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Catherine Lim
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==Career== Lim was born in [[Kulim]] ([[British Malaya|Malaya]]) and studied in the [[Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus]]. Early childhood reading was mainly influenced by British fiction, including [[Enid Blyton]], [[Richmal Crompton]] and some comics.<ref>"'Book Talk' in School," ''LPC Reporter'', Vol.8, No.2, 1987, p.5</ref> She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the [[University of Malaya]] in 1963, moving to Singapore in 1967. In 1988, she received her PhD in [[applied linguistics]] from the [[National University of Singapore]]. Lim then attended [[Columbia University]] and the [[University of California, Berkeley]] as a [[Fulbright scholar]] (1990). She also worked as a teacher and later as project director with the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore and as a specialist lecturer with the Regional English Language Centre, teaching [[sociolinguistics]] and literature. In 1992, she left her professional career to become a full-time writer. Lim was subsequently made a [[Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters]] (France) in 2003 and an ambassador of the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation ([[Copenhagen]]) in 2005. She received an [[Honorary degree|honorary doctorate]] in literature from [[Murdoch University]].<ref name="Yap"/> Lim published her first short story collection called ''[[Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore]]'' in 1978. A succeeding collection, ''[[Or Else, the Lightning God and other Stories]]'', was published in 1980. The short story collection was the first Singapore book to be tested for the Cambridge International Examinations in 1989 and 1990.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sin|first1=Yuen|title=Who's afraid of 'chao ah beng'? Overseas universities use Singaporean literature to teach|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/whos-afraid-of-chao-ah-beng-overseas-universities-use-singaporean-literature-to|access-date=15 February 2016|agency=The Straits Times|publisher=Singapore Press Holdings|date=15 February 2016}}</ref> Another story collection that followed in this tradition was ''[[O Singapore!: Stories in Celebration]]'' from 1989, but two years earlier she published ''The Shadow of a Shadow of a Dream'', which found Lim experimenting with new techniques and extending her subject range.<ref>"Taking the Pulse of Singapore," [[Asiaweek]], 23 August 1987</ref> Her first novel, ''[[The Serpent's Tooth (novel)|The Serpent's Tooth]]'', was published in 1982. Other books that have been published since then include ''[[The Bondmaid]]'' (1995) and ''Following the Wrong God Home'' (2001). The major theme in her stories is the role of women in traditional Chinese society and culture. In 1998 Lim was awarded the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qcTI-vrPnxsC&dq=In+1998+Lim+was+awarded+the+Montblanc-NUS+Centre+for+the+Arts+Literary+Award&pg=PT39 Sleep & Get Rich!] 2009, Armour Publishing</ref> and in 1999 she received the [[S.E.A. Write Award]].<ref>[http://bookcouncil.sg/awards/detail/s.e.a-write-award S.E.A Write Award Winners List] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019061753/http://bookcouncil.sg/awards/detail/s.e.a-write-award |date=19 October 2014 }} 1999 [[S.E.A. Write Award]]</ref> In 2000, Lim worked with the now-defunct web portal [[Lycos|Lycos Asia]] to write an [[E-book|e-novella]] called ''[[Leap of Love]]''. It was sold online (at 19 cents a chapter) before it was published by Horizon Books in 2003. It served as basis for the film ''[[The Leap Years]]'' by [[Raintree Pictures]] in 2008. Another best-selling novel was ''The Bondmaid'', which sold 75,000 copies. In 2015, ''[[Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore]]'' was selected by ''[[Business Times (Singapore)|The Business Times]]'' as one of the Top 10 English Singapore books from 1965β2015, alongside titles by [[Arthur Yap]] and [[Daren Shiau]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Yusof|first1=Helmi|title=Tomes that show us how we live|url=http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/tomes-that-show-us-how-we-live|website=The Business Times|date=January 2015 |publisher=Singapore Press Holdings|access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref> In the same year, ''[[The Straits Times]]''' Akshita Nanda selected ''[[Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore]]'' as one of 10 classic Singapore books. "Catherine Lim's early short, sharp fiction describes the results of such social engineering", she wrote, "a Singapore growing more cosmopolitan and Singaporeans losing touch with their roots. ''Little Ironies'' spotlights ordinary people at their best and worst, such as 'The Taximan's Story', in which a cab driver is happy to make money off sex workers while looking down on them."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Nanda|first1=Akshita|title=10 Singapore stories to ponder|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/books/story/10-singapore-stories-ponder-20150127|website=The Straits Times|publisher=Singapore Press Holdings|access-date=28 January 2015}}</ref>
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