Death Of A Perm Sec

Death Of A Perm Sec
Author: Wong Souk Yee
Publisher: Epigram Books
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2016
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814757357

Finalist for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize Death of a Perm Sec is a mystery about the demise of the permanent-secretary of the housing ministry, Chow Sze Teck, accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes over his career. Set in 1980's Singapore, the novel examines the civil servant’s death, which first appears to be suicide by a cocktail of alcohol, morphine and Valium. But upon investigation by a CID inspector who might not be what he seems, the family discovers there may be far more sinister circumstances behind his death, that reach to the very top of government. The novel exposes the dark heart of power politics,from the country’s tumultuous post-independence days to the socio-political landscape of the 1980s.

Death of a Perm Sec

Death of a Perm Sec
Author: Souk Yee Wong
Publisher:
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2016
Genre: Homicide investigation
ISBN: 9789814757348

Gardens at Phoenix Park

Gardens at Phoenix Park
Author: Wong Souk Yee
Publisher: Epigram Books
Total Pages: 308
Release:
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9815105078

Gardens at Phoenix Park is a fictional story set against actual events, of three students who meet during the turbulent period of anti-government protests in Singapore of the late 1970s. As these fellow travellers cross the continent of the next four decades, their relationships with each other transform in complexity against a backdrop of social and political engineering. Min Chan is detained under the Internal Security Act. Shu Peng becomes complicit in the machinations of the ruling party. And Martin comes out of the closet during the 2011 general election. Even as the characters’ lives are shaped by events of the day, they also push back to shape a better future for themselves, as well as for the country.

Kappa Quartet

Kappa Quartet
Author: Daryl Qilin Yam
Publisher: Epigram Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814757764

Kevin is a young man without a soul, holidaying in Tokyo; Mr Five, the enigmatic kappa, is the man he so happens to meet. Little does Kevin know that kappas—the river demons of Japanese folklore—desire nothing more than the souls of other humans. Set between Singapore and Japan, Kappa Quartet is split into eight discrete sections, tracing the rippling effects of this chance encounter across a host of other characters, connected and bound to one another in ways both strange and serendipitous. Together they ask one another: what does it mean to be in possession of something nobody has seen before?

The Art of Advocacy in Singapore

The Art of Advocacy in Singapore
Author: Constance Singam
Publisher: Ethos Books
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2022-08-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9811828644

Advocacy is a tricky pursuit in Singapore. Your motives can be questioned, your activities monitored, and your scope for action limited. Despite the constraints, civil society activists have persisted, finding ways to pursue their cause and to try to bring about the changes they believe important for Singapore. In 2013 a small group of civil society stalwarts set out to acknowledge the contributions of these unsung heroes. The Singapore Advocacy Awards was launched, a 3-year project that saw a total of 18 individuals and organisations being honoured. In this book, 37 activists, many of them winners of the Awards, write about their causes and discuss the strategies shaped and lessons learnt as they practise the delicate art of advocacy in Singapore. Reflecting the nature of civil society, there is a diversity of voices. Some give a more personal account, while others describe the institutional experience of advocacy work. Some essays are short and sweet, others long and detailed. They appear ordered alphabetically by the cause.

Let's Give It Up for Gimme Lao!

Let's Give It Up for Gimme Lao!
Author: Sebastian Sim
Publisher: Epigram Books
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2016
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814757330

“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.

The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories

The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories
Author: Pooja Nansi
Publisher: Epigram Books
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2019
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814845477

The best short fiction published by Singaporean writers in 2017 and 2018. The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Four gathers the finest Singaporean stories published in 2017 and 2018, selected by guest editor Pooja Nansi from hundreds published in journals, magazines, anthologies and single-author collections. Accompanying the stories are the editor’s preface and an extensive list of honourable mentions for further reading. Reader Reviews "The stories range from intimate family portraits to speculative science fiction, but every piece speaks to universal experiences of love, loss, desire, and disappointment ... If you've either never read Singaporean literature, this would be a good place to start. If Crazy Rich Asians was the last thing you read by a local author, even better." — Wonderwall.sg

Beng Beng Revolution

Beng Beng Revolution
Author: Lu Huiyi
Publisher: Epigram Books
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2019-07-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814845175

Beng Hock and his brother, Beng Huat (who prefers to go by Archibald), find themselves navigating a tumultuous Singapore in the near future that has run out of oil and gas. Running afoul of the growing gangs could mean slavery or death, jobs are scarce and food scarcer, and home is a crumbling shanty-town behind the City Hall Steam-Engine Station. And as if these changes aren’t drastic enough, a great power awakens inside Beng Hock, and he must learn how to control it before it destroys everyone and everything in his way.

China's ‘Singapore Model’ and Authoritarian Learning

China's ‘Singapore Model’ and Authoritarian Learning
Author: Stephan Ortmann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-03-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429758340

This book explores to what extent China has drawn lessons from Singapore, both in terms of its ruling ideology and through the policy-specific learning process. In so doing, it provides insights into the opportunities but also the challenges of this long-term learning process, focusing attention to how non-democratic regimes deal with modernization. The stellar line-up of international contributors, from China, Singapore, Europe, and the US, offer a variety of perspectives on Singapore as a model of "authoritarian modernism" for China. The book discusses how the small Southeast Asian city-state became a major reference point for China, how mainland observers often misunderstood the nature of Singapore’s governance and instrumentalized it to bolster the CCP’s legitimacy, and why the Singapore model appears to be in decline under Xi Jinping. The chapters also analyze policy-specific learning processes, including bilateral mechanisms of policy exchange, the Chinese "mayor’s class" in Singapore, and joint industrial projects and lessons in social welfare provision. The book will be of interest to academics working on Chinese politics; development in China; state society and economy in the Asia-Pacific; international relations in the Asia-Pacific; and Southeast Asian politics.

Nimita's Place

Nimita's Place
Author: Akshita Nanda
Publisher: Epigram Books
Total Pages: 573
Release: 2019-01-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9814785776

It is 1944 in India and Nimita Khosla yearns to attend university to become an engineer, but her parents want a different life for her. As she accepts her fate and marries, religious upheaval is splitting the country and forcing her family to find a new home. In 2014, her granddaughter, molecular biologist Nimita Sachdev, escapes India to run away from the prospect of an arranged marriage. Staking out a future in Singapore, she faces rising anger against immigrants and uncertainty about her new home. Two generations apart, these two women walk divergent paths but face the same quandaries: who are we, and what is home?