What the Tongue Remembers: Anitha Devi Pillai Launches Her First Short Story Collection

Dr Anitha Devi Pillai’s eleventh book, What the Tongue Remembers, is her first collection of short stories. Inspired by Singapore’s Malayalee community, the 300-page book follows women at different stages of life and explores how food, language, relationships and migration shape identity and belonging.

Food serves as a language of its own throughout the collection. What characters cook, remember, reject or share reveals feelings they may not express openly. The stories also question who determines what is “authentic”, recognising that recipes and cultural practices evolve as communities settle in new places.

Drawing on five years of fieldwork, Dr Anitha included 11 family recipes contributed by women, together with the memories associated with them. Her characters reflect diverse relationships with Kerala and the Malayalam language, challenging conventional understandings of diaspora.

Launched at the National Library Board on 20 September, the book grew from Dr Anitha’s academic research into the Singapore Malayalee community. She hopes it will contribute to Singapore literature by bringing stories from one of the nation’s smaller communities to a wider readership.

Read the article on Tabla here.