Asian
Books Blog is based in Singapore. Lion City Lit explores in-depth what’s going
on in the City-State, lit-wise. In Lucía Damacela’s fourth installment of her series about
Singapore online literary magazines, her focus is on The
Eloquent Orifice.
Founded in 2013 by
a group of creative professionals, including the current Editor-in-Chief Crispin
Rodrigues and Creative Director Geraldine Tan, The Eloquent Orifice (EO) is an
online academic literary journal created to bring the arts “within reach of those who believe in
the power of critical thought, active discussion and passionate creation in the
shaping of contemporary society.”
EO is always open for submissions of original literary pieces, articles and art works. Published
twice a year, one issue is out at the beginning and one at the end of the year.
Their sixth and seventh issues combined are soon to be released.
Geraldine Tan, an editor and writer currently doing
post-graduate studies in Melbourne, and Crispin Rodrigues, and educator, writers and editor, responded to
questions about the magazine’s history, purpose and functioning.
Beginnings and aims
The Eloquent Orifice was born out of a collective effort of various
individuals involved in the publishing, academic and arts industries.
The
driving force behind the work we do at EO is our belief that no voice should be deemed too
insignificant or too different to be worth hearing. We operate within an all-inclusive framework, publishing works of merit,
regardless of the creator’s renown, nationality, origin, sexual orientation or
age.
We
founded EO with the overarching altruistic
desire to bring the arts to the masses, to make them accessible, and to
encourage creative expression. Through the publication of this journal, we aim
to provide a platform for the encouragement of further intellectual interaction
among contemporaries.
About the name of the journal.
The name for our literary
journal, The Eloquent Orifice,
came about in a brainstorming session with friends. It was actually Sean Lai
who came up with it. The idea was to be an "eloquent orifice", a
space open to influx and open for output. A place of exchange, an exchange of
ideas. To give voice to the unheard. To hear the unheard.
The space Eloquent Orifice occupies
within the Singapore literary field.
We were hoping to
forge a balanced space between the critical and creative. However, we seek to
focus on not just the print medium, but also on other creative works, such as
film, music, photography etc. Also, we are not just limited to Singaporean
works, but works from all over the world.
About the types of
work EO looks for; the contributors, the readers.
We accept submissions
in the following categories: critical essays, visual arts, music, literary
works, commentaries, reviews. See here for more
information.
There are quite a number of
notable works and contributors in our issues. Here are some of them, though our
other submissions and contributors are by no means any less notable:
Stephen Fernandez, a
published Singaporean academic based in Canada — published a critical essay
with EO.
Peter Bakowski, a published
Australian poet based in Melbourne — published poems with EO.
Eric Valles, a published
Filipino poet based in Singapore — published poems with EO.
Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr, a
published Filipino poet based in Singapore — published poems with EO.
Samantha Ann Francis, a
published Singaporean photographer and writer — published photo series with EO.
Our readers hail from
many different countries and backgrounds, so it's hard to say who our readers
are exactly.
Challenges and opportunities for literary journals
in Singapore.
Hmm, challenges and
opportunities in Singapore nowadays...? Tough one.
Challenges: Lack of
funding. Lack of manpower. Lack of visibility. Difficulty in penetrating the
market if not established by persons of renown or endorsed by other established
writers, artists or publishers.
Opportunities: Untapped
potential waiting for us to discover.
Thanks
to Geraldine Tan and Crispin Rodrigues for their responses. Future installments
of this series will continue exploring Singapore’s online literary magazines.
