Epigram Books is an independent publisher that began as a division of the multiple award-winning communications design firm Epigram. In 2011, it was registered as a separate entity to champion Singaporean literature.
Since then, Epigram Books has published all manner of fiction and non-fiction, from novels to picture books, memoirs to cookbooks, graphic novels to poetry.
Some of its books have won awards not just in Singapore, but overseas as well. These include the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye; the middle-grade series The Diary of Amos Lee; the period novel State of Emergency and short story collection Ministry of Moral Panic, both of which won the Singapore Literature Prize for English Fiction.
The company has also initiated its own prize in 2015, the Epigram Books Fiction Prize, which was started to promote Singaporean creative writing, but has since expanded to include writers from Southeast Asia. The 2020 Prize for example, was won by Malaysian writer Joshua Kam.
In 2022, Epigram Books collaborated with local coffee unit Balestier Market Collective for the concept store, Epigram Coffee Bookshop, which provides a platform for Singapore books—books written by Singaporeans, published in Singapore, or written about Singapore—along with local-inspired drinks and food.