Lee Seow Ser was on a sabbatical from her legal career in 2014 when she fell ill and needed surgery and treatment. It was a “major turning point” in her life, she said, one that led her to take “a leap of faith” and leave her job.

“I had a deep yearning to fulfil other life aspirations,” Lee said.

Lee had been writing as a hobby while in legal practice. She volunteered with National Parks Board (NParks), taking photos and writing about Singapore’s parks. When literary festivals came around, she would take leave to attend them – “to treat myself to a ‘mental spa’ to stimulate my creative juices”.

While on sabbatical, she had lunch with her friend Hidayah Amin, founder of Helang Books, a local independent publishing house.

Lee asked her: Why don’t bookstores in Singapore carry books for persons with vision loss?

Lee didn’t have any personal connection with visually impaired people. However, she felt that, in a world shaped by visuals, “sight is a key sensory function and being able to experience the colours of this world is a privilege”.

“As someone who likes to write, I thought it both my duty and desire to render the content of what I write in a format accessible to those who wish to read but cannot do so with their eyes,” she added.

After researching braille books, the two wo...