Chan Li Shan is the author of three books: A Philosopher’s Madness, a memoir of mental illness (Ethos Books: 2012), a children’s biography picture book entitled Yellow Man (Epigram Books: 2021), and Searching for Lee Wen, a creative biography of the late Lee Wen, a prominent performance artist in Singapore (Epigram Books: 2022).
Searching for Lee Wen has been shortlisted for Best Nonfiction Title at the Singapore Book Awards 2023 and longlisted for the SUSS Alan Chan Spirit of Singapore Book Prize. A related essay on the subject received the Biography Prize 2021, in a competition organised by the Center for Biographical Research at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
The publication of A Philosopher’s Madness has generated 80+ engagements both in Singapore and internationally, involving audience sizes ranging from 8 to 800+ persons, both online as well as in-person.
Li Shan has been commissioned or invited to contribute articles and book chapters for online platforms and journals, including the academic journal Psychiatric Services of the American Psychiatric Association. Her publications include op-eds with national broadsheets, including The Straits Times, Business Times, and the Dhaka Tribune.
Her memoir has been used in courses for medical students at the National University of Singapore, and was the subject of an essay published in A/b: Auto/Biography Studies.
At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Li Shan is a PhD candidate in English. Her research areas are life writing and mental health.
Li Shan is also a Commissioner of the Lancet Psychiatry Lived Experience Commission, an Associate of King’s College London, and committee member of the Singapore Association for Psychiatric Rehabilitation.
She was formerly a patient advocate with the Singapore National Healthcare Group Population Mental Health Steering Committee and country representative of the Global Mental Health Peer Network. Prior to this, she served as a board member of Silver Ribbon Singapore and Co-Chairperson with the CEO of IMH for the Voices of Experience Committee at the Institute of Mental Health Singapore.
Li Shan received her BA (Hons) in Philosophy and Politics from the University of York, UK in 2005, her MSc in Philosophy and History of Science from the London School of Economics in 2006, and her MA in Biography and Creative Nonfiction from the University of East Anglia in 2017.
In 2014, Li Shan was awarded “Most Promising Advocate” by the Singapore Advocacy Awards. In 2016, she was responsible for a multi-million dollar proposal for Singapore’s first national mental health campaign.
In 2018, she was Writer-in-residence and subsequently, Director of the Writing Center at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
CHAN LI SHAN 