Tender Delirium

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.

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“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