The Great Reclamation

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, which includes a BiblioAsia article on land reclamation she referred to!

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About the Guest

Rachel Heng is the author of the novels The Great Reclamation (Riverhead, 2023) – a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a “Best Book of 2023 So Far” by The New Yorker, Amazon Books and Town & Country Magazine – and Suicide Club (Henry Holt / Sceptre, 2018), which was a national bestseller in Singapore and has been translated into 10 languages.

Born and raised in Singapore, Rachel received her BA in Comparative Literature & Society from Columbia University and her MFA in Fiction and Playwriting from UT Austin’s Michener Center for Writers. She is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Wesleyan University.

Resources

Rachel Heng, The Great Reclamation (New York : Riverhead Books, 2023).

Lim Tin Seng, “Land from Sand: Singapore’s Reclamation Story,” BiblioAsia 13(1), 2017.

Mark Ravinder Frost and Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, Singapore: A Biography (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2009).

Lily Kong and Brenda S.A. Yeoh, The Politics of Landscapes in Singapore: Constructions of “Nation” (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003).

Neo Kim Seng, My Grandfather’s Road (Singapore: Cake Theatrical Productions Ltd, 2015)

Kevin YL Tan and Lam Peng Er, ed., Lee’s Lieutenants: Singapore’s Old Guard, rev. ed. (Singapore: Straits Times Press Pte Ltd, 2018).

Jeremy Tiang, State of Emergency (Singapore: Epigram Books, 2017).

Credits

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.