Dr Nienke Boer received her BA degree from Princeton University (Comparative Literature and African Studies), and her MA and PhD degrees from New York University (Comparative Literature). Her work focuses on transnational literature in the Indian Ocean world, and her dissertation looked specifically at writings by and about travellers between South Asia and South Africa.

Dr Boer was born in South Africa and grew up in Namibia, Swaziland (where she attended the United World College of Southern Africa, Waterford Kamhlaba) and Uganda. She has also lived in Berlin and New Delhi. Dr Boer is excited to add Singapore to the list, and looks forward to enriching her project with Singaporean authors and archives.