Author Kehinde Fadipe sets debut novel In Such Tremendous Heat in Singapore
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British-Nigerian Kehinde Fadipe's debut novel, In Such Tremendous Heat, is set in Singapore.
PHOTOS: PANSING, GIN TAY
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SINGAPORE – Kehinde Fadipe is a big fan of Singapore’s scorching weather – so much so she titled her debut novel In Such Tremendous Heat.
“I just love it. It has to be incredibly humid for me to even notice the humidity,” says the British-Nigerian actress and writer, 40, who is dressed fittingly in a tropical print button-up for this interview.
Her novel follows the lives of three Nigerian expat women in Singapore – workaholic lawyer Dara, sharp-tongued banker Amaka and piano prodigy-turned-housewife Lilian.
While living out their expat dreams, they have their lives disrupted by a charming newcomer: British-Nigerian lawyer Lani.
It is a light-hearted book inspired by the stories she has heard and the experiences of people she has met over her 10-year stay in Singapore.
Fadipe grew up in Lagos and London, but moved to Singapore in 2013 with her husband, who had found a job here. They have since started a family here.
She is private about their two children, but jokes that “the book felt like another child”.
When she first moved to Singapore, she looked to writing as a fulfilling way to express herself creatively while balancing her job teaching English and drama.
In 2015, she began writing a blog called BGIS, or Black Girls In Singapore.
It was a series of fictional stories about the same three characters in her book. She wrote six posts for this series, before deciding to turn it into a more layered novel.
Even after 12 different drafts of the book, the first two chapters of the novel are still almost the same as the first two posts of her blog.
“There’s no validation in writing a book, because it’s almost like you’re retreating into a hole to work on this idea. With a blog, you get comments and ‘likes’, and it can feel engaging,” says Fadipe.
“But I asked myself: If I die tomorrow, what would I regret not doing? I knew my six-year-old self would be disappointed if I had never published a book. Fiction has always been my first love,” she says.
When she first moved to Singapore, Kehinde Fadipe looked to writing as a fulfilling way to express herself creatively while balancing her job teaching English and drama.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
In Such Tremendous Heat is now being published in Britain and the United States.
Fadipe never had to do much research about Singaporean culture – she simply drew reference from her immediate surroundings in her day-to-day life.
Visiting the cafes at Beauty World, having date nights at East Coast Park, hiking through the Rail Corridor and listening to live music at the Esplanade are just some of her favourite activities here.
She says: “In the beginning, the tourist experience was all I knew. But when I got more settled into the country, I realised that it is just a small part of Singapore life. I wanted to capture snapshots of what I saw from having lived in different neighbourhoods and having made friends from different walks of life.”
Fadipe, who is moving back to London later in 2023, recalls her culture shock when she first arrived here.
“Coming from London, in particular, I was shocked by the lack of daily stress. I was so used to aggravation being part of my day, with things going wrong. But in Singapore, it was always so efficient and convenient to get things done,” she says.
“When I think about what I’m going to miss, I just think everything I could say would be so mundane.”
She pauses, then adds: “I think it will be the friends and people I’ve met here, more than anything.”
In Such Tremendous Heat ($20.82) is available from Amazon ().
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