Epigram Books: Championing regional talents

FOR small independent publisher Epigram Books, these past two years have represented a tectonic shift of sorts. It's been scouring for fiction manuscripts not just from Singapore but around the region, and publishing them.

Writers from Myanmar and Laos all the way down to Indonesia and East Timor (Timor-Leste) have been invited to submit their unpublished novels for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize, which awards S$25,000 to the winner and S$5,000 to five other shortlisted writers. Altogether, Epigram is giving out S$50,000, making it one of the richest literary prizes in the region.

Founder Edmund Wee says: "Our neighbours increasingly use English as their second language (both Vietnam and Cambodia have largely switched from French to English). It becomes the language that we can use to understand each other in Asean. And, as it is nearly our first language in Singapore, Epigram is well-placed to be the publisher of South-east Asian writing in English."

Mr Wee is realistic about the demand for such books, saying that most readers in South-east Asia still prefer to read titles in their own native languages: "So the main audience for these books now is still the Singaporean public. Eventually, when we can understand and circumvent the logistics of distribution (and exchange rates), we hope to sell many of these titles in their capitals as well."

Epigram Books Fiction Prize was launched in 2015 as a competition for only Singapore writers. After four years of success, it was opened to the rest of the region. The shortlisted titles of 2019 included a Thai, Malaysian and Bruneian. This year, the longlist of 12 titles include two Malaysian, a Thai, a Bruneian and a Filipino.

Mr Wee says: "Epigram started out nine years ago to publish and promote English language fiction writing in Singapore. I think we have had a measure of success in getting more Singaporeans to read local fiction. Isn't it time Singaporeans look to our South-east Asian neighbours as well?"

Having published several fiction titles by regional authors in the past 12 months, the bigger challenge for Epigram is marketing and distributing them: "The logistics is nearly impossible because of the vastness of the countries, the large rural parts and the exchange rates. Each country is different. We will clearly need to work with partners and it will take us some time to find them . . . Eventually, it might be necessary to have offices in these capitals with local staff."

The pandemic has slowed some of his plans to take South-east Asian fiction to a wider audience: During Phase One of the circuit breaker when bookstores were shut, Epigram's sales were down by between 70 and 80 per cent. Since bookstores reopened, sales have partially recovered, but Mr Wee expects to end the year with sales off by about 50 per cent compared to last year. Everyone in Epigram has taken a pay cut until business conditions improve.

Mr Wee sees Epigram's investment into South-east Asian writing as one that will pay dividends later: "We are doing this because we think it is time to listen and read our own stories regionally. Time for us to better understand each other.

"It will be a long haul but we need to start somewhere."

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