About
Ally Chua is a Singaporean writer currently based in Boston. She was the 2019 Singapore Unbound Fellow for New York City, and a member of Singapore writing collective /s@ber. Ally has been published in Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Cordite Poetry Review, and Lammergeier Magazine.
An avid solo traveler and reader, Ally finds inspiration from a wide variety of sources—city skyscapes, urban curiosities, the lyrics of Brian Fallon, and zombie video games.
Her debut poetry collection, Acts of Self Consumption, is forthcoming with Australian press Recent Work Press.
Her debut novel, The Disappearance of Patrick Zhou, is on the shortlist for Epigram Book Prize 2023. It is slated for publication in late 2023.
Upcoming Works
Acts of Self Consumption
The dictionary defines consumption as both the ‘use of a resource’ and ‘a wasting disease’. This collection explores the different acts of self consumption a person can go through—sacrifice and selfishness, defeat and hubris. It’s an unpacking of guilt for making the wrong choices; for contradictory compulsions; for complicity.
The manuscript for Acts of Self Consumption was a finalist for the 2019 Galileo Press May/June Reading Period, and also made the longlist for 2019 YesYes Books Open Reading in Poetry.
Published by Recent Work Press.
The Disappearance of Patrick Zhou
It is the year 2001. The Zhou-Guthrie company is a powerful one, with an oil palm fortune built from the suffering of others. One night, Patrick Zhou, the heir to the business, disappeared en route to a conference. He is never seen again.
Fifteen years later, Zhou-Guthrie is a failing empire. The matriarch, Doris Zhou, is on her deathbed. In her last lucid moment, Doris tasks her granddaughter, Layla, to find out what happened to Patrick. To solve a decade-old disappearance, Layla will uncover corporate espionage and environmental crimes. She will also have to delve deep into the fruits of her family’s ugly labour—and how the ghost stories that Uncle Patrick told her years ago were connected to these secrets.
Shortlisted for the Epigram Book Prize 2023, and forthcoming from Epigram Books in late 2023.
ally chua 