Erudite Stories

Swee Yean has been a full-time storyteller for 18 years and involved in the storytelling scene both in Singapore and overseas. She was President of the Storytelling Association (Singapore) for 4 years and the Creative Director of the 398.2 Storytelling Festival 2019, 2021 held annually at the National Library of Singapore.  

Swee Yean’s storytelling skill and experience is diverse because of the wide range of people she has worked with. She was formerly a secondary school teacher teaching teenagers with low learning abilities to the highly gifted, applying cooperative learning & multiple intelligence learning  strategies in the classroom. She can vary her style to engage with children, young adults, adults, and senior citizens. Her manner of storytelling is warm, inviting and non-didactic, stirring up empathy and creating gentle positive change.

Swee Yean has performed commissioned works for the Singapore Land Authority, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Malay Heritage Centre, Singapore Heritage Festival and more.  She has also provided customised workshops on storytelling in education for organizations such as the Ministry of Education, National Library Board, pre-schools, government schools and churches.

Swee Yean has advocated the value of storytelling in organizational change. She has conducted workshops on harnessing the power of storytelling in the workplace for organizations like Toastmasters, Housing Development Board, National Technological University, Yale-NUS College, Nanyang Polytechnic, the Ministry of Education, and Singapore Discovery Centre. 

Being fluent in the Mandarin, Swee Yean has taught storytelling skills to  students, teachers and senior citizens.  She has performed in neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Taiwan.

Recently, she carried out intergenerational storytelling projects for senior citizens digitally and onsite for seniors.  The projects, supported by the National Arts Council, foster community building and improve their well-being.