut Singapore Issue Oct 2009
• Interview: Ming Wong, TimeOut Singapore Issue Aug 2009
• Ye Shufang: Singapore’s Food Art Specialist, TimeOut Singapore Issue July 2009
• Read the Fine-art Print, (On artist-books) TimeOut Singapore Issue May 2009
• The Medium is the Message. (Artist Feature), TimeOut Singapore Issue Mar 2009
• Interview: The Missing Section– Missing in Action, TimeOut Singapore Issue Nov 2008
• What a Masterpiece! (On Art education for Kids), Family Magazine Issue Mar 2006
• Vanishing Bangkok (On Photographer Surat Osathanugrah), GRAIN Issue 12_2005
• Photographic Illuminations, (Interview with NY Publishing Co.) GRAIN Issue 11_2005
• The Art of Moving Pictures, (Interview with 3 Digital-filmmakers) GRAIN Issue 11_2005
• The Other Side of the Lens, (Interview with model Jaymee Ong) GRAIN Issue 12_2005
• Pulling Strings, ( Interview with winning film-makers) GRAIN Issue 12_2005
• Art & Photography (Previews, Reviews & Showcases)
• Everything that Has a Point Makes a Circle (Yavuz) TimeOut Singapore Issue Feb 2012
• Monumental Southeast Asia (VWFA) TimeOut Singapore Issue Jan 2012
• Chng Seok Tin (NAFA Gallery) TimeOut Singapore Issue Sep 2011
• Video: An Art, A History (Singapore Art Museum) TimeOut Singapore Issue Jun 2011
• Collidoscope (VWFA) TimeOut Singapore Issue Jun 2011
• Homework (Objectifs) TimeOut Singapore, Issue Jun 2011
• Hockney (Singapore Tyler Print Institute) TimeOut Singapore, Issue May 2011
• Handover Michael (Alliance Francaise Singapore), TimeOut Singapore Issue Apr 2011
• Inevitable (The Esplanade) TimeOut Singapore Issue Mar 2011
• 8 Must-See Shows (Year-end Recommendations) TimeOut Singapore Issue Dec 2010
• The Weight of Water (Instinc Gallery), TimeOut Singapore Issue Jul 2010
• CUT 2010 (VWFA), TimeOut Singapore Issue Jun 2010
Gender & Activism
• “Oppressive Liberals Everywhere!” (Guest article, Opinion), Popspoken Mar 2014
• The Great Work Begins (Guest Essay), Yawning Bread (Alex Au’s blog) Sep 2013
• Out of the Closet & Into Sight (Translated into Korean) mitr.tistory.com Aug 2013
• Out of the Closet & Into Sight (On Coming Out) , Fridae.com Aug 2013
• Not Prepared to Wait (On the 2013 verdict of 377A) Fridae.com Apr 2013
• Police The Criminal, Not the Victim (On SlutWalk) PublicHouse.sg Dec 2011
• Singapore’s Clubs Guilty of Discrimination? TimeOut Singapore Sep 2010
Tender Delirium, currently in its third print run, is Tania De Rozario’s first collection of poetry and short prose. It brings together (but is not limited to) estranged lovers, despairing mothers and the avenging spirits of murdered women, in an assortment of words that celebrate queer desire, obsessive longing and a general disregard for “proper” subject matter. Comprising selected work written over the course of a decade, the largely confessional collection has been described as dark and hysterical... but in a good way.
***
“Reading Tania De Rozario’s poems is to swallow fire or drink liquid nitrogen. This is no contradiction—the poet’s red-hot honesty and wit, framed in a voice that is chillingly sober and vulnerable, ensure that her words are not for the bland or emotionally-vacant. Funny, brave, ever-hopeful and always heartbreaking, her poetry will move you—and knock you off your feet.” - Cyril Wong, Author of Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light
“In Tania De Rozario's hands, words are sharpening knives, quick flying fists, hurling bricks, handfuls of salt in the eyes, dangerous birds stirring within your chest. "Tender," here, is a trickster word. Don't be fooled by its connotation of softness. De Rozario's "Tender" is what happens to the skin and to the heart in the wake of a wounding. We bruise and we survive. De Rozario does both in this stunning collection.” - Monique Truong, Author of The Book of Salt & Bitter in the Mouth
"We have been waiting a long time for a voice like this: De Rozario’s gusty elegies riff off the feral fever of love, loss and the impossibility of equivalence, and at their best, stand up to any in the burgeoning oeuvre of Singaporean poetry today. This is language backed into a corner; poems that tear down fences and dare you to look them in the eye." - Alvin Pang, Author of What Gives Us Our Names & When the Barbarians Arrive
As part of V-Day, a global initiative founded by Eve Ensler, aimed at eradication violence against women, Sayoni invited EtiquetteSG to collaborate on a local amateur reading of The Vagina Monologues.
When we were approached to produce this project, we were given three words to guide us in assembling the cast: They were “women”, "activism" and "diversity". We addressed these words by inviting women who were diverse both in terms of their fields of activism, as well as in terms of ethnicity, age, profession, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.
What resulted was a group 14 awesome women who work in various fields of activism that include spheres of gender equality, issues of disability, LGBT rights, animal welfare, issues of rape, sexual assault and victim-blaming, migrant worker rights, race-base issues, sex worker rights and issues pertaining to the mandatory death penalty. The work of tonight’s performers manifests in either their day-jobs, their volunteer work and/or their art-making.
Diversity and inclusivity were of critical importance to us and one of our biggest regrets was not including a sign language interpreter as part of this production. In addition, that the monologues are written from a North-American-centric point of view and originally intended for an American audience, also raised questions of cultural context, specificity and relevance. In our rendition, we included local statistics as well as regionally-specific lingo and expressions. Ultimately, issues of violence transcend race, ethnicity, class and geographic location.
Produced by
Tania De Rozario & Zarina Muhammad
Venue Support
The Arts House
Volunteer Participants
Work created back when I was in school.
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