Monday, June 08, 2009

Tash at No Black Tie

Tash Aw last night at No Black Tie, reading from a short story set in Indonesia. He also read a tiny extract from Map of the Invisible World ... and left us hungry for more.

Earlier we heard from : Charlene Rajendran who read extracts from her new book Taxi Tales on a Crooked Bridge and her collection of poetry Mangosteen Crumble, doing a brilliant job of capturing the voices of Singaporean cabbies; Hishamuddin Rais who "cerita-ed" rather than read - was totally irreverent and at times very funny when he talked about how the Malays in this country really have it hard ("We have to go to heaven!") ; and Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize winner, Clarissa Tan, who read from short story in progress.

We left at the break since it was already nearly midnight and we had to be back, but I really wish I could have stayed to hear Farish Noor and John Krich ("one of the most original voices in the new wave of travel writing" Salon.Com). (So fill me in on what I missed, guys.)

Bernice did a great job of hosting, as always.

(Picture taken by my niece Shahnim )

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice arty photo!

- Poppadumdum

Ellen Whyte said...

that sounds like fun! will check it out...

Yusuf Martin said...

It has been brought to my attention that I have inadvertently upset Mr Aw, Tash by any other name, by my remarks on his claims to Malaysian status.

For any offense or slight that Mr Aw has suffered due to my feeble ramblings, I humbly apologize.

But frankly why anyone would want to take my rantings seriously is quite beyond me, but then maybe this sensitivity does once and for all time prove that Mr Tash Aw is a Malaysian writer.

bibliobibuli said...

please don't worry, Yusof :-D

i think sometimes we don't realise who we might upset through casual comments, and i know i've been guilty sometimes of getting the wrong end of the stick ... or expressing my real feelings about things i'd be better off biting my tongue about. (there are plenty of "oh shit" moments in blogging/ commenting on the posts of others ... as i know only too well :-(

i don't think tash usually reads blogs or comments on them, but i can pass on your comment to him.