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Finalist for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize
Shortlisted for the Singapore Book Awards 2017 (Best Fiction Title)
Shortlisted for the Popular Readers' Choice Awards 2016 - English (Adult) Books Category
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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.
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Nominated for the 2019 Singapore Book Awards, Best Literary Work
Winner of the 2017 Epigram Books Fiction Prize
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Questions abound in the aftermath of the Little India riot. Hashwini wonders if she triggered the chaos. Jessica asks if she should reveal what truly happened in the ambulance. Sharon thinks that the catastrophe could be what she needs to boost her political career.
The lives of three women intertwine when accident and coincidence collide. In Gimme Lao!-style hilarity, they become wrapped up in a web of truth, deception and political connections. This is a perceptive, fast-paced romp that asks “what if” of the riot that recently shook Singapore.
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Co-Winner of the 2021 Epigram Books Fiction Prize
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Sally Bong is the typical do-gooder. But her journey as an exemplary citizen of Singapore is put into question when she meets people on the margins, upending everything she has learned in school. In a follow-up to the hilarious Let’s Give It Up for Gimme Lao!, Sebastian Sim delves deeper into a nation’s psyche with more shrewd humour than ever before.
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Sebastian Sim grew up in a two-room HDB flat with parents who were part of the pioneer generation of independent Singapore.
Not one to shy away from the road less taken, he has travelled around the world to soak up different experiences and cultures, and tried his hand in diverse industries: a bartender at Boat Quay, an assistant outlet manager at McDonald’s, an insurance salesman, a prison officer in a maximum security prison, and a croupier in a casino.
He published three Chinese wuxia novels between 2004 and 2012, and his first English-language novel, Let’s Give It Up for Gimme Lao! (2016), was shortlisted for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize.
