Womango
A debut collection of poetry written by Singaporean poet and author, Grace Chia, womango is published by Rank Books in 1998.
It features confessional poetry, poetic prose, concrete poetry and performance poetry exploring themes of identity politics from an Asian, female point of view. The collection is suffused with energy and experimental poetics, and several of its poems are now featured in educational textbooks and literary anthologies, including Singapore Literature in English: An Anthology, Understanding Literature, Mining for Meaning and translated into German for Germany-based die horen. Poems from womango have been or are now being taught in academic syllabuses in Singapore, including in Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University.
The content on the back cover of the book describes it as: "Part poet, part lollipop punk. And all woman. Grace Chia's post-modern, pop culture influenced poetry merges themes of consumption, race, nationality, sexuality with femininity. Helping to fan the flames of her fiery imagination are female figures such as Sylvia Plath, Tori Amos, the late Bonny Hicks, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Mother Nature and Eve." In the Poet's Preface, the book describes itself as being about "feasts, beasts, breasts and beauties."