Eddie Tay’s research interests are in the areas of creative writing, street photography and the literatures of Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. He teaches Children's Literature, Reading Poetry and Creative Writing at the Department of English, Chinese University of Hong Kong. He also teaches a Special Topics in Genre Studies MA course that focuses on social media, writing and photography.
His book, Colony, Nation, and Globalisation (2011) was jointly published by Hong Kong University Press and National University of Singapore Press. It is a reading of literary texts from Singapore and Malaysia that engages with colonialism, nationalism and globalisation. His second academic book, Anything You Can Get Away With: Creative Practices (2018), is a hybrid work that uses the languages of critical theory and creative writing. Attesting to a “creative turn” in his research trajectory, it combines the genres of street photography, poetry and autoethnography. His four poetry books are Remnants (2000), A Lover’s Soliloquy (2005), The Mental Life of Cities (2010) and Dreaming Cities (2016).
He is also interested in how academic research may benefit the wider community. He has conducted professional development seminars on teaching poetry and creative writing for teachers on behalf of the Education Bureau. He has also conducted creative writing and street photography workshops for secondary school students in Singapore and Hong Kong and has given talks at Tai Kwun and other cultural spaces and art galleries. He has also been involved in programmes for students organised by NGOs such as the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education and Kids4Kids. He was a panel judge for the biennial Singapore Literature Prize (English language creative nonfiction category) in 2020.
