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 ...

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.

Teapots, Fundamentalists, Pipes and Convivial Company

Saturday's "Readings" at Seksan's ...

Is this a party or a serious literary event?

Catching up with friends over a glass of wine.

The very supportive audience .

Brave Kenny went first, and it was his first reading. He read a piece he'd blogged for International Women's Day, called I am Woman, then 5 Pieces, and a quirky fairytale with alternative endings.

Jerome Kugan making us all stretch before he began! Jerome read some beautiful poems which he has compiled into a chapbook Imaginary Poems. (You can buy it from Jerome at just RM5)

I don't have to list them for you because you can just glance at the notes on Jerome's hand! My favourite was the Teapot Poem which he read last. Between the poems he sang acapella ... he has a magical voice and I hope it won't be too long before his album is completed.

Antares read from an unpublished manuscript (extracts of which you can find on his blog) Art Thou a Goddam Fundamentalist? which promoted most enjoyable engagement of the grey matter. One line that made me chuckle was about how religion provides a safe route from confusion to fusion with the one force of the universe. Antares is such an interesting thinker you just want to sit and listen to him expound at length. I intend to blog about his new book Tanah Tujuh as soon as I finish it ... and who knows but one of these days we might take "Readings" over to Magick River!

Chuck Kramer is a native of Chicago, now living in KL. He's an experience poetry slammer and last month we heard some of his poetry when he warmed the audience up for the slam with Chris Mooney-Singh. You can find a piece of his flash fiction published online here. He says that he has two unpublished novel manuscripts in his drawer, and he read from one of them - very good stuff I'd love to see on the page. (Write a novel set here Chuck, we need more good local fiction!)

Han was in last month's slam and came back to give us more of his work. Most of his poems are very short and he says he creates them like "found poetry" crafting them from phrases he likes the sound of and brings together. You can find more of his work on his blog and he has one of his poems in the present issue of KLue Magazine.

Sharanya insisted Kakiseni editor Zedeck Siew wear her rose and shawl. He's already getting called "pretty boy" and this won't do his reputation any good at all, I'm afraid! He read part of a short story "in progress" - I think it was called The Great Straights. Look forward to seeing the finished piece in the not-too-distant-future.

Thanks all who came and took part or supported. Sorry the timings went a bit out and we didn't have very long for a break. If you guys read next time stick to the 15 minute allocation, okay??

Thanks to Seksan for the space, filled with intriguing pipe sculptures this time, and to La Bodega for the lovely wine.

Thanks to the friends who cleared up, to Kenny for the poster and to Reza who is an absolute whiz at switching the amplifier on and off on command.

See you next month. We're aiming for May 26th and we have a great line up ... including poet Wong Phui Nam!

Bookish Stuff Wot Others Blogged

Here's a few things from other blogs I've enjoyed and you might like to explore.

More local writers build a home in cyberspace. Antares needs no introduction and is someone who I admire for living life very much on his terms. He has long had a fascinating and sprawling website Magick River, and now has a blog of the same name with thought-provoking and very well-written content. (Am personally not at all sure about this 9/11 conspiracy theory but he makes the most convincing case I've heard for it!) You can of course catch Antares reading on Saturday at Seksans from his new book Tanah Tujuh which was launched at the litfest. (More about the book in another post.)

Shahril Nizam is a poet and illustrator (he designed the cover for Silverfish New Writing 6, and Dina Zaman's I Am Muslim, among others). His blog pelukismelukis is a treasure trove of absolutely delightful things. His art ... just melts me, and his poetry has a whimsical magical quality which reminds me of ... Edward Lear, Lewis Carol ... I would love a whole coffee-table book of his work!

Kenny Mah of course keeps popping up on everyone else's blog and at literary events.

He's an incredibly nice guy (and nice people always leave this grouch feeling most confused). His blog, Life for Beginners, has posts about the local lit scene, his training to become a Body Balance instructor, and much more. Best of all, he has put up a collection of short-fiction and poetry Broken Mornings, which you can download for free. Kenny, of course, is also reading this Saturday at Seksan's.

And elsewhere:

There is as always much good stuff on Deepika's blog read@peace. I particularly enjoyed her post on meeting Neil Gaiman when he was in Singapore. (I've started reading American Gods and hereby declare myself another fan!)

Zafar of Dream Ink has a fascinating piece on how to write a good bad review! And much more good stuff, of course.

Eric Forbes has an excellent piece on publishing and has posted up some great poetry from a whole variety of poets.

Books Love Me blogger Josette does the round of Penang bookshops ... but likes Borders best.

So many books, so little time. Dari Jiwa Rasa gets mindboggled by the maths and asks, how many books can you finish in a year. He also links in this post to the story of Chang Wei Han who read 558 books in just 15 months. Who says Malaysians don't read!

Tunku Halim writes about why Malaysian writers are actually much luckier than their counterparts in the West - and he's absolutely right. Halim's new book 44 Cemetery Road is now out too.

Sally Ann has some great pictures of Benjamin Zephaniah visiting her school and her enthusiasm for poetry shows just why making this kind of encounter happen is so important!

I'm sure to have missed something important, so please slip me a note in the comments if you know of anything ...