Forum: To win readers, SingLit must earn them
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I listened with interest to Gwee Li Sui’s recent In Your Opinion podcast discussion on why Singaporeans may not be reading more local literature. Where I differ slightly is with Gwee’s suggestion that Singaporeans’ exposure to Western literature is a key reason SingLit struggles to find a wider readership.
As someone who has adapted several best-selling Singapore books for the screen, including The Teenage Textbook, The Diary Of Amos Lee and Extraordinary Losers, I offer a different perspective.
Years ago, when Adrian Tan and I pitched the legal drama The Pupil to Channel 5, executives asked why they should spend considerably more producing a Singapore series when they could acquire American legal dramas for a fraction of the cost. My answer was that The Pupil could tell stories those American shows could not.
Our first episode revolved around a very Singaporean anxiety: parents volunteering at a school to improve their child’s chances of Primary 1 admission, only to ask whether they could sue the school if their child was still rejected.
The series was commissioned and found an audience. Being Singaporean gives us stories that nobody else can tell. But I don’t think it is enough to make people read or watch them. The story itself still has to engage. While we ask why Singaporeans are not reading more SingLit, perhaps we should also ask what makes them want to read in the first place.
Phillip Lim