By Yeow Kai Chai

Ever ready with a smile, publisher Fong Hoe Fang is the tireless and avuncular champion of Singapore literature.

In 1997, he founded Ethos Books, an imprint of Pagesetters Services, an advertising and communication design agency, to lend voice to diverse and emerging writers and to help foster a thriving literary culture. He launched it with a trio of titles by newcomers – namely Aaron Lee's A Visitation of Sunlight, Alvin Pang's Testing the Silence and David Leo's One Journey, Many Rivers.

Since then, he has published verse and prose by Dave Chua, Claire Tham, Alfian Sa'at, Wong Yoon Wah, Yong Shu Hoong, Phan Ming Yen, Adeline Foo, Felix Cheong, Grace Chia, Jeffrey Lim, Koh Beng Liang, Isa Kamari, Robert Yeo, Daren Shiau, Madeleine Lee, Tan Mei Ching, Teo Soh Lung, Jeremy Tiang, Chandran Nair and Yeng Pway Ngon, among others.

Ethos is also responsible for several iconic anthologies, including No Other City: The Ethos Anthology of Urban Poetry (2000); Man/Born/Free: Writings on the Human Spirit from Singapore (2011); Passages: Stories of Unspoken Journeys (2013); and Eastern Heathens: An Anthology of Subverted Asian Folklore (2013).

A graduate from the University of Singapore, Fong spent a decade as an administrative officer with the Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) at Changi airport before leaving to start Pagesetters in 1988. Today, assisted by wife and former journalist Chan Wai Han, Fong continues to support writers to tell compelling social stories.

In the coming months, Ethos will launch new titles from Aaron Lee, Lydia Kwa, Jinat, Eric Tinsay Valles, Danielle Lim, Jerrold Yam, Christine Chia, Leonard Ng, Russ Soh, Leonora Liow, Patricia de Souza and Bertha Henson (collating her blog posts on Breakfast Network).

1. What are you reading right now?
I have almost completed Robert Olen Butler's A Good Scent from A Strange Mountain. I wish I had discovered this writer earlier. He came into prominence in the early 1990s when he won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. That was also about the time when I dropped off the literary reading scene because my advertising and design outfit was pretty young then, and commercial work was taking up all my time.

Butler's ability to write in the voice of Vietnamese men and women so authentically is quite astounding for me, though of course he had spent a significant part of his life in Vietnam. I will definitely pursue his other books once I am done with this one.

The other book I am just starting to read is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. This is an illustrated special 50th anniversary edition published by Bookcraft. I saw it during the last day of the London Book Fair in 2013, and literally plucked it out of the hands of the exhibitor who was about put it into a box to ship home. I offered him a price he couldn't refused, and lugged the heavy tome home all the way across France and back to London before I flew home. Wonderfully illustrated, this book continues to testify to the power of story-telling for me.

2. If you were a famous literary character in a novel, play or poem, what would you be and why?
Huckleberry Finn, without a doubt on two accounts. His free spiritedness inspires. We are born to roam the earth, to enjoy the simple things of life, to be curious, and to love. On the second account, it's the moral choices he has to make in what Mark Twain himself describes as "…a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat." A sound heart versus a deformed conscience! A situation so typical in today's complex society where values conflict all the time. We all need to go through these situations from time to time, even if it's only in our own minds, to get at a better understanding of our values and our humanity. And apart from a sound heart, we need it to be stout as well.

3. What is the greatest misconception about you?
Some of my friends have told me that I usually remain so calm and cool under stressful situations. Actually that's not really true. The fire is always burning under the exterior. It's like the core of the earth – thick with magma and always seeking outlets. But by the grace of God, He stills the heart and blesses the world with lush greenery and cooling waters. But even He allows for a couple of volcanoes to exist. It's always a constant struggle for me to remain cool under fire.

4. Name one living author and one dead author you most identify with, and tell us why.
Marilynne Robinson. I have never met her in person, though I have a signed copy of her book Home, courtesy of my niece who attended one of her talks when she was at Oxford. She blends Christian questions with consummate ease into ordinary lives and stories, forming a body of literature with such spiritual power, the likes of which I have yet to see. To me, writing is also a very spiritual thing.

Dead author would be Samuel Clemens or Mark Twain. He writes with such humour and satire that he is easily accessible to most readers. Yet, his stories also carry deep insights and commentaries on society. As an individual, he was also adventurous, funny, and a quirky intellectual quick to prick the pretentious. Someone really after my heart.

5. Name one classic novel in either the Western or Asian literary canon which you wish you had published and tell us why.
Water Margin in English. It contains such powerful stories. Common day instances of injustices, weaknesses and strengths. All of society's pimples are on display there. We need to recognise them before we can deal with them. This book will resonate with all societies across all times. All publishers would like to see this, not just for the financial gain, but as a precious contribution to communities.

6. Name one contemporary Singapore title you wish you published and tell us why.
There are quite a few of these titles, and each time I see such a title, I would sigh, thinking "If only…" It has happened so often now, that I have given up ruminating over this question.

However, there is one particular manuscript which I would have "killed" to win the right to publish. Unfortunately that manuscript will never be completed as my father has now passed on. He had written a poem in Chinese for my mother when he was in his 70s, and my mother had reciprocated with another poem in Chinese. Not very surprising normally, except that Mum was educated only up to primary school level when she was growing up in a village in China, and Dad had stopped studying in the middle lower school because of the war. They had never exhibited any inclination to write poetry till then.

My father's five-line poem and my mother's response in like fashion summed up their lives as a couple whose marriage had been arranged, so poignantly, and with such music and rhythm, it brought unexpected tears to my eyes. The poems spoke of struggles, of poverty, of failures but also of commitment and love. Those two poems are a great testament of love that grew, and not love that struck at first sight.

7. What qualities do you most admire in a writer?
Humility and patience. Humility helps one to listen, and listening leads to observations and insights which would have been drowned if one is talking all the time. Patience leads to a better understanding of situations and circumstances, though I admit it can be pretty tough listening to whiners.

8. What is one trait you most deplore in writing or writers?
"Deplore" is the wrong word here for me. I don't deplore any traits specifically related to writing or writers per se. That word is reserved for actions against universal values.

But one of the most unhelpful traits I find in writing is a "know it all" attitude, and a disdain towards the views of those less schooled in the language.

9. If you could only give one piece of advice to an aspiring writer, what would it be?
Be humble, be patient and listen.

10. Complete this sentence: Few people know this, but I…
… am quite socially awkward, especially in the company of the rich, the famous and powerful. I am terribly ill at ease at black-tie functions. I once thought it was because of awe and fright. But on reflection, I think it's more because I am afraid of myself – that I would launch into an uncontrolled rant over what I perceive to be wrong with our society, and in the process embarrass everyone.

Once I was the host to a cabinet minister who graced an event which a social service organisation had organised. As president of the association, I welcomed him, walked him through the two prancing lions and deafening drums which greeted him and accompanied him to the guest of honour's seat. I must have been with him for almost 60 minutes, during which my only conversation with him was, "Welcome", "Thank you" and "Goodbye".

I was just concerned that if I had initiated any socially meaningful conversation with him, I might have become too forceful, and rendered him a greater discourtesy than that of just having minimal conversation.

11. At the movies, if you have to pick a comedy, a tragedy or an action thriller to watch, which would you go for?
Unfortunately I don't usually go to the movies. There is already so much reading to do, and not enough time. I can't even remember the title of the last movie I went to … maybe it was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest back in 1975/76? Of course I know that I must be missing out on another world altogether, and that's a pity, but there's only so much time. Choices again.

But to answer the question directly, if I were to go, I will pick an action thriller. To me, film media lends itself best to action thrillers within a short space of time. I will probably just lose myself in that movie for a couple of hours, know that it's just a show, and walk away without an addiction for more. But if I were to watch a tragedy (my second choice), I may get hooked for life. Then where will my poor books be?

12. If (or when) you write a book, what would it be?
It would be vignettes of ordinary lives in a Singapore moving from independence to our current situation today. Mainly it will be about choices made. By government, by individuals and by organisations and the consequences of those choices. Told not in motherhood statement form, but through real-life stories of people I have met and engaged with over the years.

13. What is your favourite word, and what is your least favourite one?
Favourite: A "Thank you" said with sincerity.

Least Favourite: A "So?" said with arrogance.

14. What is the one thing you would like to change most about the Singapore literary publishing scene?
While the National Arts Council has been relentless in supporting Singapore literature through grants large and small, it doesn't speak well of the scene that we continue to receive these grants. Of course, it's not just in Singapore, but many other publishers and literary organisations in other countries also depend heavily on private and public grants.

Having said that, once a publisher depends on a grant to publish a literary work, there is the danger of addiction, where grant-giving bodies can quietly and gradually control and direct the kind of narratives which go into the public domain.

We need to change this, so that all kinds of manuscripts with different or opposing, but significant narratives, be given the opportunity to become a book.

15. As a publisher, you must be faced with a pile of manuscripts every day. What makes a manuscript appeal to you? What are the do's and don'ts when it comes to submissions?
Do give a good synopsis of the book. Try not to compare your manuscript to a book which you have read, and assume that the reader would have read that book as well. Give an indication of why you wrote that manuscript. Ensure that basic grammar and typos are taken care of.

16. If you have a last supper, which three literary figures, real or fictional, would you invite to the soirée, and why?
There were 12 at the Last Supper (I don't mean to be sacrilegious here), and I could happily name you 12 literary figures. But if you limit me to three, then they would be Lord Byron, Thomas Dylan and Robert Louis Stevenson.

I want to interrogate Byron on his poem, 'The Prisoner of Chillon', which first seriously introduced me to poetry and made me a captive since I was 14. That poem helped me appreciate the power of poetry in conveying images, emotions and a spirit of resistance. It would have been very instructive for me to see what was in his mind when he wrote it. From most accounts, Lord Byron was not the best of men. In fact, he seems downright nasty, from the biographical data that is available on him. Be that as it may, I will sup with him because the questions I have for him are so burning.

I want to speak with Dylan Thomas on 'Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night'. Was there an influence of God in that poem? What was he trying to achieve with that? A cry to support his father in his dying days? A rage against the inevitability of death? Or a cry within himself, conflicted as he would appear to be, between a very Christian mother and an atheist father?

Finally, I want to question Robert L. Stevenson on his short story, 'The Bottle Imp'. That story left a deep impression on me. The theme there seems to span history – man's greed. Or was he talking about the capitalist system which would leave someone without a chair every time the music stopped? Or was it just a simple tale, to be told over a fire?

Questions… questions… questions. That's why readings and sharing sessions by writers are important. It adds dimension to their stories to eager readers.

17. What would you write on your own tombstone?
I have often told my family that I would like my ashes be scattered to the four winds and across the five oceans, and that they don't waste money on a tombstone. Either that, or that my son (he's the tough one) should carry my ashes/body up a remote mountain and leave me there among the trees and the wind. Also, he must go with his family. I am sure they will learn valuable life-long lessons on that trek.

But if there is to be some word or phrase I would like to be remembered by, the short word would be "He prevailed". A longer phrase would be a verse from the Bible, Zechariah Chapter 4 Verse 6: "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit."

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