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MasterChef Singapore judge Damian D’Silva grew up by the sea and spent many happy hours foraging for horseshoe crabs, shellfish and sea snails that would end up in the cooking pot. In this episode, he talks about how his childhood and grandfather influenced his cooking philosophy, when he found his calling in the kitchen (later than you'd expect), and what's left for him after winning the prestigious culinary award La Liste.
Chef Damian D’Silva is a judge on MasterChef Singapore and the first Singaporean to be awarded the prestigious culinary prize Artisan & Authenticity Award 2024 from La Liste, a French ranking and restaurants guide. An advocate for local culinary heritage, he helms Rempapa, a multicultural restaurant serving dishes from the ethnicities in Singapore.
What Damian Talked About
02:15 – Why Damian chose to cook sea snail and papaya curry on From Book to Cook
04:26 – Foraging in the sea and on land
07:46 – His fascination with Western culture and food as a teenager
08:28 – The Malay and Peranakan version of the sea snail and papaya curry dish
08:50 – His experience of growing up in a community with different ethnicities
10:09 – Foraging for horseshoe crabs and cooking them
12:32 – About his grandfather, who had the greatest influence on Damian’s cooking journey
14:20 – The difference between a cook and a chief
18:01 – When Damian found out that cooking is his calling
20:26 – Why heritage cuisine is important
22:45 – How Eurasian cuisine is unique
25:23 – What’s next for Damian D’Silva after winning the Artisan & Authenticity Award 2024 from La Liste
27:53 – Why he has not written a cookbook
29:18 – The hardest thing about being a chef
32:28 – The one thing Damian would rather buy than make on his own
34:06 – Food is…
Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/sea-foraging-eurasian-cuisine/transcript
Watch Damian make sea snail and papaya curry: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/videos/sea-snail-papaya-curry/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore: https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Damian for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Growing up as a Chetti Melaka (Peranakan Indian), Tanya realised her family was different when she was seven or eight years old. Her family spoke Malay at home, ate sambal belacan, and had huge parties with a lot of unusual food. In this episode, Tanya talks with pride about the rituals of the ancestor worship known parachu and the cookbook containing traditional recipes of the Chetti Melaka community.
A Peranakan Indian, Tanya Pillay-Nair is the coordinator of the cookbook Heritage Food of the Peranakan Indians in a Chitty Melaka Kitchen (Peranakan Indian Association of Singapore, 2023). The book contains close to 100 Peranakan Indian recipes, from everyday dishes to festive fare.
What Tanya Talked About
01:58 – Who the Chetti Melaka are, and where they are from
04:32 – How the Chetti Melaka are different from and similar to other communities
05:19 – The importance of food culture especially in ancestor worship known as parachu
10:04 – The language spoken by Chetti Melaka
10:37 – The musicality of the community and a version of the song Di Tanjong Katong commissioned by the Chetti Melaka (Peranakan Indians) Association (used with permission)
12:10 – The local community in Singapore and origins of the Chetti Melaka Association
15:00 – How the book Heritage Food of the Peranakan Indians came about
19:59 – Tanya’s background as a Chetti Melaka
23:11 – Classic Chetti Melaka dishes
24:44 – How the Chetti Melaka otak blangah is different from the usual otak-otak
26:29 – Reception of the book
29:06 – A must-try and simple dish in the cookbook
29:30 – The importance of preserving heritage food
30:11 – Food is…
Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/food-peranakan-indians/transcript
Watch Tanya make otak blangah: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/videos/otak-blangah/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore: https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Tanya for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Set up by five Buddhist women in 1946, Loke Woh Yuen was the first Chinese vegetarian restaurant in Singapore. It employed an all-female staff, was known for its popular shark’s fin made from maize, and was sometimes so packed that it had to set up dining tents that stretched to the main road. Its efforts to spread vegetarianism were complemented by other Buddhist women and nuns who wrote cookbooks and fundraised for charity.
Kelvin Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from the National University of Singapore. He was a research assistant for the project “Mapping Female Religious Heritage in Singapore: Chinese Temples as Sites of Regional Socio-cultural Linkage” funded by the National Heritage Board.
What Kelvin Talked About
01:48 – The founders of Chinese vegetarian restaurants in 1940s–50s
05:28 – The most popular dishes at the vegetarian restaurant Loke Woh Yuen
06:26 – How Fut Sai Kai Vegetarian Restaurant differs from Loke Woh Yuen
07:26 – Ko Tian-gu, the founder of Fut Sai Kai
08:37 – Cookbooks that helped to spread vegetarianism
10:57 – The famous vegetarian soon kueh recipe by Abbess Yang Qincai of the temple Hai Inn See
12:24 – Legacy of early Chinese vegetarian restaurants in philanthropy and Buddhist education
13:55 – Resources Kelvin used in his research.
16:40 – Why early Chinese vegetarian restaurants have Cantonese heritage
18:58 – The vegetarian dish that Kelvin wants to master next
Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/chinese-vegetarian-foodscape/transcript
Watch Kelvin make soon kueh: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/videos/soon-kueh/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore: https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Kelvin for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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A tireless steward of Malay culture, Hajah Asfiah worked all her life to preserve and pass on Malay crafts. When she was just 10, she began teaching embroidery and flower arrangement in school. Later in life, she was a mak andam (wedding attendant) for more than 20 years and worked with more than 1,000 brides. At age 65, she got her cookbook Hidangan Warisan Kita (Our Heritage Dishes; 1986) published by Times Books International; it was the publisher’s first cookbook, written in Malay by a Malay person. The book had recipes for dishes that have since become extinct. Sadly, she died a year later, but thanks to the book she wrote and the many courses she taught, her memory lives on.
Toffa Abdul Wahed is an associate librarian with the National Library, Singapore, and works with the Singapore and Southeast Asia Collection. She has written about cookbook author Siti Radhiah and belacan in BiblioAsia.
What Toffa Talked About
00:26 – About bunga kobis (flower of the cabbage), the dish Toffa made in Season Two of From Book to Cook
03:57 – Why bunga kobis is a special dish
04:30 – The complicated process of making the six-layer dish
05:39 – Why Toffa chose to make this dish for the video
06:39 – Toffa's special family connection to the dish
07:36 – How Toffa practised making the dish for the video
09:43 – When bunga kobis was a trendy dish at Malay weddings
10:16 – The secret to making bunga kobis
12:00 – Garnish and presentation for the dish
13:42 – Why Cikgu Asfiah is considered a guardian for Malay arts
15:35 – Cikgu Asfiah's background
18:07 – Why Cikgu Asfiah was invited to teach at age 10
18:40 – The significance of her first cookbook Hidangan Warisan Kita
20:01 – Why she decided to write a cookbook
23:00 – Why her cookbook had limited reach
24:08 – Her work as a mak andam (wedding attendant)
26:15 – How her children helped her
28:43 – What a mak andam does
33:21 – The resources Toffa used to research on Cikgu Asfiah
35:42 – Why food history is important
37:35 – Food is…
Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/hajah-asfiah-guardian-traditional-malay-culture/transcript
Watch Toffa make bunga kobis: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/videos/bunga-kobis/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore: https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Toffa for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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You hear Malay, Javanese, Tamil and Punjabi as you wander the streets with shops selling colourful textiles and carpets, spices and flowers. Here you find different curries and bread, nasi padang, sup tulang, mee siam, a Javanese kitchen, Hainanese coffeeshops. Bookstores sell literature and newspapers as far away as Cairo. In this episode, Khir tells us about the Kampong Gelam he grew up in.
Khir Johari was born and raised in historic Kampong Gelam, Singapore. He studied mathematics at Santa Clara University in California, and completed a masters in education at Stanford University. Since returning to Singapore, Khir has focused on research into the food cultures of maritime Southeast Asia. He is the author of The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels through the Archipelago (Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2021).
What Khir Talked About
02:32 – The origins of mee maidin, the dish that Khir cooked in From Book to Cook
07:18 – Kampong Gelam as the incubator for the Nusantara (Malay World) kitchen
09:19 – Four main streets in Kampong Gelam selling food, including the only place in Singapore that sells mee odong
14:35 – The origins of mee siam
17:46 – Three types of mee siam that came out of Kampong Gelam
18:36 – Khir’s childhood in Kampong Gelam, where the Tamil Muslim community organized an annual commemoration of a Sufi saint
20:23 – Publishing houses in Kampong Gelam
22:51 – Why Khir spent 10 years writing the book The Food of Singapore Malays
27:12 – What Khir is working on now
28:38 – Khir’s dream job if he lived in Kampong Gelam in the 19th century
29:37 – The most maligned ingredient in Malay cooking
31:15 – The one recipe in his book Khir wants people to try
33:07 – Food is…
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/kampong-glam-kitchen-malay-world/transcript/
Watch Khir make mee maidin: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/videos/mee-maidin/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore: https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Khir for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Kueh pie tee is not a pie that goes with tea. So where did the name (and dish) come from? Award-winning cookbook author Christopher Tan combs through old newspapers and cookbooks, in search of the origins of the dish.
PS: Dates back to 1570!
Christopher Tan is an award-winning writer, cooking instructor and photographer. His articles, columns, recipes and photographs have appeared in many publications, including Singapore's Sunday Times and Straits Times, The Peak magazine, and America's Saveur magazine. He has authored and co-authored many cookbooks, most recently Nerdbaker 2: Tales from the Yeast Indies (Epigram Books, 2024). He loves making meaning with words, images and food.
What Christopher Talked About
02:11 – The origins of the dish kueh pie tee
11:43 – Why make kueh pie tee shells when they can be bought
13:29 – Christopher's tips for deep-frying
13:54 – What's special about Susie Hing's 1956 cookbook In a Malayan Kitchen
16:39 – How Christopher connected with Hing's family
18:03 – Hing's background
18:55 – Different influences in Hing's recipes
21:36 – Why Christopher shares old recipes and cookbooks on his Instagram account
23:48 – The value of local vintage cookbooks
25:20 – Christopher's latest cookbook, Nerdbaker 2: Tales from the Yeast Indies
29:07 – Why toddy (fermented palm sap) is used in baking
35:50 – Christopher's dream filling for kueh pie tee
36:57 – The dish Christopher wishes he can master
38:21 – How Christopher tests his recipes
38:58 – What Christopher would rather buy than make on his own
40:23 – Food is...
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/kueh-pie-tee/transcript/
Watch Christopher make kueh pie tee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFO2cLUDagE
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Christopher for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Tan Teng Kee was the Mike Tyson of Singapore boxing in the 1920s. Known as Battling Key, the larger-than-life boxer attracted crowds wherever he went. Which makes his drastic downfall all the more tragic.
Abhishek Mehrotra is a researcher and writer whose interests include media and society in colonial Singapore, urban toponymy and post-independence India. He is working on his first book (HarperCollins, 2025) – a biography of T.N. Seshan, one of India’s most prominent bureaucrats. Abhishek is a former Lee Kong Chian Research Fellow (2021–22).
What Abhishek Talked About
02:04 – How boxing came to Singapore
04:44 – Why boxing has wide appeal among the masses
06:43 – Who attended boxing matches in 1920s Singapore
08:13 – Background and rise of Tan Teng Kee or Battling Key
10:43 – Battling Key's matches with Yeo Choon Song
16:07 – Song's complaint about Battling Key's gloves
17:14 – What happened to Song after beating Key
20:56 – Key's downfall
22:31 – Boxing ecosystem and corruption
28:34 – Why professional boxing was more successful than professional tennis
31:27 – Abhishek's choice between being a boxer and tennis player
31:50 – Abhishek's nickname if he were in combat sport
32:09 – Fatherhood is...
32:06 – Sports is...
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/singapores-first-boxing-superstar-tan-tang-kee/transcript/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Abhishek for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Nicknamed “Twinkle Toes” for his agility, Chia Boon Leong (1925–2022) is widely regarded as one of Singapore‘s most talented football players. Academic and sports historian Nick Aplin talks about the footballer’s sporting achievements, his character and their friendship.
Dr Nick Aplin is Deputy Director (Sport Heritage) at Sport Singapore. He is the author of the Sport in Singapore series: The Colonial Legacy (2019), The Rocky Road to Kallang Park (2023) and Visions for Change (2023).
What Nick Talked About
02:04 – How Boon Leong got his nickname, Twinkle Toes
06:32 – How Boon Leong ended up in the Olympics playing for China
08:23 – Nick's meeting with Boon Leong, and their friendship
12:28 – Nick's research process and his start in writing about local athletes
15:58 – How Nick's first meeting with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam went
19:01 – Nick's book launch with the president as the guest of honour
22:31 – How chess and sport are similar
25:53 – What sport and history are to Nick
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/chia-boon-leong-homegrown-football-olympian/transcript/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Nick for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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In the 1960s and ‘70s, lured by adventure and money, Singaporean musicians went to South Vietnam to perform for American troops during the war. They were met with cheers, bullets and assault.
Boon Lai is an author, an illustrator and a filmmaker based in Singapore. Inspired by the true accounts of the rockers who toured the Vietnam War, he created the three-book graphic novel series, The Once & Marvellous DKD.
What Boon Lai Talked About
02:01 – How Boon Lai came to know of local musicians who went to Vietnam during the 1960s and ’70s
05:33 – When these musicians went to Vietnam
08:47 – Why these musicians decided to perform in the warzone
11:30 – How these musicians were recruited
15:56 – How much they were paid
16:44 – Nightly curfews
18:35 – Daily schedules of musicians
20:50 – Close call with bullets
21:53 – Musician Veronica Young’s experience in Vietnam as a woman
24:53 – How long Impian Bateks and other musicians played in Saigon
27:12 – Boon Lai’s three-year research process
28:58 –Boon Lai’s DKD sequel
29:44 – Hardest thing about creating a historical graphic novel
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/singapore-band-wartime-vietnam/transcript/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Boon Lai for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Thanks to restoration, classic films like The Teenage Textbook Movie (1998) can still be shown on a big screen 20 years after its cinema run. On a mission to preserve Singapore’s film heritage, film archivist Chew Tee Pao saves important movies and gives them a second life.
Chew Tee Pao is an archivist with the Asian Film Archive. Since 2014, he has overseen the restoration of more than 30 films from the archive’s collection. He has written about film restoration in BiblioAsia.
What Tee Pao Talked About
2:23 – Challenges of restoring The Teenage Textbook Movie (1998)
8:06 – How AFA restored They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong (1978) without the original negatives
13:26 – The sad fate of P. Ramlee’s Seniman Bujang Lapok (1961)
16:20 – The restoration process for Sri Lankan film Bambaru Avith, which was selected for Cannes Film Festival in 2020
20:47 – Tee Pao’s experience at Venice Film Festival
22: 48 – The film that got away in terms of restoration
23:40 – A common misconception about film restoration
24:23 – Film restoration does not equate to preservation
26:41 – The importance of saving film heritage
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/saving-singapores-film-heritage/transcript/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Tee Pao for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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In the mid-19th century, two ancient gold coins were uncovered near present-day Keppel Harbour. Unfortunately, the Acehnese coins vanished before they could be studied carefully. The Jawi inscriptions on the coins were recorded, though they didn’t make sense. More than 180 years later, Foo Shu Tieng tries to solve the case.
Foo Shu Tieng is Associate Librarian with the National Library, Singapore, and works with the Singapore and Southeast Asia collections. She has written about stone age in Singapore and Ancient Gold in Southeast Asia in BiblioAsia.
What Shu Talked About
02:11 – When and where the coins were found
04:35 – Whether the coins were stolen
05:48 – How common artefact theft is
06:30 – What coins can tell us about Singapore’s history
08:53 – Why and how Shu reexamined the Jawi transcription on the coins
10:43 – Response to Shu’s research on the coins
11:57 – Other ancient coins found in Singapore
12:49 – A common misconception of archaeology
13:21 — An archaeological mystery that Shu would like to solve
15:26 – Shu’s favourite archaeological pop-culture moment
16:00 – Archaeology is…
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/lost-gold-coins/transcript/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Shu for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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A young German girl met an untimely end on Pulau Ubin in 1914. A shrine set up in her honour becomes Internet-famous. Following a deep search into the historical records, writer and researcher William Gibson discovers some inconvenient truths behind one of Singapore’s best-known shrines.
Dr William L. Gibson is a former Lee Kong Chian research fellow. Based in Southeast Asia since 2005, he is the author of Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore (Routledge, September 2024) and Alfred Raquez and the French Experience of the Far East, 1898–1906 (Routledge, 2021). His articles have appeared in Signal to Noise, PopMatters.com, The Mekong Review, Archipel, History and Anthropology, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient and BiblioAsia, among others.
What William Talked About
02:23 – Whom the shrine is dedicated to
04:07 – How William knew of the shrine and began research on it
06:44 – Different versions of the story behind the shrine
11:07 – Termite mounds as sites of worship
16:13 – How the German girl shrine became well-known
17:36 – Films inspired by the shrine
21:45 – How the shrine changed after the 2015 renovation
24:51 – What William prays for at the shrine
25:35 – What William is working on now
28:27 – Most unexpected offering William has seen at shrines
29:56 – The shrine William would make a film on, if he can
30:49 – Historical memory and the importance of vernacular traditions
Read the original BiblioAsia article on biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/german-girl-shrine.
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to William for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Yip Yew Chong’s 60-metre-long work, “I Paint my Singapore”, drew huge crowds when it went on display at the Raffles City Convention Centre. Comprising 27 scenes of 1970s–1980s Singapore, the painting merges history, memory and nostalgia. In this episode of BiblioAsia+, Yew Chong explains how he created this work and reveals what he would love to paint but has not.
Yip Yew Chong was an accountant till he became a full-time artist in 2018. His practice includes different visual mediums: murals, canvas, sketches, installations, videography and photography. His public murals may be seen in the streets of Singapore and other regional cities, including Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Phnom Penh, while his canvases have been shown in art galleries.
What Yew Chong Talked About
01:53 – What “I Paint my Singapore” is about
04:14 – What inspired Yew Chong to paint this 60-metre canvas
08:31 – Yew Chong’s favourite scene in the painting, and his childhood in Kreta Ayer
14:32 – His research process for the painting
21:18 – Balancing historical research with creative licence
23:56 – What he finds hard to paint
24:49 – Painting alone in studio versus in public, and indoors versus outdoors
26:54 – Recent books about Yew Chong and his art: The Art of Joy and I Paint my Singapore
31:12 – What he is working on now
34:11 – What he wants to paint but hasn’t
34:58 – How he overcomes artist’s block
35:24 – What he thinks about Banksy
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Yew Chong for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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The Great Reclamation is a work of historical fiction set in Singapore that has received rave reviews from the New Yorker and the New York Times. A love story, it also took five years of serious research into a variety of topics, including land reclamation, the Japanese Occupation and postwar politics in Singapore. Listen to author Rachel Heng talk about her book and her fascinating research process.
Rachel Heng is the author of the novels The Great Reclamation and Suicide Club, which was a national bestseller in Singapore and has been translated into 10 languages.
Read the transcript and the BiblioAsia article on land reclamation that Rachel referred to in her research at biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/about.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Soh Gek Han and produced by Jimmy Yap. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Rachel for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Writer and educator Ilya Katrinnada interviewed the Orang Seletar who resettled in Johor to learn about their lives, and their links to Singapore.
Ilya Katrinnada is an educator and writer with a keen interest in the intersections of creativity, community and education. Having graduated with a major in anthropology, she currently works as a special education teacher.
Read the transcript and the original BiblioAsia article on biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/about.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Ilya for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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The Kranji War Cemetery and the Singapore Memorial commemorate those who died while fighting the Japanese during World War II. Librarian Janice Loo looks at the lives of the people who paid the ultimate price in the defence of Singapore.
Janice Loo is a librarian with the National Library, Singapore. Her responsibilities include collection management and content development as well as research and reference assistance on topics relating to Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Read the transcript and the original BiblioAsia article on biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/about.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Janice for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Singapore used to be a major recording centre in Southeast Asia, with over 10,000 local recordings made before 1960. Hear the story from sound archivist Ross Laird, author of From Keroncong to Xinyao.
Ross was formerly a sound archivist with the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia. He was awarded NLB’s Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship in 2010.
Read the transcript and the original BiblioAsia article on biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/about.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Ross for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Writer and researcher William L. Gibson undertakes a pilgrimage into the archives to uncover the history of the keramat on Kusu Island, south of the main island of Singapore.
Dr William L. Gibson is an author and a researcher based in Southeast Asia since 2005. His research topic for the Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship, awarded by the National Library Board in 2021, was an in-depth study of keramat in Singapore.
Read the episode transcript and the original BiblioAsia article on biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/about.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to William for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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Librarian Lim Tin Seng rediscovers Singapore’s first island resort getaway and solves various mysteries surrounding it, including where Sarong Island is now.
Lim Tin Seng is a senior librarian with the National Library, Singapore. He is the co-editor of Roots: Tracing Family Histories (2013), Harmony and Development: ASEAN-China Relations (2009) and China’s New Social Policy (2010). He writes regularly for BiblioAsia.
Read the transcript and the original BiblioAsia article on biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/about.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Tin Seng for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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There's more to firewalking than the public display of religious devotion. Independent curator Nalina Gopal tells us the stories behind the three-month rituals that precede the firewalking at Singapore's Sri Mariamman Temple.
Nalina Gopal is an independent curator and researcher focused on South Asia and its diaspora. She is the co-editor of Sojourners to Settlers: Tamils in Southeast Asia and Singapore and the founder of Antāti, a historical research and museum consultancy.
Read the transcript and the original BiblioAsia article on biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/about.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Nalina for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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