A longstanding champion of Singaporean literature and a key figure in the recent development of the city’s literary scene, Edmund Wee is the founder of independent publisher Epigram Books, which publishes authors including Adeline Foo, Jeremy Tiang and Amanda Lee Koe.

Over the past decade it has contributed more than 300 books, with upwards of 40 new releases annually. Epigram is perhaps best known for its award-winning titles such as the middle-grade series The Diary of Amos Lee, and novels like Lee Koe’s short story collection Ministry of Moral Panic and Sonny Liew’s Eisner Award-winning graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.

In 2015 Wee launched the Epigram Books Fiction Prize (EBFP) for unpublished Singaporean fiction (since 2020 works from Southeast Asia have been included), funding it from his own pocket. A number of EBFP finalists have become accomplished writers, particularly Tiang (2016 for State of Emergency) and Balli Kaur Jaswal (2015 for Sugarbread), although Wee is reluctant to claim any credit.

Epigram Coffee Bookshop secured a permanent spot at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark in 2022. As with its online counterpart, the books at the physical shop span all genres and are either about Singapore, written by Singaporeans or published in Singapore.

The 69-year-old is also a designer—in 2008 he won the President’s Design Award, Singapore’s top honour in the field.