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Jan – Jun 2018 Jan – Jun 2018 MORE THAN 30,000 COPIES Why Publish at All? Someone once said that publishing literature is one Photo © Juliana Tan SOLD WORLDWIDE! way of reaching back to something bigger and older by bringing the past to the present. And a way of A TRIPLE EISNER AWARD WINNER, NEW YORK TIMES making sense of the present too. BESTSELLER, SINGAPORE LITERATURE PRIZE 2016 So we publish in the hope that one day, we will ENGLISH FICTION WINNER AND SINGAPORE BOOK make sense of it all. In the first half of 2018, we AWARDS 2016 BOOK OF THE YEAR. hope these books will do just that. • The Last Immigrant, Lau Siew Mei’s first novel in “A hugely ambitious, nearly 10 years, about an ex-Singaporean in Brisbane stylistically acrobatic was released in January. You might remember her work.... The book is a debut Playing Madame Mao which Time described mercurial delight.” in 2000 as “one of the best novels ever written The New York Times about Singapore.” “A touching, thoughtful • In March, the bestselling Secrets of Singapore series by the dynamic mother-daughter meditation on Singapore’s team of Leslie-Anne & Monica Lim unearths the treasures buried in Botanic Gardens. relentless progress.... • The multi-talented escape artist, illusionist and author Ning Cai pens her first solo The book does not shy effort Misdirection, a YA mystery novel about a savant schoolgirl on the trail of her from controversial parents’ killer. This first volume of a trilogy will appear in March too. periods in the nation’s history.” • In April, The Riot Act, Sebastian Sim’s hilarious, hyper-realistic winner of the 2017 Epigram Books Fiction Prize will be available. Novels by the other three finalists will The Economist be published by June. “Unique and • Two picture books in the Prominent Singaporeans series will be out in April too. unprecedented... Race to Rio: Joseph Schooling Goes for Olympic Gold proves that no dream is too big a masterpiece.” and Agnes and Her Amazing Orchid: How Vanda Miss Joacquim Became Singapore’s Mike Carey, Lucifer and National Flower commemorates the 125th anniversary of the creation of the orchid. The Unwritten • April also sees the release of award-winning filmmaker Ken Kwek’s first novel— Timothy and the Phubbers, an hysterical tale of a family of smartphone addicts oblivious to their son’s troubles with an unexpected school bully. The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye • Chiam: In Opposition 1985-2011, the second, and concluding, volume of ex-Potong by Sonny Liew Pasir MP Chiam See Tong’s biography, covers his time in politics. Expect this in May. 978-9-81-073106-9 — $34.90 Edmund Wee *Paperback Publisher & CEO Also translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese (Taiwan). 1 Epigram Books January – June 2018 NON-FICTION January The Naysayer’s Book Club 18-19 FICTION by Simon Vincent The Last Immigrant 4-5 LITERARY JOURNAL by Lau Siew Mei Lontar: The Journal of Southeast 20 PICTURE BOOK Asian Speculative Fiction #10 The Trampolines that Nadia Built 6 by Jason Erik Lundbery, ed. Philip Yeo loved to read lots and lots of by Darren C. Ong & Anngee Neo PICTURE BOOK books. They always gave him big ideas. One Prominent Singaporeans #6 February Race to Rio: Joseph Schooling 21 day, he hatched a plan to help Singaporeans, PICTURE BOOK Goes for Olympic Gold The Incredible Basket 7 by David Seow & Keh Choon Wee but everyone thought he was mad! by Quek Hong Shin MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION Timothy and the Phubbers 22-23 Annabelle Thong 8-9 by Ken Kwek by Imran Hashim PICTURE BOOK PLAYSCRIPT Prominent Singaporeans #7 Sisters & Senang: The Island Plays 10 Agnes and Her Amazing Orchid: 24-25 by Jean Tay How Vanda Miss Joaquim Became Singapore’s National Flower March by Linda Locke, James Wolf & Muhd Noh MIDDLE-GRADE May Secrets of Singapore 11 Botanic Gardens THRILLER by Lesley-Anne & Monica Lim 9th of August 26-27 by Andre Yeo YOUNG ADULT: ROMANCE Lion Boy and Drummer Girl 12 YOUNG ADULT: SCI-FI by Pauline Loh Sofia and the Utopia Machine 28-29 by Judith Huang YOUNG ADULT: MYSTERY The Savant Trilogy #1 13 BIOGRAPHY Misdirection Chiam: In Opposition 1985-2011 30 by Ning Cai by Loke Hoe Yeong Dream Island: The Mad, COOKING Mad World of Philip Yeo The Domestic Goddess 14-15 June Peh Shing Huei & Lai Hui Li Wannabe Bakes PICTURE BOOK 978-9-81-465529-3 — $14.90 by Diana Gale Rubiah from Semarang #1 What a Mix-Up! 31 by Atiqah Halim, Zafirah Idris & April Carolynn Yoe FICTION The Riot Act 16-17 FICTION by Sebastian Sim Nimita’s Place 32-33 by Akshita Nanda 3 January 2018 The Last Immigrant ISBN 978-9-81-478512-9 Lau Siew Mei Fiction $24.90 | Paperback 224pp | 152 x 225mm A Singaporean immigrant’s life in sunny Brisbane turns into a nightmare when his Siamese cat goes missing. Lau’s first novel, Playing Madame Mao was praised by Time magazine as “one of the best novels ever written about Singapore.” Ismael, a Singaporean Muslim emigrates to Australia and settles in a bucolic Brisbane cul- de-sac. His job is to decide whether asylum- seekers get to stay in the country, a dilemma that reminds him of his own immigrant status. He works hard but doesn’t get promoted. His neighbours keep to themselves but are outwardly civil. Then his life begins to take on the hue of a nightmare: a neighbour inexplicably commits suicide, his wife dies of cancer, and his daughter abandons him to live in the United States. One day his Siamese cat disappears...and he recieves an anonymous hate mail: “We were here first. We will decide who comes into this suburb...and who remains!” An engrossing new novel by Singapore-born Australian author Lau Siew Mei that explores neighbourly relations— and the reality of being an immigrant. Lau Siew Mei is the author of two novels, Playing Madame Mao and The Dispeller of Worries. She has been shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Best Emerging Queensland Author in the QLD Premier’s Literary Awards. 4 5 January 2018 February 2018 The Trampolines that ISBN 978-9-81-073258-5 The Incredible Basket ISBN 978-9-81-465545-3 Nadia Built Picture Book Quek Hong Shin Picture Book $14.90 | Paperback $14.90 | Paperback Darren C. Ong & Anngee Neo 32pp | 175 x 260mm 32pp | 210 x 260mm Nadia is mesmerised by the moon. With the help of her animal friends Xiaoming discovers and lots of trampolines, she finally gets there! through a beautiful wedding basket that in Nadia really, really wants to life, you are limited only go to the moon. So she builds by your imagination. trampolines in the hope that she might jump her way there. Xiaoming uses a beautiful Alas, the moon is just too far Chinese wedding basket to away. Soon, her animal friends deliver a batch of ang ku kueh, ask to use her trampolines then fashions it into a prop for their own purposes. Nadia for a lion dance. When the is only too glad to give them sun beats down on him, he away. But her friends are quick repurposes the basket’s cover to notice her misery and come as a hat! At home in a two- up with a plan to cheer her up. storey shophouse, the basket is attached to a rope to transport Darren C. Ong is an associate a comic book and a bowl of professor in mathematics at noodles. Oh, how creative Xiamen University Malaysia. of Xiaoming! This is his first picture book. Quek Hong Shin wrote and Anngee Neo has illustrated illustrated The Amazing Sarong several picture books, including which was a finalist in the The Phantom of Oxley Castle, children’s book category in the 2015 Singapore Book Awards. The Crane and the Crab and ALSO BY THE AUTHOR The Rock and the Bird, which He is an advocate for Super- won the 2015 Hedwig Anuar AVAILABLE NOW hero Me, an arts movement for Children’s Book Award and the The Amazing Sarong children with special needs. 2016 Singapore Book Awards’ ISBN 978-9-81-461586-0 Best Young Adult Title. $14.90 6 7 February 2018 Annabelle Thong ISBN 978-9-81-478594-5 Imran Hashim Fiction $18.90 | Paperback 320pp | 129 x 198mm After the first print run sold out, Annabelle Thong returns with a new cover (and a new size and price) to search for her Prince Charming, or should that be, Le Prince Charmant? Devout Catholic schoolteacher Annabelle never thought her chastity was a liability—until she runs away to Paris to find Prince Charming. Enrolling herself at the Sorbonne, she meets the suave Patrick Dudoigt, but he’s the one temptation she MUST resist. Annabelle’s belief system is challenged on all fronts, and her naïveté is seen as gauche in the City of Love. Guilt and confusion make for dangerous bedfellows, and when her fellow university students enthusiastically combine reading and rioting, Annabelle can’t help but wonder “Fans of the Bridget if everyone’s gone mad—or is it just her? Jones series will probably Annabelle Thong takes a hilarious look at the enjoy this story, as sparks that fly when East meets West, and the there are similarities passions these ignite. with these characters as the socially awkward Imran Hashim fell in love with France a little yet lovable “fish out late in life but made up for it by studying French of water.” While it is a with a vengeance at the National University light and easy read, the of Singapore.
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