short stories – Michigan Quarterly Review

short stories

Rows of people wearing red and white on Singapore National Day Parade

The Besieged Kingdom: A Review of Inez Tan’s This is Where I Won’t Be Alone

There is no titular story in Inez Tan’s debut collection This is Where I Won’t Be Alone. As an American reader, I first considered this title a statement of theme or artistic destination. But if you’re Singaporean, then you know the title as an excerpt from a popular 1998 song called “Home,” written by Dick Lee for the first in a series of songs Singapore’s National Day Parade, celebrated on August 9th of each year.

this is where I wont be alone by inez tan cover collage aside the author's headshot

On Writing Place: An Interview with Inez Tan

“When I teach, my analogy is that fiction is a huge tree while poetry is a bonsai. It’s immensely helpful to toggle between working on different scales. Fiction helps me infuse my poems with narrative. Poetry makes my fiction more deft, descriptive, and concise.”

lsa logoum logoU-M Privacy StatementAccessibility at U-M