Epigram Books Fiction Prize – announcement of the 2017 judging panel

The Epigram Books Fiction Prize is pleased to announce the judging panel for this year’s competition.

Three new names will be joining the panel for this year’s prize: Barbara Ryan, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, Singapore Literature Prize-winning author and poet Cyril Wong, and Pamela Ho, editor for The A List Singapore.

Prof Barbara Ryan is a core member of a flagship educational initiative, the interdisciplinary NUS University Scholars Programme.

She said, “It is exciting to be asked to judge this year’s books along with Cyril, Pamela and Edmund. The Epigram Books Fiction prize recognizes literary talent and a growing audience, locally and overseas, for it.”

Cyril Wong is the author of the short story collection Ten Things My Father Never Taught Me and the novel The Last Lesson of Mrs De Souza. He served as a mentor under the Creative Arts Programme and the Mentor Access Project, as well as an adjudicator for the Golden Point Awards in Singapore.

Pamela Ho has worked in print, television and radio, previously serving at Mediacorp Publishing, Channel NewsAsia, and at 938LIVE where she co-hosted The Living Room, Singapore’s longest-running English radio chat show.

"It is a huge honour indeed to be asked to join this year’s Epigram Books Fiction Prize judging panel," said Pamela. "I'm always very keen to discover good reads and new writers, and of course to support SingLit, so I’m really looking forward to see what’s in store."

The Epigram Books Fiction Prize is now open to all Singaporeans citizens, Singapore Permanent Residents, and ex-Singaporeans. Manuscripts must be original, unpublished and uncontracted work, and should have a word count of at least 40,000 words.

The closing date for manuscript submissions is Tuesday, 1st August 2017. The shortlist will be announced 2 months later, and the winner named in a gala dinner in late November.