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“I don’t aspire to be nice. I do what is necessary to get what I want.” Born on the night of the nation’s independence, Gimme Lao is cheated of the honour of being Singapore’s firstborn son by a vindictive nurse. This forms the first of three things Gimme never knows about himself, the second being the circumstances surrounding his parents’ marriage, and the third being the profound (but often unintentional) impact he has on other people’s lives. Talented, determined and focused, young Gimme is confident he can sail the seven seas, but he does not anticipate his vessel would have to carry his mother’s ambition, his wife’s guilt and his son’s secret. Tracing social, economic and political issues over the past 50 years, this humorous novel uses Gimme as a hapless centre to expose all of Singapore’s ambitions, dirty linen and secret moments of tender humanity.
Winner of the 2018 Epigram Books Fiction Prize Sukhin is a thirty-five-year-old teacher who lives alone. His life consists of reading, working and visiting his parents’ to rearrange his piles of “collectibles”. He has only one friend, another teacher who has managed to force Sukhin into a friendship by sheer doggedness. While on an errand one afternoon in Chinatown, he encounters a homeless person who recognises him. This chance reunion turns Sukhin’s well-planned life upside down, and the pair learns about love and sacrifice over their shared fondness for cake.
It is 1944 in India and Nimita Khosla yearns to attend university to become an engineer, but her parents want a different life for her. As she accepts her fate and marries, religious upheaval is splitting the country and forcing her family to find a new home. In 2014, her granddaughter, molecular biologist Nimita Sachdev, escapes India to run away from the prospect of an arranged marriage. Staking out a future in Singapore, she faces rising anger against immigrants and uncertainty about her new home. Two generations apart, these two women walk divergent paths but face the same quandaries: who are we, and what is home?
Timothy Pong has enough trouble at home without throwing his first year of secondary school into the mix. The Pong family only interact with each other through digital machines rather than human contact. Twelve-year-old Timothy is too young to own a phone, according to his mum, so he hasn’t actually spoken to his family in years as he can’t WhatsApp his parents or Snapchat his older sister. Even worse, the most menacing bully in school, who also just happens to be the prettiest girl Timothy has ever seen, has plucked him out as her new favourite target. Luckily, Timothy has a few ideas up his sleeve to survive Secondary One, as well as the help of his undernourished friend Rudy, who, when not helping Timothy, can be found eating grass in the school field. When their first plan goes horribly wrong and Timothy is caught on camera with his pants down – the most embarrassing three minutes of fame ever, the two friends must up their game if they’re to expose the conniving Bella, ace their Science project, and learn how an old-fashioned camera they first mistook for a hairdryer might be the answer to their prayers.
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The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Three gathers the finest Singaporean stories published in 2015 and 2016, selected by guest editor Cyril Wong from hundreds published in journals, magazines, anthologies and single-author collections. Accompanying the stories are the editor’s preface and an extensive list of honourable mentions for further reading. This volume features short story contributions from Eva Aldea, Joelyn Alexandra, Jennifer Anne Champion, Andrew Cheah, Clara Chow, Noelle Q. de Jesus, Melissa De Silva, SC Gordon, Jon Gresham, Philip Holden, Amanda Lee Koe, Su Leong, Leonora Liow, Manish Melwani, Sam Ng, Nuraliah Norasid, O Thiam Chin, Jollin Tan, Verena Tay, Jason Wee, Daryl Qilin Yam, Yeo Wei Wei, Yeoh Jo-Ann, Yeow Kai Chai, Ovidia Yu, and Andrew Yuen.
The best short fiction published by Singaporean writers in 2017 and 2018. The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Four gathers the finest Singaporean stories published in 2017 and 2018, selected by guest editor Pooja Nansi from hundreds published in journals, magazines, anthologies and single-author collections. Accompanying the stories are the editor’s preface and an extensive list of honourable mentions for further reading. Reader Reviews "The stories range from intimate family portraits to speculative science fiction, but every piece speaks to universal experiences of love, loss, desire, and disappointment ... If you've either never read Singaporean literature, this would be a good place to start. If Crazy Rich Asians was the last thing you read by a local author, even better." — Wonderwall.sg
In recent years, Singaporean literature has begun experiencing a sea change, with the short story form enjoying a renaissance. As a result, an explosion of short fiction with a Singaporean flavour has been produced to incredible effect, both by emerging and established writers. For the prose enthusiast, it is a very exciting time. The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume One curates the finest short fiction from Singaporean writers published in 2011 and 2012. This ground-breaking and unique anthology showcases stories that examine various facets of the human condition and the truths that we tell ourselves in order to exist in the everyday. The styles are as varied as the authors, and no two pieces are alike. Here are twenty unique and breathtaking literary insights into the Singaporean psyche, which examine what it means to live in this particular part of the world in this particular time.