The Epigram Books Fiction Prize, which relies in Singapore, was received by a Malaysian for the second time on Saturday (Jan 22).
Karina Robles Bahrin will obtain S$25,000 (RM78,000) from the seventh version of the prize, Singapore’s solely award for unpublished English-language novels.
Her manuscript, The Accidental Malay, got here in tops at a digital ceremony live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube.
“This is basically surprising as a result of it is my first try at a novel,” mentioned Robles Bahrin, 53, who runs a resort, restaurant, farm and group storytelling initiative on the island of Langkawi in Kedah.
She is the second Malaysian to win the prize, after Joshua Kam in 2020 for his novel How The Man In Green Saved Pahang, And Possibly The World.
The Accidental Malay follows Jasmine Leong, a workaholic who desires to be the subsequent chief government of a bak kwa firm owned by the rich Leong clan, however discovers that she is definitely Malay.
Her newfound identification threatens to up-end her life and her CEO ambitions. Set in Malaysia, Robles Bahrin’s novel examines the human price of a rustic’s racial insurance policies and paints the image of a lady unwilling to just accept the destiny historical past has designated her.
Nanyang Technological University professor Shirley Chew, who was on the judging panel, hailed Robles Bahrin’s novel as “an clever, well-crafted and important work”.
“The narrative motion and the construction of the novel are constructed with a pointy sense of the dramatic. This is ably helped by a prose that’s vigorous with flashes of wit,” she mentioned.
The different judges have been creator Amir Muhammad, writer of Buku Fixi in Malaysia; T. Sasitharan, co-founder and director of Intercultural Theatre Institute in Singapore; Association of Women for Action and Research president Margaret Thomas; and Epigram Books writer Edmund Wee.
The different finalists, who’re all Singaporean – scholar Ng Ziqin, 20; personal tutor Nisha Mehraj, 37; and basic practitioner Tan Lip Hong, 58 – will every get S$5,000 (RM16,000).
All 4 shortlisted novels shall be revealed in the second half of this 12 months.
The prize, which is a money advance towards future royalties, was began in 2015 for Singapore writers and opened to writers from different Asean international locations in 2018. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
