The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Malay-writing Singaporean author Mohamed Latiff Mohamed's The Widower, recently published in English translation by Epigram Books.
Yes, there is a great Singaporean novel Tyler Cowen wrote at his Marginal Revolution weblog a couple of weeks ago, and of course I was paying attention (aren't I always ?) and Epigram kindly provided me with a copy, enabling me to cover it -- and making me also aware of their fine list and the interesting mix of titles on it.
As longtime readers know, I often complain about how little Southeast Asian fiction is readily available in English; Epigram's books aren't all that readily available in the US/UK (The Widower isn't listed on Amazon -- a rarity for an English-language publication in this day and age) but their catalogue includes goodies translated from the Chinese and Tamil, along with Malay (and, of course, some English-written stuff too), a nice cross-section of the regional literature.
Happy days indeed that this sort of stuff is now at least closer to hand, and, with a bit of effort, obtainable.
Yes, there is a great Singaporean novel Tyler Cowen wrote at his Marginal Revolution weblog a couple of weeks ago, and of course I was paying attention (aren't I always ?) and Epigram kindly provided me with a copy, enabling me to cover it -- and making me also aware of their fine list and the interesting mix of titles on it.
As longtime readers know, I often complain about how little Southeast Asian fiction is readily available in English; Epigram's books aren't all that readily available in the US/UK (The Widower isn't listed on Amazon -- a rarity for an English-language publication in this day and age) but their catalogue includes goodies translated from the Chinese and Tamil, along with Malay (and, of course, some English-written stuff too), a nice cross-section of the regional literature.
Happy days indeed that this sort of stuff is now at least closer to hand, and, with a bit of effort, obtainable.