The Ernest Mask
Xi Ni Er
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810736590

Cultural Medallion Award winner and master of mini-fiction Xi Ni Er turns his incisive eye on the social and economic landscape of Singapore in this debut collection of translated stories, originally written in Chinese. With irony and humour, Xi Ni Er's stories peel back the veneer of official history and reinterpret the ups and downs of almost half a century of nation building.

Known by his pen name Xi Ni Er, Chia Hwee Pheng has received the National Book Development Council of Singapore's Book Award, the Singapore Literature Prize, the S.E.A. Write Award and Singapore's Cultural Medallion. He has published eight books, including the poetry collection Kidnapping Times and the fiction collection The Unbearable Heaviness of Life.

He currently serves as President of the Singapore Association of Writers.