Epigram Books
Singapore's largest independent publisher of fiction and non-fiction for all ages. Check out our latest catalogue here: July – December 2018 (PDF.)
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Landmark Books
We are a boutique publishing house producing quality books on Asian subjects. We also provide publishing services and consultancy.
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Promoted Content
Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 2020The absurdity of bureaucracy
by Nina Holm Vohnsen, Rod Rhodes
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Promoted Content
Civil service & public sectorMay 2017The absurdity of bureaucracy
How implementation works
by Nina Holm Vohnsen. Series edited by Professor Rod Rhodes
The absurdity of bureaucracy offers a humorous ethnographic account of policy implementation set in contemporary Danish bureaucracy. Taking the reader deep into the hallways of governmental administration and municipal caseworkers' offices, the book sets out to explore what characterizes policy implementation as a mode of human agency. Using the notions of absurdity and sense-making as lenses through which to explore the dynamic relationship between a policy and its effects, the book reclaims 'implementation studies' for the qualitative sciences and emphasizes the existential dilemma that any policymaker and implementer must confront. Following step-by-step the planning and implementation of the randomized controlled trial, Active - Back Sooner, the book sets out to show that 'going wrong' is not a question of implementation failure but is in fact the only way in which implementation may happen.
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Swimming & water sports (Children's/YA)October 2020Nadadores
by María José Ferrada, Mariana Alcántara
There might be many swimmers for sure who, after training so much during the day (“50 meters of Front Crawl, 50 meters of Back and 50 meters of Butterfly”) at night they dream about being fish. But during those same nights, when the moon illuminates the oceans, will fish dream about being swimmers? The authors of this book use humor and poetry to show us that a page can be a deep sea or an Olympic-size swimming pool, depending on the eyes with which it is looked at.
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August 2023Taschenatlas der abgelegenen Inseln
Fünfundfünfzig Inseln, auf denen ich nie war und niemals sein werde
by Judith Schalansky
Als Judith Schalanskys Atlas 2009 erschien, herrschte zwar allgemeine Verzückung über Idee, Konzept und Gestaltung: fünfzig entlegene Inseln – von Tristan da Cunha bis zum Clipperton-Atoll, von der Weihnachts- bis zur Osterinsel – nach Ozeanen geordnet, kunstvoll illustriert und mit je einer absurd-abgründigen Geschichte, die von historischen Begebenheiten und naturwissenschaftlichen Berichten inspiriert ist. Niemand konnte jedoch ahnen, dass der Atlas nicht nur zum internationalen Bestseller und mit diversen Preisen ausgezeichneten Designobjekt werden, sondern ein regelrechtes Zeitalter der »poetischen Atlanten« einläuten und weltweit unzählige Nachahmer finden würde. Und nie war so aktuell wie heute, was dieses Buch beweist: dass die abenteuerlichsten Reisen im Kopf stattfinden, mit dem Finger auf der Landkarte. Die erweiterte Erfolgsausgabe von 2021 mit neuem Vorwort und fünf neuen Inseln wird hier in einer schön gestalteten, gebundenen Taschenbuchausgabe vorgelegt.
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A Civil Code Comic Book that Children Can Understand
by Du Zili, Du Chang'en
This book presents a selection of articles in the Civil Code that are relevant to teenagers, and it explains the Civil Code in a question-and-answer format through comic and specific cases. The combination of fun and knowledge in the format prevents readers from becoming intimidated by the legal language. Each case is closely related to social hot topics, and each issue is professionally explained by legal scholars to provide legal countermeasures, which not only facilitates teenagers' learning and understanding, but also makes it easy for them to apply their knowledge to solve legal problems in their lives. Through the youth-friendly ways to promote legal education, to help them better understand and use the law as a tool.
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August 1995Geographie der Lust
Roman
by Jürg Federspiel
Superlative an Lob spendierte die Kritik der »Geographie der Lust«: »geistvolle Erotik«, »himmlisch-schwerelos«, »mal absurd, mal märchenhaft«, »ein erstklassiger, ungetrübter Lesespaß« und: »Federspiel, ein wahrer Magier der Feder ... Federspiel at his best« (»Bündner Tagblatt«). Legenden sind selten erotisch, manchmal erbaulich- aber immer wunderbar: In »Geographie der Lust«, seiner bislang umfangreichsten Prosa, erzählt Jürg Federspiel eine märchenhafte Legende voller fabelhafter Erotik. Er erweist sich als unbändig verspielter Fabulierer, der mit seiner sinnlichen und kraftvoll zupackenden Sprache in absurd-monströse Szenerien entführt, aber zugleich auch den Tonfall des »Es war einmal ...« anschlägt, leise und voller Poesie. Federspiels Geschichte beginnt damit, daß sich Primo Antonio Robusti, ein »mächtiger Mann« aus Mailand, zu seinem siebzigsten Geburtstag nicht nur in den eigenen Reichtum verliebt, sondern kurz darauf auch in ein neunzehnjähriges, kokett-naives Geschöpf namens Laura Granati. Und so nimmt Robustis Schicksal »eine scharfe Wende« ...
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Children's & YAChangeling
by Kotryna Zylė
Changeling is a rebellious novel about creativity, youth and the raging intensity of teenage emotional life. The gripping story plunges the reader into the depths of a mystical town, a haunting and haunted place, where boundaries between the real and the otherworldly become dangerously blurred. A strange and electrifying tale of teenage disenchantment, Changeling is a work of stunning emotional force that captures the twisted complexities of family relationships and friendships, first love, and the quest for self-definition. Guided by short introductions to Baltic mythology, readers will find themselves in an urban landscape steeped in pagan and post-Soviet history.
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The ArtsJune 2017Popular television drama
Critical perspectives
by Jonathan Bignell, Stephen Lacey
Popular television drama: critical perspectives' is a collection of essays examining landmark programmes of the last forty years, from 'Doctor Who' to 'The Office', and from 'The Demon Headmaster' to 'Queer As Folk'. Contributions from prominent academics focus on the full range of popular genres, from sitcoms to science fiction, gothic horror and children's drama, and challenge received wisdom by reconsidering how British television drama can be analysed. Each section is preceded by an introduction in which the editors discuss how the essays address existing problems in the field and also suggest new directions for study. The book is split into three sections, addressing the enduring appeal of popular genres, the notion of 'quality' in television drama, and analysing a range of programmes past and present. Popular television drama: critical perspectives will be of interest to students and researchers in many academic disciplines that study television drama. Its breadth and focus on popular programmes will also appeal to those interested in the shows themselves.
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August 2016A Study of Ryukyu/Okinawa: Exploring the history and ownership of Diaoyu Islands
by Huang Tian
To address the Sino-Japanese dispute of Diaoyu Islands (referred to as Ryukyu Islands by the Japanese), it is necessary to study the history of Ryukyu. In this book, the author collects abundant documents and makes some breakthrough on the unsettled history of Diaoyu Islands. In recent years, Japan has argued that Diaoyu Islands is an outlying island of Okinawa Prefecture, thus should belong to Japan. This book demonstrates that Diaoyu Islands never belongs to Okinawa, supported by suffcient historical facts, effectively refuting the absurdity of Japan’s argument. This book was written in the historical order from Sui Dynasty (581-618) with the earliest records on Ryukyu to the end of the World War II when Ryukyu was eventually included into Japan. Having studied Sino-Japanese relations for many years, the author notes down how Ming and Qing Dynasties of China protected and helped Ryukyu, and how Ryukyu paid tributes to China for fve centuries.
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FictionJune 2016The Returning Soul
by Chen Yingsong
This is a story of a ghost, who returned to “the birth land”, and died again. It is written by Chen Yingsong, who applies magic realism in his work. The reality of village and absurd existence has been narrated by his poetic and musical language.
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The ArtsJune 2017Gothic television
by Helen Wheatley
Gothic television is the first full length study of the Gothic released on British and US television. An historical account, the book combines detailed archival research with analyses of key programmes, from Mystery and Imagination and Dark Shadows, to The Woman in White and Twin Peaks, and uncovers an aspect of television drama history which has, until now, remained critically unexplored. While some have seen television as too literal or homely a medium to successfully present Gothic fictions, Gothic television argues that the genre, in its many guises, is, and has always been, well-suited to television as a domestic medium, given the genre's obsessions with haunted houses and troubled families. This book will be of interest to lecturers and students across a number of disciplines including television studies, Gothic studies, and adaptation studies, as well as to the general reader with an interest in the Gothic, and in the history of television drama.
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FictionNovember 2021Double Wahala, Double Trouble
by Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike
A woman chops off her finger to demonstrate her fidelity to her lover. A mother loses her mind upon discovering that her husband has left her and their only child. An artist seeks to unravel why his neighbour's face enchants him. A passenger on a bus acts as an emissary of death. Meet some of the characters in Double Wahala Double Trouble, a collection of eleven stories by the award-winning poet, short story writer, children's novelist, and literary scholar. In this stunning collection, Umezurike lures the reader into a journey of the absurd and the grisly to show us men and women struggling to live, desire, love, and thrive against the eddy of troubles in their world.
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June 2019It’s A Nerd’s World
Die Brains hinter YouTube, Smartphone, Computer und Co.
by Schrödel, Tobias
Smartphone? Coole Sache. Internet? Wie kann man ohne überleben!? Zeit, die Menschen zu feiern, die das möglich gemacht haben. Tobias Schrödel, IT-Experte und Deutschlands erster Comedy-Hacker, erzählt die Geschichten rund um die Brains, deren Hardware, Software und Internet-Anwendungen das Leben von uns allen für immer verändert haben - und die teilweise niemand kennt. Das muss sich ändern! Ehre, wem Ehre gebührt! Aber Vorsicht: Es wird absurd, lustig, tragisch und vielleicht sogar ein kleines bisschen lehrreich.
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Short stories (Children's/YA)2019Ivanna and the Tub
by Olesia Mamchych
Many wonders happen in the world. For instance, your tub may wish to play hide-and-seek with you, a dragon couple can have a baby princess born as their daughter and a little mouse may imagine itself a cat and then really become one. In the times of incredible change and inventions there can be a device that makes anything tiny, or a newly renovated highway can become a teleport, or the door can only serve as an entrance… This is a very short list of different miraculous situations and weird characters that you’ll meet in the book by Olesia Mamchych. The fun, ironic, sometimes absurd and paradox stories will make you laugh, feel confused or even… But, check it out yoursef.
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February 1987
Salto mortale
Roman
by Luigi Malerba, Alice Vollenweider
Am Anfang steht ein Verbrechen: in einer Wiese in der Nähe von Rom wird ein Bein und ›der an diesem Bein befestigte Körper eines Mannes mit durchgeschnittener Kehle‹ entdeckt. Die absurd-poetische Kriminalstory, die in jedem Kapitel neue Konstellationen und Verwirrungen schafft, ist aber nur ein Aspekt dieses Salto mortale, der darüber hinaus eine unerbittlich genaue Diagnose der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Zustände in der römischen Campagna stellt, wo die militärischen Überschallflugzeuge, die teerverschmutzten Strände, die Antennen des Vatikanischen Radios, die verlassenen Felder und die Armut der Einwohner sich zu einem grotesken Zerrbild der modernen Konsumgesellschaft zusammenfügen.
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March 2019Bartleby, der Schreiber
by Herman Melville, Sabine Wilharm, Jürgen Krug
Herman Melvilles »Geschichte aus der Wall Street« mit der sprichwörtlich gewordenen Sentenz »I would prefer not to« wurde – nach dem Erscheinen seines Romans Moby Dick – 1853 erstmals publiziert. Im Mittelpunkt steht der Angestellte einer New Yorker Rechtsanwaltskanzlei, Bartleby, der die ihm aufgetragenen Schreib- und Kopiertätigkeiten zunächst mit Fleiß und Hingabe erfüllt, plötzlich aber nicht mehr »mitmachen« möchte. Er wird immer schweigsamer, will die aufgetragenen Büroarbeiten nicht ausführen und lässt seinen Arbeitgeber verwirrt zurück. Bartleby verweigert sich schließlich dem Leben selbst … Die parabelhafte und absurd-komische Erzählung erscheint in der Insel-Bücherei mit Illustrationen von Sabine Wilharm, deren Coverillustrationen für die Harry-Potter-Bücher alle Leser kennen. »Ich möchte lieber nicht …«
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March 2020Bartleby, the Scrivener
A Story of Wall-Street
by Herman Melville, Sabine Wilharm
Herman Melvilles »Geschichte aus der Wall Street« mit der sprichwörtlich gewordenen Sentenz »I would prefer not to« wurde – nach dem Erscheinen seines Romans Moby Dick – 1853 erstmals publiziert. Im Mittelpunkt steht der Angestellte einer New Yorker Rechtsanwaltskanzlei, Bartleby, der die ihm aufgetragenen Schreib- und Kopiertätigkeiten zunächst mit Fleiß und Hingabe erfüllt, plötzlich aber nicht mehr »mitmachen« möchte. Er wird immer schweigsamer, will die aufgetragenen Büroarbeiten nicht ausführen und lässt seinen Arbeitgeber verwirrt zurück. Bartleby verweigert sich schließlich dem Leben selbst … Die parabelhafte und absurd-komische Erzählung erscheint in der Insel-Bücherei mit Illustrationen von Sabine Wilharm, deren Coverillustrationen für die Harry-Potter-Bücher alle Leser kennen. »Ich möchte lieber nicht …«
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The Borderland
by Can Xue
The Borderland has narrated the weird life of several strangers in Xiaoshi Town in the border area. Years ago, Liujin’s parents came to Xiaoshi Town in pursuit of love. They found that Xiaoshi Town was a place where everything was invisible rather than visible, and they had gradually discovered the way how the anomalies impacted people’s life. As an adult, Liujin decides to trace the road that her parents had taken in Xiaoshi Town. By virtue of contacts with various people in the borderland who possess unique sensory ability, she even gains some absurd and fantastic perspectives and imaginations towards things in the borderland such as snow mountains, snow leopards, geckos, birds and rocks.
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November 2020Wise Man
by Wang Yimei, Muhd Noh
Once upon a time, there was a small village whose inhabitants were so slow-witted that they went to an old man called Wise Man for advice on any problem they had. He was considered by the villagers to be a man of great learning. The Wise Man also has five loyal followers who are always on hand. But when faced with life's problems and the villagers' difficult requests, the Wise Man's way of dealing with them is ridiculous.
