Epigram Books Blog

Erni Salleh is one of the three finalists for the 2020 Epigram Books Fiction Prize. Hailing from Singapore, Erni is a librarian and a self-professed antiques aficionado. Her interest in colonial maps, art, religion, and ancient kingdoms of the region grew when she completed her Master's in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. Her first novel, The Java Enigma, is a deep dive into the cultures and histories of Southeast Asia. Here, she reveals what her novel is all about, the challenges and influences while writing her story, and what she hopes The Java Enigma can inspire in readers and writers alike.

Angjolie Mei is a certified funeral director and celebrant at The Life Celebrant, a provider of boutique funeral services. Formerly a financial advisor, she left her shining career in management to take care of the dead. Her memoir, Dying to Meet You: Confessions of a Funeral Director, was first published in 2017. In 2020, Angjolie not only marked the 10th anniversary of her funeral services company, The Life Celebrant, but also published a new edition of her memoir, which includes two new chapters.

She shares about how her perception of death has changed since she entered motherhood (her baby was born last year), how Covid-19 has impacted the funeral industry and ritual, and how she wishes her book may change perceptions about death.

Russell Molina (top) and Ian Sta. Maria (bottom) know all about telling stories. Apart from being a graphic novelist, Russell is also a children's book author who has written several notable works that were commended in award shows such as the National Children's Book Awards and the IBBY Honour List.

Artist Ian, on the other hand, is the author and artist of Salamangka, co-creator and artist of the Skyworld series, Kadasig, and Seven Gifts of the Skygods. He is also the senior concept artist for LEGO (yup, that LEGO).

The two of them joined forces to produce Mr Tino (Volume 1), a graphic novel that delves into the story of the eponymous Celestino Cabal, or Mr Tino as his neighbours call him, a 66-year-old sundry shop owner who one day, finds he has super strength. 

Here, Russell and Ian discuss the inspiration behind this action-packed graphic novel, their personal tribute imbued within its pages, and the life lessons that readers can derive from the story.

Arif Rafhan is a Malaysian comic artist, pre-production visualiser, mural artist, and educator. Needless to say, his resume is extensive, having worked on a multitude of projects with both local and international clients such as Cartoon Network and Sony Animation Pictures. Since 2018, he's worked with the cartoonist, Lat, as an inker for several projects. His graphic novel, Reality Bitchslap was inspired by his travels with his group of friends from college. The sights they encountered during their trip shocked and drastically changed their mindset, so much so that Arif decided to record his experiences in a graphic novel. We spoke to Arif about Reality Bitchslap, and how he hope it may change readers' perceptions about the world as well.

Earlier this year, Malaysian author Joshua Kam won the 2020 Epigram Books Fiction Prize (taking home a cool S$25,000 cash prize to boot) for his manuscript, How the Man in Green Saved Pahang, and Possibly the World. As a history graduate of Hope College, Michigan, he has developed a fascination and hunger for mythology and his debut novel is testament to that fascination. We engaged Joshua in a lengthy discussion about his book, all of which has been transcribed below for your reading pleasure.

Less than a year after his collected short stories, Most Excellent and Lamentable, was published, Jason Erik Lundberg is back with his 25th book and first novel: A Fickle and Restless Weapon. The novel has been 10 years in the making, and it follows three transnational friends–Zed, Tara, and Vahid–and their resistance against the surveillance state of Tinhau, all the while unaware of an even bigger enemy that looms above them, threatening to destroy them all. We sat down with Jason to uncover the ins and outs of his writing process, and of course, his newest book.

Tita Larasati is a lecturer and researcher at the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), and the author of Coming Home. Born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tita left for Europe to further her studies. There, she began sending back letters to her family in the form of drawings. Little did she know that her mother loved them so much, she photocopied her works to distribute them to family and friends.

Ng Swee San is no stranger to writing stories. For one thing, she has been writing scripts for both TV and movies, from primetime dramas such as The Pupil and Tanglin, to children's shows such as Whoopie 2 and Totally Totto. This time around, she's back as a children's book author, with Book 2 of the Really Wheelie Buddies series, Chop-Chop the Trishaw. It tells the story of a trishaw suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out) when watching his modern automobile friends speed down the roads of Singapore much faster than him. So he builds an engine into his modest structure, but he soon starts to miss the good, old days of taking it slow. Here, Swee San tells us all about her inspiration behind this series that champions the common transport vehicles on Singapore's roads that we often take for granted.