My books are well-received in the literature community but they are not selling that well. However, as long as I have a loyal group of readers, I’m happy. The best kind of feedback I’ve gotten was when a reader came out of a crowd and told me he identified with the book personally. I don’t care about the masses. It’s that one person I’ve reached that counts because in the end, you feel connected with somebody in this world.Michael Cheang interviews Australian author Brian Castro in the Star today. Castro, who appeared at the KL International Literary Festival (KLILF), certainly won many fans here, among them Bernice Chauly who writes a review of the festival on Kakiseni.
She says about Castro:
As a writer inspired by his own family stories, Brian weaves fiction and non-fiction in ways that defy ethical limitations “Go for broke,” he told his audience. “If you write a story, make it as intriguing as possible. Take risks and move beyond. You have to keep the idea that if the passion is starting to disappear, then your story is all wrong. Writing has to become an exorcism of the self.”Bernice's comments about the festival are spot on and I'm also very happy that she wrote about our poetry slam!
