Catherine Lim

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Catherine Lim (simplified Chinese: 林宝音; pinyin: Lín Báoyīn) (b. 1942, Penang) is a Singaporean author. Lim is known for writing about Singapore society, and the of traditional Chinese culture. In 1994, Catherine Lim wrote an article, The PAP and the people - A Great Affective Divide, critical of the ruling party in The Straits Times. For this, she was reprimanded by then-Prime Minister Goh. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics. She has two grown children who live abroad.


Contents

[edit] Career

Lim published her first short story collection called Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore, which showed the wit with which Lim is able to portray Singaporean society. Another story collection that followed in this tradition was O Singapore: Stories in Celebration from 1988. Her first novel was published in 1982 and it was entitled The Serpent's Tooth. Other popular books that have been published since then were The Bondmaid (1995) and Following the Wrong God Home. Her major theme in her stories is the role of women in traditional Chinese society and culture. In 1998 Lim was awarded the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award and in 1999 she received the S.E.A. Write Award.

In 2000, she worked with the (now defunct) web portal Lycos Asia to pen an e-novella. The effort was called Leap of Love and was sold online (at 19 cents a chapter) before it was published by Horizon Books in 2003. It was released as the film The Leap Years by Singapore's Raintree Pictures. It is directed by Jean Yeo and stars Wong Li-Lin and Ananda Everingham.

Her best-selling novel, The Bondmaid (which sold 75,000 copies) was initially said to be produced as a film by Hong Kong director, Stanley Kwan, of 'Lan Yu' fame, starring Fann Wong. Confirmation of the production eventually waned off.

However, her novella Leap Of Love was eventually adapted and made into a film The Leap Years in 2008.

[edit] The Great Affective Divide

In 1994, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong publicly castigated her for writing an article, The PAP and the people - A Great Affective Divide, in the Straits Times. The Prime Minister argued that if she wanted to voice her opinion on politics she should join a political party and her comments thus received a so-called "out-of-bounds marker."

[edit] Works

Novels:

  • The Serpent's Tooth, Times Books International, Singapore, 1982
  • The Bondmaid, self-published, 1995 (Orion 1997; foreign edns 1997, 1998)
  • The Teardrop Story Woman, Orion, London, 1998
  • Deadline for Love and Other Stories, 2001
  • Following the Wrong God Home, Allen & Unwin, London, 2001
  • Leap of Love, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2003 (a novella)
  • The Song of Silver Frond, Orion, London, 2003
  • Unhurried Thoughts At My Funeral, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2005

Short Story Collections:

  • Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1978
  • Or Else, the Lightning God and Other Stories, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1980
  • The Shadow of a Shadow of a Dream: Love Stories of Singapore, Times Books International, Singapore, 1987
  • O Singapore! Stories in Celebration, Times Books International, Singapore, 1988
  • They Do Return...But Gently Lead Them Back, Times Books International, Singapore, 1989
  • Deadline for Love and Other Stories, Heinemann Asia, 1992
  • Love's Lonely Impulses, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1992
  • Meet Me on the Queen Elizabeth, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1993
  • The Best of Catherine Lim, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1993
  • The Woman's Book of Superlatives, Times Books International, 1993
  • The Howling Silence: tales of the dead and their return, Horizon Books, Singapore 1999

[edit] External links

Languages