Last year, I blogged about reaching audiences beyond Singapore, in “Writing Crossing Borders: Reaching Beyond Singapore”.

Much of my written work has been rooted in Singapore, because I write about local subjects like Singapore history, family history, and heritage.

However, writing about local topics does not mean just local reach.

For example, as I shared before, my first book, Seah Eu Chin: His Life & Times, was cited by UK-based historian Dr Stan Neal in his Routledge chapter, “Mediators, migrants and memories of colonial Singapore: the life and legacy of Seah Eu Chin”, published in Singapore: Two Hundred Years of the Lion City.

Also, I recently learnt that Seah Eu Chin: His Life & Times was cited in Bernard Z. Keo’s 2025 article, “Kapitans and Unofficials: Ethnic Intermediaries in the Straits Settlements, 1786–1942”, published in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

These citations suggest that research on Seah Eu Chin and Singapore Chinese history remain relevant. More broadly, there is interest in regional scholarship on the Straits Settlements, colonial Singapore, and Southeast Asian history.

Similarly, another of my books, My Father’s Kampung: A History of Aukang and Punggol, was recently referred to in Bryan Benjamin Yu Xian Goh’s 2026 University of Michigan PhD dissertation, “Choreographing Charisma: Catholicity and the Charismatic Renewal Movement in Insular Southeast Asia (1965 to 2020)”. (And congratulations to the newly-minted PhD on the successful completion of his thesis!)

My Father’s Kampung was also cited in Chan Ying-kit’s 2021 article, “Hougang: The Origins of a ‘Safe’ Alternative Constituency in Singapore”. As far as I am aware, he was a Visiting Scholar at Thammasat University in Thailand publishing in an overseas journal.

Such academic citations remind me again that my Singapore stories can and do travel overseas. While they may not always reach mass audiences, they can still cross borders through scholarship. This is a small, encouraging reminder that Singapore history and heritage has the potential to reach regional and international audiences.

My Singapore stories can also travel overseas through translations (like the Chinese translation of Seah Eu Chin: His Life & Times), media mentions (like in Sin Chew Daily, Sohu.com, Guancha), and kind readers who find value in them.

Such deeply Singaporean stories can still speak to wider, more universal questions of identity and belonging, leadership, and community.

For me, this is part of my wider writing journey. The journey towards being read by academics in the wider region or referred to in dissertations written in the USA may be gradual, but it is real: writing about Singapore matters and can cross borders.

I genuinely hope that such small successes in my writing journey can inspire you.

Thank you for reading!

Cheers,
Shawn Seah

About the Author

Shawn Seah is a published author and public speaker who makes Singapore’s history come alive through engaging storytelling. He is the author of the children’s non-fiction series Our Amazing Pioneers (2023) and Our Amazing Heroes (2025), fully-illustrated books aimed at primary school pupils. He has also written non-fiction books for the general reader on Singapore family history, Teochew pioneers like Seah Eu Chin and Seah Liang Seah, and a Singapore Book Awards 2021 finalist My Father’s Kampung: A History of Aukang and Punggol. A recipient of the NUS Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2023), the talented historical storyteller speaks regularly about family history research, Singapore history, and the art of storytelling at schools, literary festivals, and museums.