SINGAPORE – Homegrown translators, comic book authors and debut authors will aim to win the 2024 Singapore Literary Prize (SLP), one of the most prestigious homegrown literary awards for published books .
On January 11, the Singapore Book Council (SBC), which organizes the awards, announced three new categories in addition to the existing categories of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction in Singapore’s four official languages.
In a press statement, the SBC said these new categories will help “recognize and promote the increasingly diverse range of published work by Singaporeans and permanent residents.”
This is the first time since 2014 that a new category has been introduced to the biennial SLP.
This increases the total number of SLP awards from 12 to 18, as the Best Debut award will be awarded in all four languages. All shortlisted works in any genre by debut authors are eligible for the award.
The Reader’s Favorite Award, awarded based on public voting and first introduced in 2020, will not be awarded this year.
Previous SLP recipients include poet Marilyn Tan, historian Wang Gun Oo, Chinese writer Wong Koi Htet, Malay literature pioneer Suratman Markasan, and Tamil writer Situraj Ponraj. included.
Comics and graphic novels published in English by Singaporean creators from 2022 to 2023 have become a category of their own.
Cartoonist Sonny Liu’s The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015) was the first graphic novel to win the SLP for British Fiction.
The 2024 Translation Award is open to works of fiction published between 2021 and 2023 translated into English by Singapore citizens or permanent residents, regardless of the nationality of the original author.
Previously, translated books were considered in other categories as well, such as Mohamed Latif Mohamed’s The Widow, translated by Alfian Saat, which was shortlisted in the English fiction category in 2016.
This new translation category follows on from the Golden Point Award (a creative writing competition open to unpublished authors in the genre), which introduced a new translation category and won the award in 2023 to educator Tan Shan Yeo. will be awarded with a prize of $6,000.
Another book award in Singapore that has resumed submissions is the Epigram Books Fiction Prize (EBFP), which is awarded to unpublished fiction manuscripts containing new translations.
Epigram Books publisher Edmund Wee had previously announced that he would suspend EBFP until 2024 to redirect his resources and attention to children’s books, an “equally important part of Singaporean literature”. .
The 2025 EBFP is open to Southeast Asian nationals and permanent residents, with the winner receiving a $25,000 cash prize and three finalists receiving a $5,000 cash prize. Submissions are being accepted until August 1st and details can be found on his Epigram Books website at www.epigram.sg/ebfp.
SLP is currently accepting submissions. The deadline is February 15th at 6pm. Details on how to submit a book for consideration can be found on the SBC website (www.bookcouncil.sg/awards/slp-2024). Like last time, SLP will give each winner her $3,000 prize.
The SLP shortlist will be announced in mid-July and the winners will be announced on September 10th.