Books
We Rose Up Slowly
In Singapore, Australia and Jakarta, worlds fall apart, everyone is looking for an escape and nothing will be the same again.
Exploring possibility and desire, yearning and identity, We Rose Up Slowly is the debut collection of short stories by Jon Gresham published in two editions in Singapore by Math Paper Press and now out of print.
These stories concern loneliness, disorientation, the framing of narratives, the mishmash of race and identity, the significance of the past in an uncertain present, and the delusions and distractions that obscure meaning and self awareness.
Singapore and global rights are available for acquisition.
Best Singaporean Short Stories 1
‘Over the past decade, Singaporean literature has experienced a massive sea change, with the short story form enjoying a powerful renaissance. As a result, an explosion of fiction from the island-nation has erupted onto the literary scene, by both emerging and established writers. This groundbreaking anthology showcases breathtaking literary insights into what it means to live in Singapore at this particular time, and why the country is much more than simply a playground for the crazy rich.’
Gresham’s debut novel is a picaresque, action-packed, dystopian, eco-fiction set in Singapore.
Gus is a novel about a monkey at the end of the world who talks and wants to find his way home to the jungles of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.
This is the story of his journey through a Singapore falling apart, and his search for a home and community.
His adventures take place along the Rail Corridor, amongst the shophouses of Blair Plain, and beneath the skyscrapers of Singapore as monkeys revolt and the Little Red Dot descends into chaos.
Fiction & Other Creative Works
Novel
Gus: The Life & Opinions of the Last Raffles’ Banded Langur, Epigram Books, April 2024
Short Story Collections
We Rose Up Slowly
published by Math Paper Press. July 2015, 2nd edition sold out
Individual Short Stories
Death of a Clown in Quiet Loving, Ravaging Search — 20 Years of Quarterly Literary Review Singapore (Dakota Books), edited by Toh Hsien Ming, Yeow Kai Chai, Yong Shu Hoong, and Stephanie Ye, Singapore 2021
Man & Wheelbarrow in Call And Response 2, Math Paper Press, February 2021
Dog at the End of the World in The Best Asian Short Stories 2020, Kitaab November 2020
The Visit in Best New Singaporean Short Stories Volume Five, edited by Balli Kaur Jaswal, series editor Jason Erik Lundberg, Epigram Books, 2021
The Visit in The Transnational Journal, November 2020
The Visit, shortlisted for The Short Fiction/Essex University Prize 2020
Walking Backwards Up Bukit Timah Hill in Best Singaporean Short Stories One, edited by Jason Erik Lundberg, Epigram Books, 2020
Walking Backwards Up Bukit Timah Hill in Best New Singaporean Short Stories Volume Three, edited by Cyril Wong, series editor Jason Erik Lundberg, Epigram Books, Oct 2017
The Looker in In Transit, edited by Ruihe Zhang & Yu-Mei Balasinghamchow, Math Paper Press, Nov 2016
The Model in Esquire Singapore, April 2016
The Finger in Singapore Poetry, Dec 2016
Other People's Cats in From the Belly Of The Cat, edited by Stephanie Ye, Math Paper Press, Nov 2013
A Girl & A Guy in A Kijang in Kemang in Eastern Heathens, An Anthology of Subversive Asian Folklore, edited by Ng Yi-Sheng & Amanda Lee Koe, Ethos Books, March 2013
Death of A Clown in QLRS April 2012
Coast aka A Long Bicycle ride Into The Sea in Singapore Love Stories, edited by Verena Tay, Monsoon Books, Nov 2016 and Coast, edited by Daren Shiau & Lee Wei Fen, Math Paper Press, Singapore 2011
We Rose Up Slowly in Ceriph No1, Math Paper Press, Singapore 2010
Creative Non Fiction
An Escalator Instead of a Lift in Letter to My Partner (Ed. Felix Cheong), Marshall Cavendish, Singapore 2022
Prose Poetry
The White Trash of Asia
- A Luxury We Cannot Afford - An Anthology of Singapore Poetry, edited by Christine Chia & Joshua Ip, Math Paper Press, Nov 2014
Flash Fiction
Exploring New Heights
- Top 10, Esquire Singapore, August 2015Sir Throws a Plate of Chicken Rice At Mam
- Twenty Four Flavours: Chicken Rice, Math Paper Press, July 2014In The Morning After We Spent Our First Night Together, When The Haze Came Back I Met Your Duck
- Twenty Four Flavours: Salted Vegetables & Duck Soup, Math Paper Press, July 2014Dolphin Meat
- Twenty Four Flavours: Dolphin Meat, Math Paper Press, Oct 2013A Pair of Century Eggs
- Twenty-Four Flavours: Century Egg, Math Paper Press, July 2013Sushi Girl
- Twenty-Four Flavours: Sushi, Math Paper Press, April 2013
Other
Review of My Van Gogh in Moving Worlds: Translations, Vol 20 No 1, 2020
Article on Creative Writing at NTU in Constellations (forthcoming)
In This Desert, There Were Seeds, joint editor with Elizabeth Tan, Margaret River Press and Ethos Books, November 2019
W, The worker from Jiangxi, & 'Old Man, Tekka Centre' in This Is Not a Safety Barrier: An Anthology of Poetry & Photography, edited by Marc Nair and Yen Phang, Ethos Books, Aug 2016
Left - Right, Verena Tay's poetry 'Contemplating Jon Gresham's Street Photography', edited by Geraldine Kang and Kenneth Tay, 2016
The Lounge Chair Interview: 10 Questions with Jon Gresham
- Kitaab, Feb 2015Postcard from Singapore
- SA Writers Centre, Adelaide, Dec 2015The Phygital World
- Essay, Chan Hampe Galleries, Singapore, Nov 2014Synaesthesia: drawing words, reading pictures
- The Substation Gallery, a collaboration between 17 pairs of artists and writers, Singapore, April 2011The Jungle At Spottiswoode Park
- Future Pavillion, Singapore 2011