Bookfair for UTP

Yong Chang Yi of Petronas University of Technology in Tronoh, Perak wrote to me yesterday to tell me that UTP is planning a bookfair from 25-27th August and he is looking for sponsorship from companies and individuals who might be interested in sponsoring book-related events.

I feel strongly that such efforts should be supported, and am happy to pass on Chang Yi's marketing proposal to anyone who feels they can help in any way. Just drop me a line at sharonbakar@yahoo.com or via Facebook.

Kindling Unease

Anything that lasts 500 years is not easily improved upon. Books are so good you can’t out-book the book.

Those would be wise words coming from anyone, but how much more powerful coming from one of the key players in the e-book revolution, Jeff Bezos?

Despite a rapid increase in sales of ebooks, and in particular Amazon's Kindle, Bezos explains, at the biggest US bookfair BookExpo America, why he doesn't think the paper book is going away any time soon. In fact, he says that consumers who have bought Kindle are purchasing more physical books than before - a very interesting claim.

Edward Wyatt's article in The New York Times also shows that the Kindle has competitors and booksellers rattled - not least because Amazon is selling ebooks for less than it pays publishers - a ruse that will surely lure consumers to choose the Kindle over other devices. Why you might end up with a total monopoly!

World domination of the book trade isn't all Bezos has set his cap at :

... he waxed enthusiastic about how his “lottery ticket” wealth from the success of Amazon is allowing him to invest in a project to provide commercial travel to suborbital space.

Passengers taking a Kindle along to provide a little in-flight reading, of course.

KLAB Revisited

More commentary on the KL Alternative Bookfair, as Leon Wing shares his impressions in Starmag today. This I found perplexing:

Tokobuku’s Faisal was exhibiting his work as a step towards expanding his fotopages.com into a retail business. Underlining the fest’s alternative (almost anti-establishment) feel, some of the books he displayed had no ISBN number.

He explained: “For some writers, it’s a hassle to obtain the ISBN from the National Library, as they would have to reveal their identity – and that can be a risk for some of them.”

Really???

KLAB also gets Raman's seal of approval. I love what he says about the forum on book banning :

The debate went along pretty much predictable lines (we have all heard it before -- they went to the ministry, spoke to some furniture and came back disappointed, how dare that chair tell me what I should read!)

Talking of bookfairs, Popular Bookstore's BookFest@Malaysia 2008 begins on May 24th. A full programme of events is lined up featuring a whole lot of overseas authors (though sadly no-one who writes fiction) and local authors including Amir Muhammad, Zhang Su Li, Lim May Zhee and even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

You can also readcycle (Love it!) your old books.

Everything you might want to know about the fair and a whole lot more can be found here.

The slogan for this event is Reading Empowers, so at least here they got their grammar right (though sadly they have plenty of howlers in the descriptions of events).

The Reinvention of Popular

There's an interesting feature in Starmag today about how one of our biggest bookstore chains, Popular, is in the process of reinventing itself.

The store began life in Singapore, opened its first Malaysian branch in 1984 and now has 57 branches across this country alone. (For more on the history of the company, read this entry on Wikipedia.)

One of the biggest hurdles the store has to overcome is that of perception. As Elizabeth Tai says in the article :

Think Popular bookstore and chances are, you’ll think, “Oh, Chinese books, and a great range of stationery”.

But Executive Director Lim Lee Ngoh (right) explains how Popular is expanding in the English book-selling sector; how it has been opening mega stores to provide a one-stop service for book buyers; and how it is hosting the third BookFest@Malaysia event, which will take place from May 24 to June 1 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. (See picture of last year's fair above.)

Any bookshop that wants to widen its appeal needs to do more though than increase floor space and pile books up high.

Popular clearly needs to sex the image of the store up (and maybe the recently announced book prize is a step in the right direction).

And then of course, there's the squiginess factor to take into account. The bookshops that woo the customers best are those that turn themselves into a pleasant destination where you're happy to spend time.

As Lim says, it is a very tough line of business to be in!

What are you thoughts on Popular bookstores? Do you do much of your book buying there?

Join the KLAB!

Next weekend it's the KLAB – the Kuala Lumpur Alternative Book Festival - 2008! :

This is a book fair with a twist and kick, and you don’t want to miss it. Spicing it up are four book launches, guaranteed to turn you into a literary anarchist!

On 3 to 4 May 2008, a new book festival will be launched in Kuala Lumpur, at The Annexe, Central Market. Touting itself as an alternative to commercial book festivals and warehouse sales, KLAB 2008 promises the discerning reader a different read altogether. Literary fiction, politics, religion – written by local writers and published by local publishers who are passionate about books, writing and the causes they champion.

15 bookshops under one roof!

15 publishers will be setting up stalls to hawk their wares: Silverfish Books, Z Publishing, Suara-Suara, Gerak Budaya, SIRD, to name a few. If you want to know what makes Malaysia Malaysia, head over to the stalls and talk to publishers and writers like Daphne Lee, Raman Krishnan and Raja Ahmad. They’ll tell you!

Four book launches!

Four book launches: BERSIH photo-book. "Kakiseni" playwriting winners. Aweks KL. Religion Under Siege.

And Hishamuddin Rais' new book, available for the first time.

The KAKISCRIPT launch will be on Sunday 4 May 2008 @ 2pm. More updates coming up!

Programme:

Saturday
12pm Forum on Malay Politics
2pm Bersih photo book book launch
4pm SIS Forum on Book Banning

Sunday
2pm Joint book launch: Kakiseni & Aweks KL
4pm Religion Under siege book launch & forum

Free books!

At the Book Giveaway, anyone with too many books at home can leave them at the Annexe, and those who want more books, may grab them for free! Caveat: each ‘buyer’ can take home only three books. Hey, they’re free, what’s the fuss?

KLAB is also a part of The Annexe's Art For Grabs, the bazaar for art under RM100! Also going on is World Freedom Press Day workshops and rock gigs on both days.

For more details and interviews with the writers and publishers please contact:

Amir Muhammad – kancah2001@yahoo.com
Zulhabri Supian – zulhabri@gmail.com
Dina Zaman – dinazaman@gmail.com

Books from the Arab World

Arabic literature faces many challenges including censorship, bureaucracy, and the problems of reaching a wider market. But here are signs that it has never been more vibrant. In the Guardian today authors and critics give their views.

This comment from Palestinian poet and writer Mourid Barghouti should give us all pause for thought :

Arabic literature, both classical and modern, is almost absent from the world stage. The dominant culture of our times, western culture, has not seen other languages, discourses and civilisations as equally worthy approaches to the world. We'll reach nowhere if the concept of "universality" is not re-examined. No western writer questions his or her universality; it is the Arabs, the Africans and the Asians who should aspire to reach it, through translation. Translation being a chance, a favour, a medal, a stamp of recognition and a password to open the space for the lucky newcomers.

If you are interested in finding out more, do also check out Arab World Books.

Books from the Arab world is also the market focus of the London Book Fair this year, and the British Council is also providing a shop window for Arabic Writers.

Postscript (25/4/08) :

Boyd Tonkin in the Independent also looks at books from the Arabic world and the problems faced by authors and publishers.

Sharon and the Big Red Dinosaur

Here's me and a big red dinosaur I met at the KL International Bookfair on Sunday. I am the one on the right, and the photo was taken by blogger extraordinaire Eyeris whom I bumped into as I was leaving the event.

He must think I am totally without conversation because we went for noodles after that and I was too shattered to have much to say. (Eyeris, I almost slumped face down into my Singapore mee hoon soup and started snoring.) Just getting to Putra World Trade centre by the LRT and dodging another afternoon deluge and then navigating the huge expanse of book displays flooded with families out for the afternoon was enough to do me in.

I didn't see many of the book displays. I went to talk to my friend Elke aka Ms Payless Books (at booths 8064-8067 if you have trouble finding it). Was pretty restrained and only bought one book : The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy.

The KataSuara reading was quite fun, not least because of the musicians Raja Ahmad had co-opted to provide digestive space between the words. Usratika started the event off. Dewangga Sakti played Malay roots music on traditional instruments with a contemporary twist. Tan Sei Hon is a talented singer-songwriter who sounds (I think) like Cat Stevens in the early days.

I read first. Wasn't sure how much anyone was interested or was prepared to listen to something in English, as a lot of the "audience" had really come to sit down for a while and rest. My piece is a bit from my "novel in progress" (which sshhh has not moved any further since I dumped it in the drawer ... though every time I take it out I keep hoping that divine intervention has sorted out the plot holes for me. ) But I like the part I read, and might rescue it for a short story.

The others read poetry in Malay. Laureate A. Samad Said read from his new collection 68 Soneta Pohon Gingko which he wrote during a stay in Korea. His self-published book, which I bought afterwards, is beautifully produced and contains some of his paintings. (He actually has a booth at the Bookfair and a number of beautiful books on sale.)

I met lots of friends including (beside the other readers) Vovin, Pak Adib, Ted and Lina and made some new ones. Also met up with the daughter of the late Usman Awang, another Malaysian laureate, and came away with a couple of his books. (I've more to blog here another day.)

I was much impressed that after I had pointed out a certain grammar error on the KLIBF posters, someone had painstakingly corrected - well most of them, at least! (A little victory for the Grammar Gestapo?)


Eyeris has a great post about the Bookfair, so please go visit him after this! And Ted documents the Katasuara event much much better than I could have.

Chinese Bookfest

Currently on at the KL Convention Centre and organised by Popular Bookstores, this event promises to be a treat for Chinese readers with 380 exhibitors from five countries - China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia and plenty of book-related events going on. More details here.