Rex Shelley hails from an earlier colonial generation, although he began publishing only in the early 1990s. A Eurasian, his first novel "The Shrimp People" (1991) examines the regional Eurasian community and their experience in Singapore. The book won a National Book Prize. His three other novels, "People of the Pear Tree" (1993), "Island in the Centre" (1995) and "River of Roses" (1998) all examine similar themes of the Eurasian community in the Southeast Asia region. He has won the S.E.A. Write Award in 2007.