Singaporean fiction writer O Thiam Chin has won the inaugural Epigram Books Fiction Prize, Singapore’s richest literary award.

The winner was announced at the Singapore Writers Festival.

 

O will receive a $20,000 cash advance against future royalties. Epigram Books will publish the book.

O’s winning novel, The Infinite Sea, beat three other shortlisted writers. The work is about a tsunami that devastates a coastal town in Thailand.

The Epigram Books Fiction Prize promotes contemporary Singapore creative writing and rewards excellence in Singapore literature. The annual prize is Singapore’s richest literary award. S$20,000 is awarded to the Singaporean, permanent resident or Singapore-born author for the best manuscript of a full-length, original and unpublished novel written in the English language.