Amanda Lee Koe | Prestige 40 Under 40 2022

Her ground-breaking short story collection, Ministry of Moral Panic, put her on the local cultural map as one to watch, followed up by a debut novel, Delayed Rays of A Star, which garnered an impressive list of accolades in the US: from an NPR Best Book of the Year to most anticipated novel by ELLE USA, The Los Angeles Times, Thrillist and USA Today. Back home, it was a Straits Times number-one bestseller and a Books Kinokuniya International Fiction number-one bestseller for eight weeks.

As a full-time author, Singapore-born Amanda is almost always toiling over a manuscript. “Writing a novel is a long, painful, solitary process that can take years. To stay sane along the way, it’s been fun to take on editorial commissions from brands that allow me to flex different parts of the writing muscle in a shorter form. This could be anything from a lyrical text for Tiffany & Co. exploring strength and independence, or a voiceover poem for Charles & Keith about the expansive freedom of friendship,” says the creator, who is based in both Singapore and New York.

What’s next from her? Amanda says she is working on a couple of creative projects across different narrative forms and genres, but cannot share too much just yet. “In the short term, however, I’m looking forward to being back in Singapore and gorging myself silly on all my favourite local food later in the year, when I’ll be giving a keynote lecture at the National Gallery.

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