Saturday Perambulations

MPH Writer's Circle met yesterday morning at the 1 Utama store. Oon Yeoh was facilitating and the talk was about book distribution and marketing. Donald Kee a senior marketing executive spoke and then, an executive from international publisher John Wiley and Sons. No real surprises in what they said and in fact an underlining of the message from previous sessions - you need to get out there and promote your book if you want sales. Some good advice to would-be writers was given, although neither were really able to field questions on marketing fiction convincingly. Local author Chong Sheau Ching chipped in with an account of how she struggled to distribute and market her book Stories for My Mother, which eventually went on to be a best-seller, and Azizi Ali spoke again with his usual charming blend of arrogance and self-deprecating humour. ("I'm a lousy writer but I'm too successful to quit.")

Most interesting nugget of information to emerge from today is that there is a market for locally written kids books. I know a number of people who want to write for children but aren't sure where to begin, and it would be great to find ways of bringing them together for a dialogue. I also see a course or workshops emerging from this - though I am as much in need of training as anyone else. (Am for sure handicapped too by not having kids!)

There's a nice feeling of "we're all in this together" about the Writer's Circle now that we are getting to know each other, and there's a great deal of useful networking after the sessions.

A quick lunch at Delicious - lamb shank pie and frostie iced lemon tea (double yum!) - and the off to Darling Muse Gallery for an afternoon of readings. Had to support my friend Rohayat X who is bravely launching publications in Malay. His first book Wilayah Kutu is an anthology of men's writing "from the fringes".

I knew that the whole thing would be in Malay and I wouldn't be able to follow too well, but what the heck, friends should support each other.

(My Malay is actually quite serviceable in most everyday situations, but it's hard to listen for long, and I'm thrown by any kind of dialect apart from Perak!)

Saifullizan Tahir "a landscape architect by day" read first. He seemed a little afraid of his audience and read very quickly without looking at us. A friend read (v. well!) for Nizam Zakaria. I understood a little more of this story picking up the words Madam Kwan's - KLCC - Gloria Jean's - gay tak gay. (At which point my friend Caving Liz leant across me and said "Isn't there a word for 'gay' in Malay?"). The audience loved Nizam's piece and there were roars of laughter. Jerome read poetry as beautifully in Malay as he does in English. I had no problem following Rohayat X's story - at least until the brain got tired - but once again it went down extremely well with the audience. Fahmi Fadil "actor and activist" went next, and right at the end of the afternoon Doji (?) strolled in and read his piece.

A lesson underlined by today's events both at MPH and Darling Muse: everything worth doing has to start somewhere and with someone. You may not be the best at what you do - you may even feel a bit of a fraud at first for setting yourself up as an expert - but you may be the only one trying to start things up in a particular area. In the end you have to have faith in yourself and just leap. I am sure that Rohayat's publishing venture will be a success and I like what he wrote in an e-mail "The day Neohikayat is put out of business by competition from publishing houses set up by bands of young Malay writers with actual talent, is the day when I'll know I have done my job. There is no shame in having your life ended by the hands of your own child (or monster, if you prefer the Frankenstein imagery), if that is a signal that you have to make way for a world that has outgrown your usefulness for it."

There was also a reading by performance artist Ray Langenbach. I did not understand it at all even though it was in English - something about Plato and The Cave and people being chained to the wall. Also did not understand why Ray had to wear a bright pink sundress for the piece. Maybe the glasses of La Bodega sponsored wine did not help comprehension.

An American guy called Ioannis Gatsiounis whom I'd met at the Litfest when he wanted to do a reading for us (I set up an open-mike thingy in the bar). He warned us in advance "There's quite a bit of subtlety in this story ..." . He's a very nice guy though, and I had a long chat with him afterwards and will invite him along when our critiquing group meets.