“An intimate portrayal of connections formed between friends, lovers and strangers, and the stories we tell in order to find meaning. Reminiscent of Rachel Cusk’s The Outline Trilogy but distinct in its observations of millennial life in Singapore, reading Be Your Own Bae is like eavesdropping on the conversations of strangers and coming away with a richer understanding of ourselves.”
—Balli Kaur Jaswal, bestselling author of Now You See Us
“Daryl’s stories are a paradox: breathtakingly experimental in form, but refusing melodrama and flourish. They’re like finely crafted bulbs of clear glass, capturing a queer-inclusive transnational Asian everyday with all their tensions and heartbreaks.”
—Ng Yi-Sheng, multi-award-winning author of Lion City
“Yam’s liquid prose carries us, dreamlike, through these stories. We flow through them and somehow they flow through us as well. The physical places his characters inhabit are as vivid as the rich inner worlds that they navigate. Their conversations sparkle with words spoken, words unspoken and words unspeakable.”
—Tania de Rozario, author of Dinner on Monster Island
“Daryl Qilin Yam masterfully traces quiet heartbreaks, unseen intimacies and urgent longings—the moments of inner epiphany that change everything. Be Your Own Bae is an expansive collection of stories charged with the pulse of the millennial generation. It is as brave and electrifying as a hand held open in the dark to the possibility of touch. It will arrest your heart.”
—Amanda Chong, poet and playwright