It has been a while since I got invited to anything.
Years ago, as a bright-eyed magazine journalist in Her World, such events were just part of my work calendar. Nights in which we could dress up for, sip some wine and meet interesting, inspiring people. When I left a world of words and stepped onto a petal-strewn shop floor, I became a vendor, never a guest. I was always there in the before and the after, never the during.
Last night, I found myself dressed up for once (it took a while to find a dress I could fit into, but it was green, just like the SAF tee I wear on most days!) to attend the Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2026. Naturally, attending required some thoughtful planning. As my line in my nominated manuscript, A Strange Case of Erasure, goes, “The logistics would be a circus, though.” I had to put the date in our family calendar, remind K to take leave, mentally prep the kids that I wouldn’t be around for bedtime and call in my mother, who had to cancel her evening shift to be able to help.
It was a circus, but worth every single loop.
While I didn’t take home the top prize, being recognised as a finalist felt deeply affirming. For the first time in a long while, I felt seen — not as a vendor setting up in the background, but as a writer standing in the light.
Even better is knowing that A Strange Case of Erasure will be published across six ASEAN countries as part of a landmark deal initiated by Edmund Wee and Epigram Books. It fills me with so much pride, hope and gratitude for this new chapter.
It feels wonderful to be back in the world of words. What’s next?
JACLYN LIM 