Gedung Kuning: Memories of a Malay Childhood
Hidayah Amin
Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society & Helang Books, 2009
ISBN: 9789810847562

Gedung Kuning or the Yellow Mansion was home to the family of Haji Yusoff 'Tali Pinggang' from 1912 to 1999. It was acquired by the Singapore government in August 1999 under the Land Acquisition Act. What used to house six families is now preserved as a historic building under the Malay Heritage Centre.

Hidayah Amin, one of Haji Yusoff's great–granddaughters, revisits her childhood home and takes readers beyond the gate guarded by stone eagles, through rooms with big mirrors and marble floors, and shares interesting anecdotes growing up in Gedung Kuning.

Through 28 short stories, readers get a historical narrative detailing the lives of people living in Gedung Kuning and the Malays of Singapore from 1850s to 1999.

Reflecting on the Merlion: An Anthology of Poems
Edwin Thumboo and Yeow Kai Chai (eds.)
Singapore: National Arts Council, 2009
ISBN: 9789810843007

How has an improbable creation come to take on the hopes and aspirations of a nascent nation? This book, with poems by nearly 40 poets, zeroes in on the Merlion and what it ultimately says about Singapore and Singaporeans.

Reframing Singapore: Memory - Identity - Trans-regionalism
Derek Heng and Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied (eds.)
Amsterdam: ICAS, Amsterdam University Press, 2009
ISBN: 9789089640949

Over the past two decades, Singapore has advanced rapidly towards becoming both a global city-state and a key nodal point in the international economic sphere. These developments have caused use to reassess how we understand this changing nation, including its history, population, and geography, as well as its transregional and transnational experiences with the external world. This collection spans several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and draws on various theoretical approaches and methodologies in order to produce a more refined understanding of Singapore and to reconceptualize the challenges faced by the country and its people.

Malay Peninsula: Old Photographs of Malaya and Singapore by Kleingrothe, c. 1900
John Falconner, Neil Khor, and Gretchen Liu
Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2009
ISBN: 9789814217996

Malay Peninsula: Old Photographs of Malaya and Singapore by Kleingrothe, c. 1900 presents a selection of works by German commercial photographer Charles J. Kleingrothe, who was active in the Malay Archipelago during the early 1900s. His large-format photographs are one of the key visual records of Malaya at a time of great transformation, and record life and landscapes in Malaya at the dawn of the 20th century.

The book is based on the more than 100-year-old portfolio Malay Peninsula (Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States) from the personal collection of HRH Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Sultan of Selangor.

Fifty on 50
Edwin Thumboo, Chia Hwee Pheng, Isa Kamari, & K.T.M. Iqbal (eds)
Singapore: National Arts Council, 2009
ISBN: 9789810846817

Fifty on 50 celebrates Singapore's 50th year of self-government. This poetry volume reflects the rich multi-ethnic hues of our people in words, photographs and illustrations. From personal experiences to broad sweeps of history, these poems by 50 poets, in English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil and their translations make a unique contribution to the literary heritage of the nation as she embarks on the next 50 years of her journey.