Ming Cher

Born in Singapore in 1947 in Bukit Ho Swee, then a slum village in Singapore, Ming Cher was one of seven children. He left school at thirteen and became a street drifter in the manner of the characters in his debut novel, Spider Boys. First published by Penguin New Zealand and William Morrow in 1995, the critically acclaimed book was one of the first Singapore novels released by major publishing houses overseas, and is notable for its inventive use of colloquial Singapore English. It was republished in grammatical Standard English by Epigram Books as part of the Singapore Classics series in 2012. The 1995 recipient of the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship, Ming Cher has also worked as a construction supervisor on a hospital project in South Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War, a merchant seaman, and an importer and retailer of Indonesian goods. He has lived in New Zealand since 1977.