Not our favourite kind of set-up -- readers get to vote, and they get to do so as often as they like (and there's an incentive to vote for the book you think is likely to win, rather than the one you think is best, because voters who 'get it right' are also eligible for prizes ...), and the prize is limited to the ten bestselling titles (in fiction and non-fiction) at the local Popular stores. But at least that leads, for example, Elizabeth Tai to briefly describe what were the 10 bestselling fiction titles last year, in her Guide to the prizes, which gives us some idea of what's popular in Malaysia (and these are, after all, book you probably haven't seen at your local bookstore).But as Louise Adler notes in The Age (another piece I found via Saloon.com) :
Prizes that attract publicity inevitably also attract criticism ...But it can't be anything but good if word of local books and authors gets out into the wider world, and if Malaysian readers are encouraged to pick up the books. The award has also put a smile on the faces of the nominated authors I've met spoken to over the past few days, every single one of them saying that they aren't bothered if they win, and are just happy to have been recognised.
And talking of wider attention for our local publishing scene, Wena Poon's Lions in Winter (published here by MPH) is reviewed by Neel Chowdhury in Time magazine.
7 comments:
Books published in Malaysia don't get reviewed in Time magazine. It's amazing that Time has reviewed Wena Poon's Lions In Winter. Congratulations, Wena!
"and these are, after all, book you probably haven't seen at your local bookstore"
Ug :P
With regard to the Popular thing. The problem with book prizes based on sales and votes is that the better books that do not garner sales tend to be neglected. For instance, Mohana Gill's Vegemania. Vegemania was awarded the Best Vegetarian Book in the World on April 13 at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in London. It's sad that Vegemania is not on the list of books vying for the 'best' nonfiction.
Vegemania is a cookbook. It's not under the Non-Fiction category. And if there's a category for cookbook, I'm not sure it will win also since it's so expensive though I know Celebrity Chef cookbook by Chef Ismail and Florence Tan sells well. Also, I have attended the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards which was held 2 years ago in Malaysia at the Palace of Golden Horses. The awards are just another marketing strategy (like many others unless it's organised independently) and I believe it involved a lot of "lobbying". Still, some of the books awarded are really creative and worth giving the recognition.
"vegemania" is a beautiful book. i knew it had been nominated for the award but not that it had won it.
yes ... and besides cookbooks there also some beautiful illustrated books that deserve an award category!
but all awards have to start somewhere ...
i don't think there was any lobbying, these are the books which sold best and the authors and publishers did not know about the award till the list came out
sharton, i thought I left a message earlier. I was there when mohana received the award for her book vegemania. And it is certainly a beautiful book. I did write abt it for nst.
ooops i mean, sharon...
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