An interview with Edmund Wee

Robert Wood
You have established yourself as a pre-eminent and respected voice in Singaporean culture, from literature to civil society to art and design. I want to start though in New Zealand in 1971 where you studied under the Columbo Plan at the University of Waikato. You returned to Singapore, and are on the record about the difficulty of this, especially compulsory military service. What moment about going home still lingers today?

Edmund Wee
I rarely ponder over the past. If there is an episode that remains, it might be the fact that I arrived back in Singapore with very long hair at a time when there was a “ban” on long hair. To pass immigration, I tied my hair into a long pony tail and tucked it into my shirt.

Robert Wood
From here, you became a journalist with the national paper The Straits Times. This was during an especially vibrant moment in Singaporean history. What was the key lesson you learned from this part of your career?

Edmund Wee
First, I learnt to write. Subsequently, I learnt design. Prior to journalism, I was a psychologist with the government. I discovered that in both jobs, I was essentially doing the same thing—I set out to interview people with problems or issues and then wrote up their stories—for them or the public, as the case may be.

Robert Wood
If that is all background to Epigram, where you are now, let’s focus a little on Epigram. Tell our readers about Epigram from concept to creativity to ethos and purpose.

Edmund Wee
Epigram was founded in the belief that literature can transform lives. And local literature has a better chance of doing that here. So we champion Singapore Literature, or SingLit for short. To that end, we are serious and try as best as we can not to cut corners. We have full time editors, designers and sales and marketing staff.

Robert Wood
In 2011, you began publishing books. Why then? Why was the moment right ten years ago to move into book publishing?

Edmund Wee
There was no right time for me. I am an accidental publisher. See the attached article from the Straits Times on the day I became a book publisher.

Robert Wood
Over the years at Epigram, there has been prizes, coffee shops, retail, a move into the UK, all while remaining attentive to a cosmopolitan sense of local place, of pride in community, with creative journeys along the way that encourage people in Singapore to celebrate what is already there. Can you tell us about a couple of your favourite success stories that readers in the Indian Ocean should know about?

Edmund Wee
Our biggest critical success is the three Eisner Awards (Best Writer/Artist; Best US Edition of International Material, Asia; and Best Publication Design) won in 2017 by the US edition of our title, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, a graphic novel on Singapore’s independence by Sonny Liew. It has now been translated into 7 languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Complex Chinese, Simplified Chinese) and we recently issued a 5th anniversary edition with a new cover, afterword, and additional panels on the book’s controversial brush with the authorities when its publication grant was withdrawn.

Robert Wood
From this, can you share a little more about a couple of titles that readers can go and look into on their own?

Edmund Wee
They should certainly look into The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye. For fiction on Singapore, can I recommend Amanda Lee-Koe’s Ministry of Moral Panic, Balli Kaur Jaswal’s Sugarbread and Sebastian Sim’s Let’s Give It Up for Gimme Lao!

Robert Wood
If there was anything you would do differently, or would encourage journalists, creatives, publishers, writers, bon vivants to do from the very beginning of their careers and practice, what would it be? 

Edmund Wee
With hindsight, there are many things I would do differently. But the one thing everyone ought to remember at the start of their working lives is to remember that there are no short cuts to success. It’s all hard work, and, hopefully, a bit of luck.

Robert Wood
What is the most important lesson you have learned so far on your journey?

Edmund Wee
Even when you stumble into your careers, there should be principles by which you must live by and work to. Be civil, be honest and if you do not do good, doing well is not good enough.

Edmund Wee is the Publisher and CEO of Epigram Books, a Singaporean imprint that champions local literature and writers. Best known for its bestselling graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and children’s series The Diary of Amos Lee, it has also published landmark translations of novels and short story collections by Cultural Medallion winners, fresh fiction by emerging authors, and republished out-of-print novels for a new generation of readers. For his efforts, he was included in the Straits Times Life! Power List of arts, entertainment and lifestyle players three years in succession.

In 2015, he launched the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in search of the next big Singaporean novel, and announced the inaugural winner, O Thiam Chin. The winning novel, Now That It’s Over, along with the manuscripts of the finalists, were published the following year.

Robert Wood is interested in stories, decolonisation and creativity. He works as the Creative Director of Centre for Stories and is the Principal at Anjengo. In 2021, he was awarded a Westpac Social Change Fellowship and named as a 40 Under 40 Asian Australian of the Year. Robert is the author of five books and holds five degrees.