Why Did the Chicken Come to Readings?

How did I manage to forget the little chicken who came to Readings@Seksan on Saturday? Kenny Mah has a lovely write-up and the photos by his friend Steve Steve capture the atmosphere of the gallery so well. Appreciated this :

Sharon Bakar. The White Queen is the Queen of Hearts too. How else do you explain the lady patron of this monthly series of readings, adopted from the original Red Queen herself, Ms. Bernice Chauly? Year after year, month by month, I never figure out how Sharon manages to continue to find new writers and old to read their work and secure venues and snacks and chairs and wine and hope for the audience of would-be-writers or poets or musicians or performance artists or burnt-out lawyers or simply editors sweeter than any of their authors may deserve — readers and readers and readers all.

(Answer to how I find writers, is by BULLYING people! Haha!)

Everyone who comes comes for the words. ... The words and a sense of community that is casually shaped and fragile and tightly-knit at the same time. I return, after more than a year away, I think, and I still recognise some of the regulars. Chet. Eric C. Forbes. Amir Muhammad. Leon Wing. New faces all the time, which bodes well, but the old faithfuls? I guess this is what keeps “Readings” going. ... The words make a family here you can return to, you vagabond child you.

Thanks Kenny and I will get you reading again soon ...

Complete Review at 10

The Complete Review hits its tenth anniversary, and M.A. Orthofer comes clean about the fact that it isn't written by a whole team of people ... 95% of the reviews are his own, as are nearly all the posts at Literary Saloon. This has long been one of my favourite sites, and I did wonder how many folks were behind it. Now I feel put to shame.

Orthofer says that he has always tried to stay very much in the background :

...disappearing completely unrecognized behind the scenes ...

but a definite voice emerges, and it's one I like very much.

I also really appreciate the fact that the picks up news from all over the planet - gleaning fascinating literary pickings ... sometimes from the obscurest of sources. Because literature isn't only about what happens in the western centres of publishing.

So yes, a really big thank you, and here's to the next ten years.

Hitting the Cyberspot

Authors who blog Antares (left) and Robert Raymer are among the bloggers caught by the Malay Mail's Cyberspot today. Robert says some nice things about this blog (which I'm grateful for!). Antares notes that blogging :

... has actually become a full-time unpaid job ...

Join the club!

Blog Reflections

In a piece called Of Blogs and Reflections in the Malay Mail today - Gabby Goh asks three litbloggers, myself, horror king Tunku Halim and Eli James of Novelr about our favourite web discoveries this year and our hopes for next. Here's what I said (with a couple of bits bolded so you will take note of them). Sorry if I've gone all nerdy on you - I'm surprised myself! :

For me, 2008, has really been the year of Facebook - the application has put me in touch with old friends and made me new ones, been a useful place to pick up news and share ideas, but most of all it has been the best avenue to reach a large potential audience for the events I organise. I have set up a group for readings@seksan and look forward to another exciting year of live literature!

This has also been the year I really started to find my feet in the vast virtual world Second Life (which I initially heard about from librarian friends who have established a strong base there). Now that I can fly and teleport and have a good wardrobe of pixelated clothes, I'm busy looking around for ways the metaverse can be used to promote reading and writing activities and making connections with others from around the world interested in the same. (For a taste of what's possible take a look at http://www.writtenword.org.uk.). I've been attending poetry readings and writing workshops and see so much potential for bringing practitioners of all the arts into this very creative space. The complete beginner can avoid the traps I fell into by reading Second Life for Dummies. But the best book to help you understand the history and evolving culture of this community is The Making of Second Life by Wagner James Au. Au reckons, by the way that virtual worlds like Second Life will, in time, become our interface with the internet.

I'd like to send my thanks to all my readers for sticking with me for yet another year, and for helping to make bibliobibuli such an interactive blog by commenting on posts and emailing me links and feedback. The bookshops, local publishers and distributors have also been a tremendous support, passing me copies of free books and sending me hot items of news. I am inviting anyone who feels they would like to contribute a post on any aspect of books or writing to guestblog for me. (Get in touch with me at sharonbakar@yahoo.com). September 2009 will mark my 5th blogiversary, so I am thinking of ways to celebrate this in style!

A very Happy New Year to all of you!!!

RPK Freed

The court decision today has made it very clear that ISA cannot be used for political reasons. I am not a terrorist. I am not a dangerous person. I am just a writer.

Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin was released from his two-year detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) yesterday following his successful habeus corpus application.

Malay Mail Grabs the Blogger Authors!

Although initially the reason was to talk about my books, my present aims are much wider than that. I highlight conservation issues for a start. I hope in some little way to increase awareness of Malaysia’s stunning biodiversity and its importance. If you want to see photographs of anything from the Imbak Valley or a pill millipede – come to my blog.

I also cater for fans and readers of science fiction and fantasy, and for would-be authors of those kind of books. I post on things like how to get published or how to write a fantasy novel or how to improve your writing. I tell fans about what’s coming out next of mine, and will happily answer questions about my books, past and up-andcoming.

Occasionally I blog about social issues, especially when I feel a grave injustice is being done, or when authorities try to take away our rights on the flimsiest of excuses. I like to point out ironies and idiocies and bigotry. (There is so much material here for a fantasy writer…and of course, I use that material in my books. What writer wouldn’t?)

It's been a lovely surprise over the last couple of days to see a couple more writing friends who are also bloggers featured in the Malay Mail. Yesterday it was conservationist/fantasy author Glenda Larke who blogs at Tropic Temper. (And thanks so much, Glenda for naming me your favourite blogger! Guess we're in each other's fanclubs now.)

Today it's the turn of short story writer Robert Raymer, who blogs as BorneoExpatWriter which is a must-read for everyone interested in learning about the craft of writing.

In the article he says :

Blogging hasn’t changed my life, just my writing life, or how I view writing. Before, I would write or pitch articles for publications, but now I write posts on writing to help inspire other writers. Then later, I think some of these would make pretty good articles, so I would rewrite them and submit them for publication. This is a recent development, but so far one has already been published. So blogging in this sense serves a new purpose for me, it gets me to write articles that I may not have written in the first place, plus they become fodder for paying articles and workshops.

It’s also nice when readers of my stories and former writing students stumble across my website or blog and contact me. Also the website/blog is invaluable for editors, agents, publishers and reviewers to get more information about me and to read samples of my writing. So far I’ve got one US$500 writing assignment from the US, one full page interview and book review ( Borneo Post ), and one workshop presentation (in Miri) from strangers who came across my website.

So you see, blogging is a mighty useful thing!

(Sorry for being away from you all for so long. My computer is repaired and has a whole lot of new parts inserted and I'm really happy with it now. All my troubles have made blogging more effortful than it should have been, and it's a real pleasure to be back to normal.)

Eric's Blog in the Spotlight

My approach to books is the same way I approach life – obsessively ... I need to read everything by a writer, and I focus on what moves me emotionally and intellectually. My guiding principle is, ‘You’ve got to be in the rain to feel the water’. It’s that way with books, too.

Eric Forbes is featured blogger in the Malay Mail today and deservedly so as he has one of the best literary blogs around - and I'm talking internationally here. And now that Eric is regularly interviewing top authors, I'm often so jealous I could spit.

Fortunately Eric names me as his favourite local blogger, so I forgive him for being so good.

Hmm I wonder if Sheila Rahman's comment:

thankfully with almost none of the usual argumentative comments

is a dig at this blog and you guys!

Kenny's Moment of Fame

How nice it was to see Kenny Mah as featured blogger in the Malay Mail yesterday. Kenny's blog, Life for Beginners, is one that I have recommended before, and some of you will have caught him reading his work at Readings.

Am enjoying the whole series of articles about local (and sometimes international) bloggers and am glad the paper has now archived them.

Cyberspace Crackdown

Congratulations, Malaysia. Your crackdown on the internet (see here and here) now allows you to join an exclusive list of progressive countries which includes as North Korea, China, Syria and Iran.

To celebrate go and read Amnesty International's Irrepressible Information website and sign the pledge.

Debut Author - at 93!

I remember Yusof Martin saying not so long ago that we always seem to be enamored with and encouraging of, the young writers when there are often folks who come to writing (much!) older, and who are just as much in need or support and a platform for their work.

I know this as well because of the several "senior citizens" (some in their 70's, one in her 80's) who have taken my creative writing course. They have a lifetime's experience to draw on and now in retirement, the time to really concentrate on developing their skills.

I was very moved, therefore, this week to read about 93-year old Lorna Page who has just had her debut novel published. A Dangerous Weakness is a "feminist thriller" and apparently quite raunchy.

What does seem fishy is the rest of the story. We're told that the money from the huge advance has allowed her to buy a big country house and she plans to invite her friends from the care home to move in with her.

But as Victoria Strauss points out on the Writers Beware Blog, this really doesn't make sense as her publisher, Author House, is a self-publishing company - one that charges authors a fee! Strauss points to some scarily sloppy journalism in the British press, as the original press release became distorted and the distortions got passed on. (The story also appeared in the Telegraph, and the Daily Mirror among others.)

Maybe the "ahhhhh" factor was just too great to resist? Who cares about accuracy when the cockles of our hearts are being warmed?!

But sadly, things cannot be true just because you want them to be. Page herself responds in the comments :

Glad to know some people understand what reporters can do to a perfectly average story about a grandmother who writes novels. Here are the facts; I wrote A Dangerous Weakness on the backs of envelopes and scraps of paper, and put them away in a suitcase which my daughter-in-law found about 8 months ago, and encouraged me to publish a book. It would all still be on scraps of paper if she hadn't found it. That's it. But, through it all, I think it is a good book. In fact, now I'm working on my second. The really wonderful part of my story is my son who left his home in America to come back to England to take care of me when I needed a little help.

The press have a fair bit of egg to wipe from their faces. But as they say, all publicity is good publicity, and I hope all this gives the novel a boost.

We need role models like Lorna Page, don't you think?

(Pic from the Telegraph.)

Yes, We Do Read!

A National Library survey said that only 13% of 27 million Malaysians read books. Come into the light, where we can see you :)

says Dizzy Firefly a.k.a Liyana Yussof in the first post of a new blog called :

and we also read

in which she and others sneak up on people reading all over the Klang Valley to celebrate :

those who choose not to stare into space while on the train, in queues, waiting, or walking around. ... We don't care who you are, what you look like, what you're wearing, what your language is. You were reading, we found you ...

Inspired by a really nice blog called other People Reading which lets us know what people are reading in Los Angeles, the intitiative fits very nicely into Zain's Read While Waiting Project.

Contributors to the blog are needed, so dig your camera out and hit the streets as a roaming reporter!

By the way, I remember that Pak Adib has some very nice candid shots of KL folks reading but am not sure where to find them now. In looking for them I found this nice photo of Adib by Han Ghazi on Flickr.

Cybergranny Signs off

Blogging may appear to be the province of the young and tech-savvy, but one centarian who embraced the medium enthusiastically was Australian Olive Riley who has just died aged 108, and was the world's oldest blogger. (She's also, incidentally, the world's oldest YouTube star!)

Her original blog is down at the moment, probably because of the number of hits, but a temporary site was set up for her here. And what a joy she sounds! The news agency says:

Riley had posted more than 70 entries on her blog from Woy Woy on the east coast since February last year, sharing her thoughts on modern life and her experiences living through the entire 20th century. ... Born in the outback town of Broken Hill on October 20 1899, she lived through two world wars and raised three children while doing various jobs, including ranch cook and barmaid.

How many family stories do we lose because we never helped our parents and grandparents to tell them for us and future generations? Perhaps you have old folks in your own family who might enjoy blogging and need a little encouragment.

(Thanks Twan Eng for sending the link.)

E-Fiction is Eli

It was a nice surprise to see that my blog buddy Eli James was grabbed for interview by Sheila Rahman today. Eli as you know is the amazing (don't blush, Eli!) young chap from Sarawak behind Novelr pioneering, as Sheila says, the interface between fiction and the digital world.

It’s really only through community that you can raise the bar of quality in a medium.

says Eli (and that strikes me as a very wise observation). And he talks about why he started the blog :

I originally wanted to explore the medium of blog storytelling. There are actually people who blog their novels first, gain reader feedback, and then publish them through Printing-On-Demand publishers like Lulu. There are others still who blog and are then approached by publishing houses to turn their blogs into books. I found this interesting. I’d done a blook before so I leveraged Novelr to be a starting platform for new authors looking for an alternative to the traditional publishing industry.

We need blooks of significant literary merit so now Novelr has a forum. I also encourage and help set up quality filters for online fiction, plus whenever I can, highlight works of merit.

And how has blogging changed his life? :

My work in Novelr has put me in contact with a lot of really amazing professionals – SharonBakar, who writes Bibliobibuli for instance*. I’m mostly gobsmacked to be even in touch with these people.

I’ve also met a number of writers and editors.

A few of the ideas and the articles in Novelr have also been referenced in a PhD thesis on blog fiction – which was really very flattering. I suppose blogging has done wonders for my analytical ability.

I’m being quoted now, so I better make sure each and every post I write is well thought-out, well argued, and clearly presented… or else!

His immediate plans? :

Sometime next year, I’m starting up a digital publishing house (for want of a better name) – where we promote, redesign and highlight online fiction. ... I’ve started prelim discussions with several other writers, editors and programmers.

You see just what you start when young people get internet access and start communicating with others across the world?

* Nope, it's me who'd humbled, Eli. I believe you are going to go very far, and if there is anyone who has a spare scholarship to a top-notch university hidden about their person, please send it Eli's way.

RPK and the Sedition Charge

This blogger adds her voice to those expressing concern and support for Raja Petra Kamaruddin who has been arrested and charged with sedition for his article Let's Send the Alantunya Murderers to Hell which he posted on his news portal Malaysia Today. RPK has refused bail and is now going to jail.

My overseas readers who don't know the background to the case, might like to read this piece the originally from Asian Wall Street Journal (now archived on the Unspun blog) about the horrifying murder and the possible political implications. The case is ongoing, but whether those who gave the order for her killing will ever be brought to justice remains to be seen.

That RPK should find himself in court over his words, I'm sure surprises no-one.

But arrested? But charged with sedition? As Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan of the Malaysian Bar Council says :

The Sedition Act is a draconian, archaic and repressive piece of legislation that has long outlived any perceived utility it may ever have had. It is incompatible with the progressive, open and democratic society that we had believed Malaysia was becoming," she said, adding that the use of such law was disconcerting and lends credence to the view that in fact the democratic space in Malaysia is still severely curtailed. ... The Sedition Act and other authoritarian laws represent a severe encroachment on the fundamental freedoms enshrined in our Constitution. These fundamental civil liberties are indisputable hallmarks of any democracy and must be safeguarded if Malaysia is to lay any claim to being a democratic nation.

It looks as if someone at the top wants to scare, not only RPK, but the whole online community into compliant silence, don't you think?

Bloggers, Writers and the Information Minister

Nisah Haron was one of the panelists at Saturday night's Writers and Blogs: The Current Trend forum at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka along with Pak Adib (The Reader), Saiee Driss, Puan Aizan (head of the PDM), Nisah, Jiwarasa, Shamsudin Othman, and Fauzi. She gives a very interesting account of the meeting here, and talks about how blogs can promote writing in Malaysia. I'm glad though that they had an opportunity to put across this very positive aspect of blogging.

The focus of course got shifted a little with new Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek who talked about the government's willingness to recognise the role played by the cyber community in shaping public opinion in the country. That's very welcome news, and if any bloggers seem cynical ... well, sorry, cynicism has to be a blogger's default mode.

I wish I could have attended the forum but I had a wedding dinner to go to (traditional Malay affair with Scottish bagpipers and the father of the groom's speech half in Japanese!). But how sad to miss meeting some blogfriends I have only met online.

Blogger Arrested

I don't have all the facts, am still trying to piece together the story from various sources but I would like to add my name to all those concerned about the arrest and detention on Nathaniel Tan under the OSA (Official Secrets Act), apparently because of a comment left on his blog.

The Centre for Independent Journalism has issued a statement and urges the public to write to the IGP. And here are some of the blogs that I've been reading today:

4896
Screenshots
Global Voices
Rocky's Bru
Nik Nazmi

Menj's fear of Malaysia becoming "a police state" doesn't seem all that far-fetched, actually. What is going on??

Yang-May on the Beeb

Malaysian novelist turned blogger and podcaster Yang May Ooi has this piece of exciting news to share:

Hi All

Fusion View seems to be making a splash in the world of blogging. I was taken out to lunch today by Chris Vallance, the presenter of BBC Radio 5's Pods and Blogs progamme. He wanted to meet me as he was keen to feature Fusion View on the programme. ...The slot will most likely be in next week's programme - on the radio it's at 2am (GMT +1) on Tuesdays (UK) and online it will be available for a week (International). I'm thrilled as the programme has around 1 million listeners via AM and FM combined even though it's on at such a strange time in the night! I'll let you know when it's broadcast so you can check it out.

Yang-May

I had a head-slapping moment when I thought about Yang-May. Remember how we put our heads together to suggest the books by local authors she should put in her suitcase, way back? Well I forgot to link to her post where she wrote about what she actually did carry back!

Blur? Sotong got nothing on me lah.

Bernice in Cyberspace

Our latest local writer to claim a home in the blogosphere is the multitalented Bernice Chauly. Do check out her poetry (including videos of her reading her most recent work) and photography.

We should throw a blogwarming party, perhaps?


(Pic of Bernice taken by Shahril Nizam at the KL Litfest)

Registering Bloggers

A report in this morning's Star that Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said in parliament yesterday that bloggers using locally hosted websites may be required to register with the authorities.

But we have a couple of champions: opposition MP Lim Kit Siang, pointed out the vast benefits of blogging and Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad (the only UMNO MP to have a presence in the blogosphere, as far as I know) said bloggers were very aware of their own ethics and responsibility for content on their sites.

Which I believe too. And I think I've hung around online a lot more than most politicians. The internet polices itself. You say something fallacious, daft or defamatory and you get descended on faster than a mouse click by the other fellas wanting to put you right. I'm not even able to get away with a misspelling!

I'm not a political animal and generally can't even be bothered to read parts of the newspaper which aren't book pages or the funnies, but I am concerned about freedom of speech which is a basic human right whether the words are printed on pages in a book, or on our computer screens.

The authorities clearly need to decide whether Malaysia is in the Information Age or not. So far they've done very well. But forcing bloggers register is a retrogressive, knee-jerk reaction ... and to what, exactly? (I really would like to know and at the moment I'm afraid I don't. Not from the newspapers anyway.)

And as for the technicalities of registering bloggers here - how many bloggers have .my at the end of their addresses? And I reckon most bloggers host their words overseas anyway! (And more will probably join them now.)

Before I lose my rag entirely, it's timely to point you in the direction of this essay by Hari Kunzru about why dissidents must be protected from internet censorship. It's mostly about China, but many of the points made are relevant universally.

Meanwhile Tunku Halim is proposing a different form of protest: a collection of blog articles called Bloggers are Liars! He wants YOUR entries!

Update:

Readers' reactions to this report, from the Star. The people have spoken!

Rocky reports on the setting up of the National Alliance of Bloggers.

The Visitor sent me a very interesting article which addressed the question "Can bloggers be considered journalists?"

Pages from the Literary Tatler - Dina's Launch

So Wednesday night, there we were at Central Market Annexe for the launch of Dina Zaman's I Am Muslim.

Here are the copies piled high ...

Saras took a shine to these handsome young men who were Dina's bodyguards.

Saras again with Shahril Nizam Ahmad who designed the eye-catching cover, and Marisa Misron who was my editor when I wrote for Chrome.

There was an exhibition of art by the artists who have set up stalls in Central Market - and I couldn't resist using some of my favourite pieces as backdrops for photos of some of my friends. Here's Animah of course.

and playwright/actor Kee ThuanChye ...

and poet and publisher Raja Ahmad ...

and a very bulgy MyWordUp founder See Ming posing with an even bulgier lady.

Cool guy Reza, who took care of the sound.

After a prayer to bless the occasion, a performance of Malaysia's traditional martial art - Silat, with a bit of kris waving. There was a spectacular "swirling dervishes" dance performance by Chakra Works.

Peter Schier of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation which sponsored the publication of the book gave a very good speech outlining why he thinks the book is a very important one.

A speech from publisher Raman of Silverfish Books about why he decided to publish Dina's work.

A shy speech from the lady herself in which she thanked those who had supported her.

The symbolic moment of launch ... the banner a bit wonky at first ...

A couple of readings. Here's Chye reading the account of the visit to the weird masseur ...

It was hard to take a decent picture of Dina - she didn't keep still for very long! But at last I managed to get her to pose for one with me. She had told me that the dress code for the evening was white so that we all looked like angels. I dug the only white things that I could find out of my wardrobe. When I showed the pic to Ruhayat X later on, he said that I looked like an advert for ironing!

Dina with her family. I'd heard so much from her about her marvellously supportive mum and dad so it was really good to meet them. I think Dina looks like her mum!

Couldn't resist the opportunity to pose for a Bloggers Are Liars photo with a gaggle of bloggers and blog friends. The tall guy on the far left is of course Ahirudin Attan aka Rocky and one of the two bloggers currently being sued for defamation by the New Straits Times. In front of him Ruby Ahmad, then my blog groupies Animah and Saras then me (towering over everyone) with Chet just in front of me. Then broadcaster journalist Zahara Othman who goes by nom-de-blog Kak Teh, Nuraina A Samad and Zarina (Eliza of the Haberdashery).

Afterwards a group of us dropped by a nearby mamak shop for a drink en route to the LRT.

Here's Animah, Chet, Kenny Mah and Leon, and below Zahara with veteran journalist Aishah Ali who had brought along some of Zahara's press clippings.

Thanks Dina for a lovely evening in the company of good friends! May the book hit the bestseller list soon.

Postscript:

You can read lots of other accounts of the evening on other blogs. Dina of course has all the behind the scenes stories, entertaining stories and great pictures. The most howling funny one though is her account of the naked man when she went to inspect the venue. (Please Dina never take your blog down again. I want to laugh at this every time I feel blue). Madcap Machinist made an excellent job of the sound for the evening and was the latest to get accosted in the men's loo. Here's Ruby Ahmad having a good time and Chet networking with all the bloggers and blog friends. More links to be added as they're written.