Bali Photos (2)

Remember Camilla Gibb who was in KL last year for the literary festival? Well her novel Sweetness in the Belly which many of you have enjoyed has now been translated into Bahasa Indonesia with the title Lilly : Pencarian Cinta Seorang Gadis Eropa di Etiopia. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Bahasa Malaysia version for the local market??

Pakistani author Moni Mohsin now lives in London, and her debut novel The End of Innocence was published in 2006. Really enjoyed talking to her at the dinner at Karim Razlan's house.

The last session on the last day was defintely one of the best. Deepika Shetty was in conversation with Mexican master of magical realism Alberto Ruy Sanchez. It is impossible to listen to him and not fall in love.

Guess what? Bernice discovered that he will be stopping over in KL next week and plans to get him to do a reading. (More news about this later when it's fixed up.)

And here's our Bernice between sessions.

Setting the Rushdie Straight

Camilla Gibb dropped me a line yesterday re. the quote about Rushdie which I had picked up from Raman's website. She is clearly upset that one small comment was taken out of context and somewhat sensationalised, and would like to set the record straight:

My goodness – the passion that my comment elicited on your site! I had no idea. I’m glad to see such passion alive in Malaysia, but I do have to say that not only was my comment a cheeky aside in the context of a talk about other, and I hope, much more important things, it was hardly original. To suggest that Rushdie’s career in some way benefited from the exposure of the fatwa against him has been said many times before. I do have problems with his work, but that is another issue and quite frankly, simply one woman’s opinion.

There's no doubt about it, Rushdie does elicit strong feelings, and no doubt we'll go on debating whether we love him or hate him, and whether he is a great writer or not. But then that's the fun of it.

Thanks for writing, Camilla, and I do hope that this puts things right!

Sweetness in the Writing

Trying to catch up with notes on books recently read and still falling behind!

I finished (of course, since I was interviewing her!) Camilla Gibb's third and most recent novel Sweetness in the Belly, and liked it best of all of them.

Sweetness is a story of Lilly, a white Muslim woman, who is forced to rebuild her life as a nurse in Thatcher's Britain after fleeing from Ethiopia, in the process becoming separated from her lover.

Concerned to help the Ethiopian refugee community, she spends her weekends as a volunteer for an organization which seeks to bring exiled families together, and hopes to find news of Aziz.

Alternate chapters tell the story of Lilly's years in Ethiopia, a decade earlier. She is the child of hippy parents who are every bit as irresponsible as the parents in Gibbs' earlier novels. They travel in Morocco and Lilly is left at the shrine of a Sufi saint with an imam called the Great Abdul, while they return to the city and are murdered - probably selling heroin in a back alley. Lilly finds peace in her soul through prayer and learning to recite the Qu'ran.

She makes a pilgrimage to the walled city of Harar in Ethiopia with Hussein (another adoptee of the imam) when unrest breaks out. Lilly goes to live with an impoverished Ethiopian family and gradually learns the ways of the people she has come to live amongst. She falls in love with an idealistic young doctor, Aziz whom she is forced to leave behind when political upheavals make it dangerous for her to stay in the country.

This brief summary doesn't do this carefully researched and beautifully written novel justice. I knew so little about Ethiopia, hadn't even heard of Harar, and now I feel that I've spent some time there - the setting is so beautifully invoked and sensuous. There's a real compassion and respect in Gibbs depiction of the Ethiopian people and their way of life, and the plight of refugees in London.

Would I recommend it? Very strongly.

Four-Letter Words and Festivals

I feel churlish for grumbling about ANYTHING in regards to the recent literary festival (KLILF) after reading Mr. Raman's v. nicely written rant about the problems faced in making it happen.

Four weeks before the event we have thirty participants and zero sponsors. Only the registration fees paid up. There was no coverage in any of the media. I am wondering if we will have enough money to print fliers. Posters? Too late for that. We must push ahead. "Don't worry, it will fall in place." Right.

If we want events to happen at all, we must support them.

And talking about newspaper coverage, I noticed that the Sunday Times last week didn't have a single feature on the festival. How sad is that? (I blogged some time back about the lack of support from the newspapers for the first festival.)

Raman also picks up on a couple of the most controversial things writers said at the festival. Camilla Gibb had me gasping too when she called Salman Rushdie "a mediocre writer" (sacrilege! declare a fatwa!).

Postscript:

Thoughts about KLILF on other blogs, to give you a vicarious peep.

Lydia has lots of photos and interesting accounts of the sessions she attended with Tash Aw, Randah Abdel-Fattah and Brian Castro. (I am so sad that I could not attend the presentations she describes, particularly Brian Castro's which Mercy and Saras felt was one of the best of the festival.)

I love Dollygirl's take, particularly on the weird questioners and the loveliness of Tash. Karcy give the festival a thumbs up but laments the slice of cake that got away. Owen had to read the first few lines of Lolita in front of everyone in Tash's Session, and then got blown away by Zephaniah.

Kak Teh had a good time. Madcap Machinist gets poetic as he is wont to do. There are more great photos from Adam, and amazing, moody black and whites from Sharil Nizam.

And Tarlia got Tash Aw to pose with her little yellow ducky! Here are her accounts of Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.

Postscript 2:

Message from Raman:

We are thinking of putting up a slideshow online with photographs taken by participants. A participant's point of view, you could say. Please send us photos of you with your favourite writers, or of your favourite funny pictures (or not), or whatever you think might be of interest to others. Please send them to ikanperak@gmail.com which allows larger attachments (but not more than 10mb). You can also drop off a CDRom with your photos here at Silverfish if you wish. We cannot use all the pictures, of course, but we would like a good spread.

A Camilla Cameo

My interview with Canadian author Camilla Gibb in StarMag today:

When Camilla Gibb realised in her teens that what she really wanted to do in life was write, she found herself surrounded by people who tried to talk her out of such an impractical career choice.

Among them was her English teacher who told her, “You’re only 18. What are you going to write about? Have a life first. Go to university and study something that will teach you about the world and then if you still insist on writing, you will have so much more to bring to the page.”

Read the whole piece here.

Some Litfest Photos

Two poetic lovelies: Sharanya Manivannan with Indonesian poet Lakshmi Pamuntjak (right). I took this the first day of the festival when a whole gang of us descended on Delicious for lunch.

Courting controversy. I introduced one of Dina Zaman's sessions, and she read about from I Am Muslim about "born-again virgins".
Eva Kriseova sponsored by the Embassy of the Czech republic, reading outside Starbucks in Bangsar Village 2. She's a writer with a fascinating story to tell. She worked as a reporter during the Prague Spring in 1986. After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia her writings were banned. She lost her job and went underground. Later, she worked as an advisor to President Vaclav Havel.

Benjamin Zephaniah strutting his stuff at Marmalade. I sneaked a preview of his poetry at this session but enjoyed much more his great performance at Central Market last night. Plan to write more about that later.

Even though I had interviewed Canadian author Camilla Gibb a couple of days before, I was fascinated to hear even more about her writing.

I didn't manage to get to Tash Aw's workshops but met up with him at MPH Bangsar Village for his "meet the public session". Such a very nice guy. He told me that he was working hard on the second novel and trying hard to not to be distracted.

I introduced New Zealand poet/novelist Elizabeth Smither's session at Alexis. I enjoyed her well observed poems - small true moments. Was also stunned by just how prolific a writer this lady is - she has 14 volumes of poetry (soon to be 15), 4 novels, 3 (or was it four?) collections of short fiction, and other published works. All this produced around her full-time librarian's job! She says she writes 250 words of a novel everyday, and keeps a notebook on her to jot down ideas for poetry that occur to her throughout the day.

Dream Interlude

So this was the dream I had Saturday night.

I was supposed to be interviewing author Camilla Gibb and a friend asked me if she could tag along. We got to the hotel, and I excused myself to go to the loo. And when I got back to the coffee shop, there was Camilla being interviewed by my friend instead of me ... and I was incensed!

When I finally sat down at the table to begin the interview, I realized that I didn't have a single pen in the big bag I carry around, my little cassette recorder had no batteries, a tape in it that was all tangled up, and a nest of ants living inside it. And when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I found I couldn't remember the titles of any of her books, couldn't find my notes and heard myself asking the most inane of questions.

I woke up in a huff at five a.m. If that was the way my dreams wanted to play it, I wouldn't give them room. You have to show them who's boss. Change the channel.

As it happened the interview on Monday went fine (apart from a mix-up about the time which meant it got rescheduled for later the same day). The piece should be in Sunday's StarMag. If you see me posting erratically on this blog over the next day or two it's because 1) the Litfest is on and I'm chasing stories and talking my heart out about books and writing, and 2) because I really need time to work on the article and my best writing time is also my best blogging time i.e. the crack of dawn.

Hope to see some of you around this week.

(My picture of Camilla taken at the interview while the pixman from the Star was going his stuff).

Litfest Fringe

So you're not going to the KL Litfest (KLILF 2007) because you're working and feel a bit sick about missing events you enjoy? Or maybe you can't afford the registration?

The good news is that some of the biggest names will be appearing in other venues around town and events are either free or at minimal cost! Yipeee!

British performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah will be appearing at Central Market Annexe on Friday March 30th at 8.30p.m.in a performance jointly presented by British Council, Ricecooker and Bau-Bau Café featuring Wayang Kadbod by the kids from Projek Kampung Seni, local street poet Rahmat Haron and music by Tenderfist and Kuchalana. Admission RM10 at the door, no reservations necessary. This promises to be one of the most exciting live literature events of the year. Don't miss it.

Here's more about Zephaniah from the British Council website:

Born in 1958 in Birmingham and raised in Jamaica and Handsworth, the young Benjamin left school at the age of 14. By the time he was 15, he had developed a strong home town following as a young poet who was capable of speaking on local and international issues.

He published his first book Pen Rhythm at age 22, though it was through performance that Benjamin earned a name for himself. His second collection of poetry, The Dread Affair: Collected Poems (1985) contained a number of poems attacking the British legal system; Rasta Time in Palestine (1990), an account of a visit to the Palestinian occupied territories, contained poetry and travelogue; Too Black, Too Strong (2001) was inspired by his tenure as Poet in Residence at the chambers of London barrister Michael Mansfield QC and by his attendance at both the inquiry into the 'Bloody Sunday' shootings and the inquiry into the death of Ricky Reel, an Asian student found dead in the Thames. His poetry collections include books for children: Talking Turkeys (1994) and Funky Chickens (1996), andnovels for teenagers: Face (1999), described by the author as a story of 'facial discrimination'; Refugee Boy (2001), the story of a young boy, Alem, fleeing the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea; and Gangsta Rap (2004).

He has been Writer in Residence at the Africa Arts Collective in Liverpool and Creative Artist in Residence at Cambridge University; has received numerous honorary doctorates for his work in literature, and in 1998, was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education to advise on the place of music and art in the National Curriculum. He has written plays for radio, TV and the stage, and includes several music recordings in his repertoire.

Canadian author Camilla Gibb (left) is going to be appearing at Kinokuniya bookstore in KLCC at 7.30 on the 30th, and also at MPH Mid Valley Megamall, KL 2-3p.m. on 1st April.

Our own Tash Aw, author of the award-winning The Harmony Silk Factory, will be appearing at the Book Cafe in MPH, 1 Utama at 8pm on Wednesday 28th March.

On Thursday 29th, he will be at Borders in Berjaya Times Square (Jalan Imbi, KL) from 4pm to 5pm, and at MPH in Bangsar Village II (Bangsar Baru, KL) from 6pm to 7pm. Later at MPH Mid Valley Megamall, KL, from 8pm to 9pm, there will be a book-signing session with the author. More details in todays Star Two. (But oh - ouch ouch ouch - how I wish they'd drop his price tag off the headlines!)

And then, of course, we've got Chris Mooney-Singh and the Word Forward poets at Seksan's on Saturday afternoon. Not only is the event itself free, but we also have lovely free wine courtesy of our sponsor La Bodega. Now how can you resist!

Update:

Sharanya tells me that on Sunday April 1st at 9pm at No Black Tie there will be poetry by Cyril Wong (S'pore), Bernice Chauly, Jerome Kugan and Sharanya herself. Entry RM15. (Click poster to enlarge.)

Petty Details of My Latest Read

I'm not doing a good job of writing about what I've been reading so am hoping to slip in a few more reviews over the next few days.

Most recently finished, Camilla Gibbs second novel The Petty Details of So and So's Life.

The novel explores much of the same territory as Mouthing the Words, centering on a dysfuncional family, an abusive father, a withdrawn mother, and the ensuing psychological after-shocks in adulthood.

Twins Emma and Blue are so close that they communicate in an invented language and are almost telepathic. They huddle in the basement from the rages of their unpredictable father, who drops out of paid work to become an inventor - gradually withdrawing from the family to live a reclusive existance in the garage, until one day he disappears, taking with him the family's life savings.

Although Gibb never uses the term, the father is clearly manic-depressive - his moods swing unpredictably, he's full of grandiose schemes and ambitions to change the world (and scorn for those who lack the same vision), yet unable to complete even the simplest of tasks.

The twins react differently to their father's disappearance - Blue becoming obsessed with finding him, while Emma defects to a new family and sees academic success as her ticket out of chaos, while their mother Elaine numbs the pain with alchohol and anti-depressants and becomes increasingly withdraw.

Again, as in Mouthing the Words, Gibb handles painful material (and I must ask her how much is drawn from her own life) but the book never feels heavy, and is tempered with humour and people with characters you care about.

Highly recommended. (I like it even better than Mouthing the Words.)

The book is avalable at 20% off at Kinokuniya (and no, I don't have shares!)

Also available at 20% off is Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain, here at last!

And by the way, since it seems only polite to ask, what are YOU reading?

The Fallout of Sexual Abuse

Going through my Camilla Gibb phase in anticipation of the lady coming for the Litfest and my interview with her. I found her first two novels in the British Council Library, and then later bought copies (20% off!) at Kinokuniya.

Mouthing the Words is a powerfully engaging and highly readable novel about growing up in a dysfuctional family.

Thelma is five when the story opens. The family live in a village called Little Slaughter where they are ostracized as outsiders by the neighbours. Thelma's mother, Corinna, a former model, wants little to do with her daughter and relegates her "to the realm of the rather inconvenient", preferring to shower affection on her younger brother, the result of an affair with an Edinburgh solicitor.

Thelma is sexually abused by her alcholic father, Douglas, and made to play games of naughty secretaries and bosses. Unable to communicate this terrible secret to anyone outside the family, Thelma invents three invisible friends each representing an aspect of herself, who help her to cope. She longs, in vain, for another adult to adopt her.

The family move to Canada where things worsen, her parents eventually separating. There is a friendship with the hippyish family next door, and an all too brief period of happiness when her mother takes a Punjabi student as a lover, the first adult who really reaches out to the love-starved Thelma.

Thelma is institutionalised with anorexia - starvation is the only way she can physically prevent herself from becoming an adult woman, but recovers to win a scholarship to Oxford to study law. Although she proves to be a brilliant student, she rapidly descends into serious mental illness and self-mutilation.

Gibb is able to portray a descent into madness better than almost any other author I've come across (with perhaps the exception of Bessie Head in Maru) and her depiction of the psychological effects of abuse is extremely convincing. And we're right there to cheer on Thelma's slow journey to reclaim herself, and to be able to own her own words.

Sounds like a misery read? Far from it. The material is dark, but Gibbs has a lightness of touch and a humour (some parts are extremely funny!) that pulls the book back from being heartbreakingly sad.

Would I recommend this book? You betcha! And if you miss the author at the Litfest, she will also be signing copies oh her books in Kinokuniya 30th March at 7.30 p.m..

Now on to her second novel ...

The Satisfaction of Finishing a Book

KayKay forwarded a really nice piece from John Connolly's blog about the satisfaction of finishing a book. His thoughts after finishing and enjoying Wilbur Smith's River God:

I ... felt a degree of satisfaction as I closed the book and put it to one side. There, I thought: another book read, and a lengthy one at that. For a moment, I was one step closer to reading every book in my house, albeit a step forwards that would soon be nullified. River God will probably go to my local Oxfam shop, and there is now a space where it once sat on my bookshelves, a space that can be occupied by a new book as soon as I find the time to amble into one of my native city's many bookstores.

Alas, it is a satisfaction I'm very far from feeling this week. I've never been so part way through so many books.

Believe it or not I'm still reading my first book from the TBR Challenge Martin Amis' Money, but I'm well past half way which is not bad.

I bought the book because I thought I oughta. Had heard stories of Amis being obnoxious and his protagonist is obsessed with ... yes, filthy lucre, and you can't get more crass than that.

Didn't expect to be laughing myself stupid so often, delighting in the bad-boy voice (Amir Hafizi has to read this! making a mental note to pass him my scrunched up pizza-decorated copy when I buy a shiny new one), the dialogue, and the craft of every sentence.

The book is set during the Summer of the Charles and Di wedding and the riots which swept the country. The novel captures the early 80's and Thatcher's Britain so well.

It isn't my first Amis, because I read Time's Arrow years back. That's a bit of clever writing, a whole novel told in reverse chronological order from the protagonist's death to his birth. (Try imagining eating backwards for e.g. ... but that's not the worst). Just like a movie being rewound.

I've got to read The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy because Kaykay said so.

Okay then, it's our book club choice and the meeting is next week. Crime fiction so isn't my thing. And this is very much a sweat soaked testosterone drenched bloke book. But it is very well written and I'm not a quitter. So.

I'm also trying to read Yang-May Ooi's Mind Game before Saturday and the Breakfast for Litbloggers thing at MPH and then the readings at Seksan's.

Thrillers aren't my thing either. When I was in Nigeria I overdosed on them because they were the only books available, thanks to my neighbour.

Anyway, am finding Yang-May's novel (which I managed to borrow from my friend Soo Choon) an intriguing read. I appreciate the contemporary Malaysian setting, and find the Asian Values Alliance, bent on world domination, most sinister. And I like that its an unashamedly lesbian love-story!

Have started reading Camilla Gibbs Sweetness in the Belly as I will be interviewing the author when she comes for the KL Literary Festival at the end of March so this is homework, but nice homework as I am enjoying its African setting.

So a lot of books hanging halfway ...

Oh yes, I did finish one book, Richard Posners Little Book of Plagiarism. A legal mind tackles who did and who did not plagiarise in literary history. (Shakespeare gets off the hook you'll be pleased to know!) and just what constitutes plagiarism in the legal context. It's an extremely readable guide, fascinating for litbuffs and invaluable for academics.

One little quote I'll leave you with:

The reader has to care about being deceived about authorial identity in order for deceit to cross the line to fraud and thus constitute plagiarism.

That's right. The ball is in the reader's court.

And talking of readers, what have you finished, and what have you not?