Jerrold Yam (b. 1991)
BIOGRAPHY
Jerrold Yam is a Singaporean lawyer based in London, having obtained his law degree from University College London. He is the author of three poetry collections: Intruder (Ethos Books, Singapore, 2014 and 2024), Scattered Vertebrae (Math Paper Press, Singapore, 2013) and Chasing Curtained Suns (Math Paper Press, Singapore, 2012).
Yam won first place and three honourable mentions for poetry at the National University of Singapore’s Creative Writing Competition. He was then named by the National Arts Council as one of the “New Voices of Singapore 2014”. A decade later in 2024, he won the Cheltenham Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize for Poetry, the Magma Pamphlet Competition and The London Magazine Poetry Prize. He was selected as a 2024 Writer-in-Residence at the UK’s National Centre for Writing, in collaboration with Singapore’s National Arts Council.
His poems have been published in literary journals worldwide, including in Poetry London, Magma, Oxford Poetry, The London Magazine, Ambit, Prairie Schooner, Wasafiri, Washington Square Review, The Straits Times and Time Out Magazine.
Additionally, his poems have been selected for anthologies such as Where Else (Verve Poetry Press, 2023), Quiet Loving, Ravaging Search — 20 Years of QLRS (Word Image Books, 2021), Exhale: An Anthology Of Queer Singapore Voices (Math Paper Press, 2021), Poetry Moves (Ethos Books, 2020), Lines Spark Code (Ethos Books, 2017), We Contain Multitudes: Twelve Years of Softblow (Epigram Books, 2016), UNION (Ethos Books, 2015), Kulit: Asian Literature for the Language Classroom (Pearson, 2014), Starry Island: New Writing from Singapore (University of Hawaii Press, 2014), Fatherhood (Emma Press, 2014) and Moving Words (The Literary Centre, 2011). His poems, which have been included in the Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level and O-Level syllabi, have been translated into Mandarin and Spanish.
Yam has been a featured author at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival, Ledbury Poetry Festival, London Book Fair, Poetry Festival Singapore and Singapore Writers Festival. He has been an invited speaker at educational institutions such as SOAS University of London, National University of Singapore, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Raffles Institution and Anglican High School, and events such as Singapore Day in London and the Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love.
Author Photo and Biography © Jerrold Yam. All rights reserved.
