Dora Tan is a writer with experience in both playwriting and short fiction. Her writing is impassioned and intimate, lending her voice to the invisible daily struggles of the marginalised.
In 2020, as a response to the COVID shutdown, she wrote I’m fine really (Coronalogues SRT) to highlight the challenges of domestic abuse survivors. In 2016, Sadness is the new normal was staged to create awareness about depression.
Her dark comedies debunk the romanticism of traditional values and rituals such as marriage (41 hours 2006), death (A Wedding, a Funeral and Lucky the Fish 2020, 2014) and filial piety (Just Late 2008).
Similarly, her short fiction challenges the common perception of family dynamics, exposing the contrary within. This includes Seven Views of Redhill (Balik Kampong anthology 2012, Page to Stage 2019, podcast 2021), The only time I wished I could read (Junoesq Literary Journal 2014) and more recently What I learnt from Ma (Missed connections 2023).
Her short stories have won NAC’s Golden Point award in 2015 (Jenny’s phone log 3rd) and 2007 (Selling your daughter for a pig and a carton of cigarettes 2nd).
Last Updated: April 2024