dakota 达哥打（英文版）

Author: 黄凯德 Wong Koi Tet, Shanna Tan 译
Publication Date: 2/4/2024
Publisher: 城市书房

 

Dakota 达哥打 by Wong Koi Tet, winner of the 2020 Singapore Literature Prize (Chinese Creative Non-fiction), meets readers in an English translation by Shanna Tan.

Dakota is a sharp and whimsical work of literary creative non-fiction about coming-of-age in the 1970-80s in an iconic Singapore neighborhood lost to urban renewal named Dakota Crescent. The deeply personal vignettes stitch together a mosaic of Singapore’s urban history. Humorous with a touch of melancholy, Wong Koi Tet’s evocative writing makes us reflect on place as an anchor of history, heritage and home.  ‘Dakota is about a place that has expired, about distant memories and forgotten things, but writing it enveloped me in a comforting intimacy. – Wong Koi Tet

dakota是一本写给童年的乡愁之书，即是个人情感的切面，也是集体记忆的展现，更是新加坡历史与土地变迁的见证。作者于70年代出生并且成长于达哥打，当这个国民老社区面临拆除与重建之际，希望借文字记录过往生活的点滴，以一种忧郁并且纯真的目光，细腻的回望关于地方和时间的故事。

黄凯德于2018年出版散文集“dakota” ，2020年售罄，此书同年获颁新加坡文学奖华文非虚构写作大奖。当时评审评道： “作品通过诉说真实和小说写作技巧，追溯达哥打逐渐消失的组屋区（作者黄凯德在这里度过青春年代），从而捕捉更为广泛的社会变革。”