Born in 1971, Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé has edited more than ten books and co-produced three audio books, several pro bono for non-profit organisations including Sok Sabay Cambodia, Riding for the Disabled Association, and the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre. His work in entertainment and lifestyle journalism at 8 Days magazine took him to Australia, France, Hong Kong and Spain, and saw him writing numerous stories, including features on Madonna, Björk, Donna Karan, John Digweed, Jackie Chan and Morgan Freeman, culminating in the authorship of the limited edition Top Ten TCS Stars for Caldecott Publishing.

Desmond is the recipient of the Singapore Internationale Grant, awarded to launch at the First Prague International Poetry Festival the anthology, For the Love of God, which brought together 35 award-winning religious and literary contributors from across the world. His poetry and prose, penned under various heteronyms, have been published in more than 150 literary journals, including Agni, Confrontation, Copper Nickel, Diagram, Faultline, Fence, Gulf Coast, Harpur Palate, Harvard Review, Nano Fiction, New Orleans Review, Portland Review, Pank, Seneca Review, Sonora Review, and Versal, among others.

An interdisciplinary artist, Desmond also works in "light relief" using clay. Through his Potter Poetics Collection, he has designed and sculpted ceramic pieces to commemorate Albert Camus' 50th Anniversary, the Dalai Lama's 50th Year of Exile, Gerard Manley Hopkins' 120th Anniversary, Jack Kerouac's 40th Anniversary, Thomas Merton's 40th Anniversary, Edgar Allan Poe's Bicentennial, Marguerite Porete's 700th Anniversary, Swami Abhishiktananda's Birth Centennial, Simone Weil's Birth Centennial, Cave Canem's 10 Years of Service to African American Poets, Grolier Poetry Bookshop's 80 Years of Service as the Oldest Continuous Poetry Bookstore in the US, and Poet Lore's 120th Anniversary as the Oldest Continuously Published Poetry Magazine in the US. These works are housed in museums and private collections in India, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.

Desmond divides his time between his art and teaching. He has received two teaching awards, as well as the Dr Hiew Siew Nam Distinguished Academic Award, with his poetry having placed in several international writing contests. With varied scholastic interests, Desmond likes to mine the limits of literary experience, to reimagine them in attempting to discover newer forms he then ventures to work in. … Read More