Coming Up!

Here's a quick guide to some of the good things on in KL in the near future, and which I won't get to see as I will be away. First of all, do remember the poetry slam organised for tomorrow, and featuring an impressive line-up which includes Chris Mooney-Singh, Bani Haykkal (B-Quartet), Priya K, Hazlan Zakaria, Dizzy Firefly, the slammers of the night (Illya, Afi, Ayue, Cipta, Fynn, Arzumy, Abdul M.I. Abdullah, Zain Azrai).... and maybe YOU because even if you don't want to be part of the slam, you can take a turn at the mic to read any new work you have. Then there is the KL Alternative Bookfair at Central Market Annexe, held in conjunction with Art for Grabs on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10 May, 12pm to 8pm. There is a programme up on Facebook, with several talks and quite a number of book launches listed. Do check it out - last year the event was great fun and everyone who went managed to snag free books, and I expect this year will be even better. I like the sound of Sisters In Islam's event on the Sunday afternoon celebrating the freedom to read by performing poetry and excerpts from books, plays, scripts, etc that have been banned in many countries throughout history. Chuah Guat Eng's novel Echoes of Silence was the first full-length novel in English by a Malaysian woman, when it first appeared in 1994. Now the book has been republished and in a session called Anatomizing the Colonised Mind, on Saturday, 23 May at Silverfish Books, Guat will read from, and discuss her novel.