First-time Singaporean author Malcom Seah intrigues with a mystical work of fiction

Swimming Lessons, authored by Malcom Seah, is a book set in equal parts in Singapore and a vivid, imaginative world. It’s the 24-year-old’s first published work, launching on April 29, with a plot revolving around three protagonists from seemingly different backgrounds whose lives intersect at various times.

It’s a coming-of-age story that deals with grief and loss, queerness, trauma, and the undeniable pull of familial ties. 

While the book is largely autobiographical, it’s also padded with mysticism from how supernatural elements are woven. And perhaps, life uncannily paralleled fiction when Seah’s mother suffered the same health affliction the main female protagonist’s sister did after he wrote it. “Writing this book was like going to therapy,” he shares, explaining how the experience felt cathartic. 

The literary manifestation of his “teenage angst”, the advanced copy I bring to the interview is the first time he’s seen the hard copy. He takes a few minutes to examine it, flipping through the pages, then asks me excitedly: “Did you cry at any point while reading it? Did you honestly enjoy reading it?”

A second chance

It’s a monumental milestone for Seah, a slender and soft-spoken man with pierced ears and a shaggy mullet, who completed the original manuscript for Swimming Lessons four years ago. He submitted it to the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2023, was longlisted, and was invited to the gala dinner, where the winner was announced. (Sadly, he didn’t win.)

He adds, “In my mind, it was the end of that chapter… it was never going to be published.”

Soon after, he started his business degree at Singapore Management University, embarked on backpacking solo for over a month in Europe, and snagged an internship at the Singapore office of Virtue Worldwide, a creative agency from Vice Media Group. 

A month before starting the internship in January 2024, he sent an email to Penguin Random House publishing group pitching for another story he’d written — a Scandinavian-inspired crime piece set in Singapore. He heard back three months later, and they were interested in Swimming Lessons instead.

He had one week to rewrite the story completely. On top of that, he was juggling school, internship, and CCA. “I practically didn’t sleep and rewrote everything from top to bottom. Every sentence is different, and I think 40 per cent of the book only came about during that one week.” The cover artwork is inspired by two of his favourite things: graffiti painter from Brooklyn, Lady Aiko, and the widely popular role-playing video game, Persona 5.

Only the beginning

Rewriting an entire book in seven days seems impossible for most, but for Seah, there’s no stifling it when creativity flows so naturally. “I have a habit of writing very, very long manuscripts but not finishing them,” he says. A voracious reader who credits Stephen King’s horror novel, The Outsider, for sparking his love for books, he quickly tried his hand at writing every single genre he read, from science fiction to fantasy. 

It’s how he’s found a style that he can call his own—one that is familiar yet foreign and, in a way, reflects his relationship with Singapore. Growing up with two older sisters, much of his childhood was solitary and introspective. Even throughout his schooling years, he recounts preferring to spend time alone, not really fitting in with the rest. It was not until National Service that he got coaxed out of his shell. 

Spending time abroad, too, opened his eyes to different cultures and gave him a newfound confidence in his skin. His travels and interactions with people from different countries have also made him realise he doesn’t know Singapore at all; something he’s determined to change. ”I personally don’t exactly feel like I’m a local in a lot of ways,” he adds, “I’ve never had teh from the coffee shop before.” 

Some parts of the novel, such as a cafe at King Albert Park, were written from memory, but others were derived purely from imagination. He confesses, “I’m actually scared of the water (and) I have never been to Palawan Beach.” Though the first chapter describes the protagonist’s time at the beach with her family in detail, he says, “I went to the beach for the first time maybe last year.” 

Still, the book is an achievement and a practice in vulnerability for Seah. As he discovers Singapore and SingLit (he hasn’t read any yet but looks up to Eisner Award-winning graphic artist Sonny Liew) on his terms, we can be sure that whatever he publishes next will be set in a lush world filled with relatably flawed characters.