This volume collects some of the best short fiction written by Singapore's most imaginative minds, including Balli Kaur Jaswal, Jeremy Tiang, Cyril Wong and more.
Over the past decade, Singaporean literature has experienced a massive sea change, with the short story form enjoying a powerful renaissance. As a result, an explosion of fiction from the island-nation has erupted onto the literary scene, by both emerging and established writers. This groundbreaking anthology showcases breathtaking literary insights into what it means to live in Singapore at this particular time, and why the country is much more than simply a playground for the crazy rich.
“A real delight to discover this feast of remarkable Singaporean short stories from well-known established voices as well as fresh new ones, stylishly served up by the admirable Epigram Books.” —Romesh Gunesekera, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Reef and Suncatcher
“You know how it is at your favourite hawker centre: a real rojak of scents, colours, flavours, voices, mixing into uncanny harmony. So it is with this die-die-must-try collection of fifteen short stories, each revealing one of Singapore’s many facets. Someone once said that poetry is a luxury Singapore couldn’t afford; these writers prove that statement wrong in the poetry of their shared experience. The Lion City’s huge history is theirs to unspool—of their city, country, culture: their Singapore, an epic like no other. Read it!” —Miguel Syjuco, Man Asian Literary Prize-winning author of Ilustrado
Jason Erik Lundberg is the fiction editor at Epigram Books. He was born in New York, grew up in North Carolina, and has lived in Singapore since 2007. He is the author and anthologist of over twenty-five books, including A Fickle and Restless Weapon (2020), Most Excellent and Lamentable (2019), Diary of One Who Disappeared (2019) and the Bo Bo and Cha Cha picture book series (2012–2015); he is also the series editor of Best New Singaporean Short Stories (est. 2013), founding editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction (2012–2018), editor of Fish Eats Lion (2012), and co-editor of A Field Guide to Surreal Botany (2008) and Scattered, Covered, Smothered (2004).
