Aweks - At Last!

Better late than never, as RuhayatX says :

Aweks KL is a collection of new writing in Malay, done mostly by Malay women in Malaysia (because we simply didn't get enough submissions to make it an all-female book). The short stories and poems permit us the slightest of peeks into the mind of the modern Malay woman which, like the forbidden glimpse of a thigh, has been hitherto consigned to the backrooms of society as it is with children, to be only seen and not heard.

You can get copies (complete with controversial cover of lady wearing angel wings which made the National Library declare they couldn't buy it for their branches) at the KL Bookfair at the GerakBudaya stand, and of course it will also be available from Silverfish Books.

Send Them Stories Out!

The 2007 Commonwealth Short Story Competition is now accepting enties. Ist prize - a cool £2,000! Deadline 1 May 2007.

Rules and further information here.

Don't forget too that the editors of Elarti want your fiction (in English and Malay) and the closing date for Silverfish New Writing 7 is March 31st.

Get writing!!

Seksan's on Saturday

Those who came to Seksen's yesterday afternoon enjoyed an afternoon of exciting storytelling.

First up was Nizam Zakaria who told us that his first novel Susuk (based on the film by Amir Mohammad) will be published by Marshall Cavendish in January. He also had a telefilm on TV a couple of nights ago. He said that since he's gone mainstream in his writing recently he sai that he had decided to go a little more subversive in this reading and gave us Chapter 7 from his novel Diva Dilla, his novel in progress.

Saras Manickam gave us the story of Dey Raju which appears in Silverfish New Writing 6. It's a very funny and sweet story about a case of mistaken identity and an Indian wedding. (I feel a great connection to the story because I was there the night it was born at Leah Ray's house one Friday evening for a supper and writing session.)

Actor/ comedian / playwright and all round nice guy Jit Murad made it this time (no rain or hailstones to prevent him!) and read a new piece - a stream-of-conciousness account of his childhood linked to the various houses where he had lived. Funny and touching and I hope he goes on with it and gets it published. I am greatly humbled that a successful writer like Jit can come along to an event like this to try out his new work before a live audience.

Animah Kosai reading a very important piece she's written. In this case not fiction, but a letter to the prime mininster re. "restricted books" for us all to sign. I will tell you more about this anon.

Dianadirani has two stories in the Neohikayat collection Aweks (forthcoming). She read us a piece of what she called "Malaysian chic-lit".

Chris Yin rushed over from a tennis tournament to read his story The Geology of Malaysia which was published in Silverfish New Writing 5, and which also (deservedly) made it into The Best of Silverfish New Writing.

I would like to thank La Bodega for generously sponsoring the wine for the event and Seksan for allowing us to use his beautiful space once again. And of course, the very supportive audience without whom nothing at all could have happened.

Next month "Readings" is scheduled for 23rd December and will mark the launch of Neohikayat's literary mag Elarti. More news later.

Update

Natasha's wonderfully arty efforts. (Sorry I "transformed" your name. Am just blur. And thanks for bringing the cakes.)

All Aboard the Elarti

It isn't easy getting local writing published. Some brave soul has to be prepared to put up their own funds and take a gamble.

My friend Ruhayat X (co-founder of Neohikayat Press which launched the infamous Willayah Kutu) has another project he wants to get up and running ... but he needs our help. Here's the e-mail he sent round the other day:

CALL FOR DONATIONS FOR ELARTI MAGAZINE

Hi guys, gals, friends and otherwise,

I'm coming up with this pop-culture magazine called Elarti. It will cover the arts, culture, design,literature and social issues, and the content will be 60% Malay and 40% English. We're targeting it as a quarterly review kind of thing, with the first issue to be out on Merdeka Day at 120 pages.

The main aim is to unearth new writing talents in Malaysia, particularly those writing in Malay. Sometimes, when people start seeing their name in print, it encourages them to start writing seriously and the country benefits in general as a result. That's what I'm hoping will happen here.

At the very least, it's really just another social experiment. This is a project being done for the people, by the people. Please don't trip on the cliche on your way to the trashcan.

Seriously, though: what can you say about a country that cannot boast of a writer the calibre of a Goenawan, a Pramoedya, a Borges or a Marquez? A country in which -- I argue -- the cultural waters has been collecting in a fetid pool since the mid-70's?

I have put up RM3,000 out of my own pocket to the publication of this first issue. However, that will only enable us to print 500 copies. So we'd like to have more money, of course, which will allow us to print more (simple law of economics, really: money more = copies more).

If you'd like to support us, please buy a "personal ad" space for RM50.

We've reserved 2 pages for these personal ads. For that 50 bucks, you will get a box 70 x 50 mm where we will dedicate nice thoughts to you. It's a bit like buying a slot at the Nilai Memorial Park, really, except that you're not dead yet and we're not a graveyard. I hope you're the type who likes to read his/her own obituary.

Sounds like a good way to spend 5 mugs of Starbucks coffee? Then please deposit your donations into this account:

HONG LEONG BANK
A/C no.: 04800203814
Account Holder: Irman bin Noor

Cheers, and may God reward you with more mugs of coffee than you can drink.

------
Elarti is a strictly non-profit project, the proceeds
of which shall be divided as follows:

1. 1/3 for production costs.
2. 1/3 for publication of future issues and other activities (forums, workshops, readings, etc).
3. 1/3 to be created into a pool fund out of which all contributors will be paid equally.

Of course, I've booked my plot ... er ... ad-space already.

*Language note for non-Malaysians or for Malaysians who didn't quite get it: Elarti is a play on our LRT (Light Rail Transport) which we use to get around the city. Let's hope Ruhayat gets his project on track!

The Birth of Neohikayat

Ruhayat X (captured left at the La Bodega gig) sends out some of his short pieces by email to friends which are always a delight to receive. Yesterday he wrote about the birth of the publishing venture he set up and I asked for his permission to paste it here - because I think it gives an important insight into the local publishing scene where small scale enterprise provides an outlet for fiction and poetry. (Note: I've added the links to fill in a little background.)

As Ruhayat explains, he sank his own money into the scheme, and although the book has been selling well, he still has present stock to clear before he can publish his next collection. If you don't yet have a copy of Willayah Kutu, hasten to the Neohikayat blog or Silverfish to buy one. (They make great gifts for friends, so buy several.)

This month marks the first anniversary of Neohikayat, that publishing entity I started up with the intention of doing something about the Malay literary world, which I felt had stagnated since the early 70's. And, by extension, the Malay mind.

I've always believed that you don't need to join a political party if you're really honest about wanting to effect change in the world around you; not when you can hijack the arts to do a far better job. There are many ways to work smart.

I can't remember when exactly the entity was formed, since the company has yet to be incorporated, but it was between February and April 2005, after several long sessions at Devi's Corner or Lotus in Bangsar.

In fact, the Neohikayat story began in November 2003, while I was still working with the KLSE.

Well, no, actually it began in 2001, when Raman of Silverfishbooks roped in Irman, Amir Muhammad and I to work on a book of short stories in English. It seems amazing, thinking about it now, that no one had attempted to do something like that before.

Yes, there were Rhino Press and Hikayat Press, of course. But those companies had different aspirations and approaches. While the earlier efforts were targeted at publishing original works of already known names, the Silverfish New Writing project wanted to create something out of nothing.

Round about that time, the local film world was also about to experience a similar democratic movement of sorts. That was when Amir and James Lee just decided, one bright morning, to make their own film. Lips to Lips was the result. As far as I am concerned, that was ground zero for the current swell of DIY film-making in this country.

The DIY spirit ran thick in the SNW project, too.

Irman and I did the cover design and page layouts, which isn't very good in hindsight, but then it was done virtually overnight and for free.

I can't remember how many hours the four of us would sit in Silverfishbooks in Bangsar, poring through the submissions and selecting our favourites. The final selection was made by Amir. And then we'd spend another few weeks editing the shortlist.

Or at least, we tried to edit them as best we could.

It's become almost second nature by now, but back then we had to come up with everything from scratch. None of us had published anything before, although Amir and I had journalistic experience. Book publishing was a long, dark corridor and basically we just felt our way around.

At the time I was still gainfully - albeit rather bored-out-of-my-skull-ly - employed in a corporate company. MESDAQ had been forced to merge with the KLSE in 2000, and by February 2001 I was staring out of my lonely little office at the brass band practising on the grounds of St John's Institution every morning.

Previously I had a great vista of the sumptuous bungalows hugging the Damansara Heights hills, where the MESDAQ office was located.

They didn't know yet what to do with the MESDAQ board at the time. Rumours were going around that it was to be scrapped or absorbed into the Second Board.

The MESDAQ vets didn't like it, of course. MESDAQ was basically a startup when I first joined it, albeit one with substantial Government funding. We'd worked our arses off to make it into something resembling the steamrolling NASDAQ in the US, the tech board that humbled all other boards in the world at the time. We weren't very successful.

But it was a new environment, with new rules. More importantly, it was a post-dotcom world, and MESDAQ was being viewed as a failure. In this new place we had not much power. And so the previously upper middle management of MESDAQ - our top managers all decided not to continue - was basically left fiddling our thumbs most days.

It was a depressing time for me, professionally, coming from the frantic atmosphere first at Intel and then MESDAQ, both startup-type environments. I spent most days at the KLSE just staring out of the window, trying to read a book but not really seeing the words.

If you think having too much work is stressful, you should try not having any work to do at all. No wonder when companies want to get rid of someone, they'd strip the guy of all power and tasks, and let him sit in a windowless office all day. That was my life for about a year.

Thank God for Raman and his crazy scheme, then. I was just thankful to have an outlet to focus my mind on, so even though we weren't being paid a single cent for our time, I just piled in and made that my priority.

By the time SNW3 appeared, the zest had disappeared.

By then the series was becoming a business venture to my mind, not an ideal. It just so happened that round about that time the MESDAQ market suddenly began outperforming the Second Board. People were excited about it once again, and suddenly I had lots of strategy papers and reports to do, pre-submissions to review and meetings to attend. So I focused my energies back to my proper work.

Still, during this time we had an active teh tarik crew in Bangsar. We'd meet informally almost every other night and talk about everything under the sun. We must have bored the odd semi-regulars to death, because we'd never see any of them again.

There we were, being boring about clever things while just a few blocks away people in hip clothes were gyrating to pumping music. Those were the days.

During these sessions the topic of publishing an SNW-like compilation in Malay would crop up from time to time. As usual, the idea just languished by the wayside after everyone went home. We were still looking to Silverfish to do it, but Raman at the time was adamant about focusing on the English-speaking market.

It went on like that for about a year. And then, in November 2003, I thought why not just do it ourselves. There was no profound reason underlying the decision at all. It's just one of those days when I'd wake up in the morning and think it would be a terribly great idea to produce my own book.

The regulars at the sessions during that time were Irman, Amir, Dhojee and me. But still it took a year of preambling to get to a point where we were relatively sure of what we wanted to do. That's what happens when you leave things up to a bunch of Malays, I guess.

The real work began in November 2004. The project didn't have a name yet at the time. It was still dilly-dallying here and there, sometimes being this and other times being that. That's usually because Dhojee would always turn up for each session with a new idea.

He was excited about it, yes, what with his constant text messages and e-mails. But if it had gone on like that we'd never get anywhere. I felt at the time that the most important thing was just to get the damn thing out the door and deal with the consequences or improve it later.

Someone had to take charge and since no one appeared willing to shoulder the burden, I said fine, I'll do it. To maintain a semblance of control, I said I'd pay for it out of my own pocket. Then no one can say much.

In this way I bought myself the freedom to name the little project.

We began sounding out potential writers in November and December that year. By January 2005 we'd had our roster of contributors. They were all male, but not by design I can assure you. None except for Saifulizan Tahir had been published in Malay before.

Just to spice things up I thought we should make it multi-racial, so I invited Jerome, Danny Lim and Pang to join in. Jerome and Danny managed to keep to the deadline, and I'm glad we got them in, as their presence added to the book's coolness factor.

The book went into production in March 2005, and was finally finished in May. It was formally launched in June with a reading session at Silverfish. I was supervising an event in Kuantan that weekend, and I had to drive all the way to KL to attend it (because Dhojee at first said he couldn't make it), and then drove back again the same night. It made me fall in love with my dinky little Kelisa even more.

The cover, which some people had enthused about, was actually a misprint. I had orginally designed it so that the title and names of writers would be glossy (they call it Spot UV), whereas the rest of the picture would be in matte. The spot UV folks somehow reversed the design, and that's how we ended up with a glossy cover with a title that looked as though it was reverse-embossed.

Pijat, my friend who did the printing, showed some samples that they had chruned out before they'd realised the mistake. It was this one night and we parked our cars in the side road along Bangsar Shopping Complex. I thought the effect was interesting so I told Pijat to just go ahead with the print run. The rest, as they say, is history.

We had a pre-launch reading at the Darling Muse Gallery in May, courtesy of Bernice Chauly. The session was a minor hit, and that was when I remember thinking, cool, this thing might just work after all.

Of course, we haven't been able to produce 4 books a year (one every quarter) as per the original plan. Much of the blame for that rests entirely on me.

The original strategy I had devised called for pricing the first book so that it would be affordable, yet at the same time make enough to cover the production cost of the next book. Which meant that all I had to do was fork out for the first book, and after that the funding would self-generate.

I thought that was a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. Except that I never factored in distribution difficulties into the equation. That was an oversight that I'm still saddled with now: we still have another 450 unsold copies sitting in the store-room of our supposed distributor.

Amazingly, we'd sold 400 copies entirely by word of mouth. About 150 of those were sold through Silverfishbooks (the only bookstore where you can buy the damned thing - the distributor had told us that they'd approached Times, MPH and Kino but they'd all declined to stock the title. Personally, I think that's just bollocks). The rest were sold by either Nizam Zakaria, Irman or myself through our respective blogs.

Again, that made me think, yeah, this thing could actually work. But it is still a lot of hard work. And now that it's become more like a hobby rather than a main concern, since I'm more focused on getting this graphics design studio stable since July last year, it's harder work still.

Actually, if I were to just put my mind to it I'm sure I can tie up all the loose ends in two weeks, and Aweks KL - the second title - as well as Elarti - the Malay language literary magazine - would be out by May and June respectively. I just need to create clones of me, that's all.

Money to burn and time are the two things I don't exactly have in abundance these days. Yeah, I got a handsome VSS pay-out, but foolishly I'd lent about half of it out to people, and I'm still waiting for half of them to pay me back.

Happily, ever since the Troubagangers event I'd been in contact with the British Council and just being in the loop again is exciting.

It's not like Neohikayat has been dormant in the meantime. We have a semi-active blog (www.neohikayat.blogspot.com). We've sparked a mini revolution of sorts, what with bunches of people now coming out with their own compilations of works in Malay.

Competition? Maybe. But this is all good, because that was one of my stated goals right from the beginning.

Amir, James and Yasmin might not want to make movies with messages, but Neohikayat was always intended as a democratic experiment.

It was never meant to be a money-making business. I wanted to prove that people don't have to depend on the Government for anything in this country, and if there was something wrong that we think ought to be improved, then we should just go ahead and do something about it instead of calling the Malay Mail headline, so to speak.

In this respect, Silverfish New Writing and the DIY film-makers influenced my thinking. But the spiritual godfather of Neohikayat was always the myriad enthusiast communities in the UK who'd produce their own publications from their bedrooms and basements.

They did it simply because they believed in something, and they believed that it was just too important not to do something about it.

I'm glad to see the same spirit beginning to rise up in the limited circle that I call my world. Right now I'm helping a bunch of young people in their early 20's to produce a compilation of their writings. They're a bunch of young punks (literally), which amuses me because you'd never think such a grouping would be interested in something so mundane as literature.

It's great to have such enthusiasm in the young. They need something to latch on to, somewhere to expend the creative energies that build up within them. I've always thought that if we were to allow them more space to express themselves, then what a healthier country we might find ourselves in.

So maybe it's been a year and just one measly book. The more significant achievement, I think, is that this little experiment shows that you can indeed change the world, one person at a time. Yes, even in Malaysia.

No amount of money can buy that kind of satisfaction, I can tell you that.