Boey Kim Cheng

Boey Kim Cheng
Poet Boey Kim Cheng at Nanyang Technological University, 2013
Born	1965 Singapore
Occupation	Poet, Teacher
Alma mater	National University of Singapore

Boey Kim Cheng (Chinese: 梅健青) (born 1965) is a Singapore-born Australian poet.

He is of Chinese descent. As a student, he won the National University of Singapore Poetry Writing/Creative Prose Competition and has since received the National Arts Council's Young Artist Award (1996). He has taught creative writing at the University of Newcastle in Australia since 2003.

Boey Kim Cheng was born in Singapore in 1965. He received his secondary education at Victoria School and graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts degrees in English Literature from the National University of Singapore. In 1993, he won a scholarship from the Goethe-Institut to pursue German. He was sponsored by the United States Information Agency to attend the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Boey embarked on a doctoral program with the National University of Singapore which he later discontinued. He entered the workforce and was employed by the Ministry of Community Development as a probation officer.

Disillusioned with the state of literary and cultural politics in Singapore, Boey left for Sydney with his wife in 1997. He completed his PhD studies with Macquarie University. Boey is now an Australian citizen.

In 1987, while studying as an undergraduate, Boey won the first and second prizes at the National University of Singapore Poetry Writing/Creative Prose Competition. At age 24, he published his first collection of poetry. Somewhere-Bound went on to win the National Book Development Councils (NBDCS) Book Award for Poetry in 1992. Two years later, his second volume of poems Another Place received the commendation award at the NBDCS Book Awards. In 1995, Days Of No Name, which was inspired by the people whom he met in the United States, was awarded a merit at the Singapore Literature Prize. In recognition of his artistic talent and contributions, Boey received the National Arts Council's Young Artist Award in 1996. After a long hiatus, Boey returned with his fourth volume of poetry in 2006. After the Fire deals primarily with the passing of his father in 2000. Boey's works have also appeared in anthologies like From Boys to Men: A Literary Anthology of National Service in Singapore, Rhythms: A Singaporean Millennial Anthology of Poetry and No Other City: The Ethos Anthology of Urban Poetry. In 2009, Boey released a book of travel essays and autobiographical reminisces, Between Stations, and in 2012, Boey returned with a fifth volume of poetry, Clear Brightness, which was selected by The Straits Times as one of the best books of 2012. Boey returned to Singapore in 2013 as one of the Nanyang Technological University's writers-in-residence. In 2014, he co-edited the anthology Contemporary Asian Australian Poets.