DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF SINGAPORE TAMIL LITERATURE
More about the project
Tamil Digital Heritage of Literature
In commemoration of SG50, a collection of 350 Tamil literary works of Singapore from 1965 to 2015 has been digitised as the Indian community’s gift to the nation. This unprecedented ground-up initiative led by the Tamil Digital Heritage (TDH) Group in partnership with the National Library Board (NLB) has come to fruition following the launch of this project in 2013. This effort is also supported by the National Heritage Board (NHB), the National Arts Council (NAC), the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS), as well as the Tamil writers.
On 22 August 2015, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam launched the TDH collection at the Drama Centre, National Library Building. Joining him to celebrate the completion of this special collection was the project’s patron, Mr S Iswaran, Minister in Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade and Industry.
The public can now appreciate 50 years of Singapore Tamil literature, ranging from published novels to poems and short stories by accessing them in our libraries and on NLB’s BooksSG portal, anytime and anywhere.
Tamil Digital Heritage
Tamil theater in Singapore is reported to have started more than a century ago but there is little evidence. Even today, when Tamil theater is flourishing in this country, it lacks proper documentation. The Digital Archive of Singapore Tamil Theater (DASTT) attempts to collate and annotate the history of Tamil theater developments in this country and make them available in digital form to anyone anywhere at no cost.
In this pioneering effort, the focus will be on collecting scripts, publicity materials, recordings, reviews of as many Tamil plays as possible. Such an archive will not only be a historical record but, more importantly, it would serve as a veritable teaching resource for the current and future generations of theater makers. It will also be a reference source on Singapore’s political, economic and social developments to the extent Tamil plays are a reflection of the society in which they are produced and performed.
While little of the distant past exists, this project will aim to preserve as much of the available materials as possible. In the multi-lingual tapestry of Singapore theatre, this digital Tamil collection is designed to play a crucial role in providing a comprehensive view of the whole scene.
The project was launched on 25 November 2017, and it can be accessed at NLB’s National Online Repository of the Arts (NORA) – http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/arts/website/Contents/DASTT.aspx
Chief Co-ordinator: Mr Ganesh Subramaniam
Tamil Digital Heritage
Tamil theater in Singapore is reported to have started more than a century ago but there is little evidence. Even today, when Tamil theater is flourishing in this country, it lacks proper documentation. The Digital Archive of Singapore Tamil Theater (DASTT) attempts to collate and annotate the history of Tamil theater developments in this country and make them available in digital form to anyone anywhere at no cost.
In this pioneering effort, the focus will be on collecting scripts, publicity materials, recordings, reviews of as many Tamil plays as possible. Such an archive will not only be a historical record but, more importantly, it would serve as a veritable teaching resource for the current and future generations of theater makers. It will also be a reference source on Singapore’s political, economic and social developments to the extent Tamil plays are a reflection of the society in which they are produced and performed.
While little of the distant past exists, this project will aim to preserve as much of the available materials as possible. In the multi-lingual tapestry of Singapore theatre, this digital Tamil collection is designed to play a crucial role in providing a comprehensive view of the whole scene.
The project was launched on 25 November 2017, and it can be accessed at NLB’s National Online Repository of the Arts (NORA) – http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/arts/website/Contents/DASTT.aspx
Chief Co-ordinator: Mr Ganesh Subramaniam