The 2017 Shortlist
SINGAPORE, 20 OCTOBER 2017— Epigram Books is pleased to announce the shortlist for this year’s Epigram Books Fiction Prize. The writers are, in alphabetical order:
Judith Huang, 31, is a three-time winner of the UK Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poet of the Year award. She has been published in Prairie Schooner, Asia Literary Review, QLRS, Lontar, Stylus and Asymptote, and her first poetry collection is forthcoming from Ethos Books in 2018. She holds an AB from Harvard University.
Akshita Nanda, 38, writes about the arts for The Straits Times, where she has worked since 2007. She studied molecular biology at the National University of Singapore and worked in genetic engineering before becoming an editor in 2002. She moved to Singapore from India in 1995.
Sebastian Sim, 51, has been a bartender in a pub, a warden in a maximum security prison and a croupier in a casino. He is currently an office executive. He has published several books in Chinese and his first English novel, Let’s Give It Up for Gimme Lao! was shortlisted for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize and published in 2016.
Andre Yeo, 45, is an assistant editor at The New Paper and has been a journalist for 21 years. In 2014, he self-published his first book, Home: 50 50-word Stories to Celebrate Singapore’s 50th Birthday.
“Congratulations to all the finalists. And my heartfelt thanks to all the other 43 participants, the corporate and individual sponsors of this award and other supporters who have pre-ordered our EBFP bundles,” says Edmund Wee, Publisher and CEO of Epigram Books, and one of the judges.
The other judges for this year’s prize are Cyril Wong, Singapore Literature Prize-winning poet; Professor Barbara Ryan, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore; and Pamela Ho, editor of The A List, a monthly arts and culture magazine published by the National Arts Council.
The winner will be announced at the award ceremony and gala dinner on 23 November 2017 (Thursday), at Hotel Conrad Centennial Singapore.
The winner will receive $25,000 and the three finalists $5,000 each. All four will be offered a publishing contract.