Poetic Passions

Ahnaf in today's Starmag does a very good job of providing an overview of what's happening on the live literary scene in KL. Noting that:

Over the past two years, the idea of poets performing their work rather than just writing for themselves or simply reading it aloud has become increasingly popular ...

he interviews local performance poets Priya Kulasegaran and George Wielgus (left - and soon to appear at Readings@Seksan) as well as Bernice Chauly and Chris Mooney-Singh of WordForward who is bringing Poetry Slam to KL.

Priya talks about how audiences for Project OMG have been steadily growing through word of mouth and I think she's right when she says:

Younger people like us are getting involved ... After being fed the kind of music you’re supposed to listen to, and the kind of movies you’re supposed to watch, there’s a kind of reaction.

I'm glad that the piece also highlights the contribution of the British Council and the Wayang Kata events and workshops it organises and also the wonderful irony that the organisation that has done most to encourage a local literary scene is a foreign one.

Bernice Chauly talks about how live literature events have helped to create a much-needed sense of community among local writers, and also how our Malaysian authors doing so well on the world stage, have really done a lot to encourage local writers as well. Bernice says that when Tash Aw won the Whitbread first novel award in 2005:

It was like, ‘Oh wow, Malaysians? Writers? Really? So good, ah? Wow.’

Yeah, that good. Believe it!

Note: Links to the organisers of spoken words events are listed in a side-bar. The email given to contact me about Readings is wrong - please use sharonbakar@yahoo.com if you want to get in touch.

Some January Events for Your Diary

Here's are some not-to-be-missed January lit events to put in your diary.

How great that another venue for live literature has sprung up. Raja Ahmad has a great list of readers for Kata-Suara, to be held at his very beautiful gallery on Saturday 19th January. Do support! (More on Ted's blog.)

The monthly MPH Writer's Circle meeting takes place on 19th January too (11.00am - 12.30pm in the Booker Room.) I think these meetings are very worthwhile, particularly as you get to know so much about author's experiences of getting published and marketing their books. Sadly, they haven't been attended as well as they deserve to be. This month's guest is Jason Fong, author of Feng Shui in the City. So if you want to write a book on Feng-Shui (and I must confess I've toyed with the idea) or if you want to hear another author's "war-story" about how you move from initial concept to finished book, do come along.

If you like crime fiction, you might like to meet Singapore's answer to Agatha Christie! Shamini Flint (left) is launching her second detective novel, Criminal Minds at the La Bodega Lounge on Monday 21st Jalan Telawi 2 at 7.45. (More about this author another day.)

You are probably aware that MPH have a monthly book-discussion, and you can get a 20% discount on the chosen title.

This month focuses on Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain, and to make this an extra-special meeting - the author himself will be there to talk about the book and answer your questions. (Eh, how often you got chance to chat to a Booker-nominated author, especially of the home-grown variety?)

If you haven't read the book yet (and you should because 1) it's a great big passionate, exciting read 2) you will enjoy the Penang setting 3) Malaysia really boleh in this instance, so you can enjoy feeling proud), then you have nine more days to buy it and read it

(MPH as usual has lots on, which you can check out here.)

Readings@Seksan's is on Saturday 26th January, and I'll be putting up the line-up very soon. It will be a very special readings as we are celebrating our third birthday and need you help to blow out the candles! Tunku Halim will be among the readers, and he will also be appearing at MPH's Breakfast Club at the Bangsar Village 2 branch at 11 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. (He will be appearing at several other events while he is in town, and has listed these on his blog.)

That same afternoon Indonesian authors Lakshmi Pamuntjak and Goenawan Mohamad are appearing at Silverfish at 5 p.m. (Come to Readings first and then skip over the road!) Goenawan will be launching On God and Other Things, the English translation of his book of aphorisms, Tentang Tuhan dan Hal-Hal yang Tak Selesai. This event is sponsored by the Malaysian International Literature Society (MILS).

You can also catch Lakshmi and Goenawan at a talk at the English Department, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty Universiti Malaya at 9 a.m. (I kid you not!) on Sunday 27th January. If you'd like to attend, contact Catalina Rembuyan or via Facebook. I plan to be there ... but can't guarantee to be awake.

Feel like a party? Project Open Mike Gig are inviting you to a night of mayhem on Sunday 27th January 7.30 till very late at The Dram Projects BG-6 Happy Mansions, Jalan 17/13, P.J.
This from their Facebook ad:

Because this is an OMG event, anyone who feels like whipping out a guitar should feel free. Poets are, however, advised to keep it to no more than 17 stanzas. And no free verse about curry leaves! Mostly, however, it's a party, which means Doritos, dancing and debauchery [in that order]. Bring a bottle or three!!!

Who can resist?

Phew! Have I forgotten anything? Do let me know in the comments and I'll append it.

Live Lit KL - Looking Back, Looking Forward

This has been a year when live literature in KL has gone from strength to strength, and in a way we could not have imagined I think, a year of two back. What follows is an overview of what's happened, and then, if you have the patience to read to the end, I want to solicit your opinions about the direction we're headed in.

The British Council have continued to be major movers and shakers of the local literary scene bringing poets (This year Benjamin Zephaniah, Charlie Dark and Jacob Sam-La Rose) out from the UK to perform and run workshops. There was even publication Well Versed containing the work of some of our fledgling performance poets, and Jasmine Low and Jerome Kugan have worked with British Council to organize entertaining evenings of performance poetry and music under the banner Wayang Kata.

There were signs of our own poets "coming of age". Sharanya was brave enough to put on a one woman show before she had to leave for India, and was invited to the Singapore Writers Festival to give a solo reading. Priya, Liyana and Divya appeared with Charlie Dark at the same festival, and the poet said some very complimentary things about the local pool of talent.

Project OMG proved a great forum for young writers, Klue Magazine continued to run their Words and Tunes event this time in conjunction with MPH bookstores.

I have thoroughly enjoyed organising Readings@Seksan's, which as you know, I took over from Bernice Chauly. It has been a challenge to seek out (bully and cajole!) interesting folks into putting their words out before an audience. Where these readings have, I hope, differentiated themselves from the other live-lit events happening in the Klang Valley is in providing more of a forum for prose writing (fiction and non-fiction) along with poetry. I've also aimed for as diverse a collection of readers on any of those Saturday afternoons as possible ... though I don't think that I've done a good enough job tapping into the Malay writing scene, and this bothers me because I'd like to see writers coming together and sharing whatever their language of choice.

Our international "special" at Central Market was for me one of the highpoints of the year, and again, I have to thank British Council for that.

Bernice adopted a second baby this year, in the form of Readings@No Black Tie, held on the first Sunday night of the month, a more "upmarket" version of the Seksan readings held in a more nightclubby setting with some excellent talent on hand to entertain.

Maskara, the monthly readings event focusing on writing in Malay was started by Vovin and friends, and run along similar lines to the Seksan events at Rumah Pena.

All these events look set to continue running and building on their success in 2008, and lets add one more really great thing on top of them.

Some of you will remember our Cross-Causway Poetry Slam, held earlier this year at Seksan. Well, Chris Mooney-Singh and his wife Savinder who run WordForward in Singapore, will be bringing poetry slams to KL on a regular basis, starting we hope in February. We also hope that there will be a lot of spin-off events such as themed slams and workshops radiating out from this.

Now then, my first (multi-part!) question to you - are we in danger of having too much going on in the city, and how do we ensure that events don't clash or crowd so tightly together on the calendar that we steal each others audiences or cause our fans to overdose on spoken word? Or are the audiences totally different for each event so that the question is academic?

This question bothers Bernice and I a lot, and we decided that we would organise only one Readings event each month, alternating between Seksan and No Black Tie. (So Readings@Seksans will be bi-monthly in 2008 rather than monthly as it has been this year.)

This gives me a little more breathing space and also gives me time to plan for some alternative kinds of literary happenings. (News of one to be posted very soon!)

My second question (equally multi-part!) is which live lit events have you attended this year and which did you like best? How could the organisers (inc. me!) do what we do better? (Please do be honest.) What would you like to see happen in 2008?

What I have found particularly heartening this year is the way that the organisers of these events have networked with each other, and the way audiences (without which nothing at all would happen!) have supported live lit events and made them viable.

OMG - It's Merdeka!!

Project OMG! : The Merdeka Session

Date: 19 August 2007

Time: 8 pm

Venue: Dram Projects Studio Block B, Happy Mansion Jalan 17/13, Petaling Jaya

Admission: Free!

Oh My Gosh - It's OMG!

Message from Priya K:

Just wanted to let you know that the next Project OMG! gig will be on the 19th of August at Dram Projects. We're looking for poets/writers/general ruckus-causing participants for the event, so would you please help spread the word? :) We've also decided on a general theme of sorts, in conjunction with the Merdeka related hype of the month - so we are leaning towards Malaysia-related content. It can be pro-patriotism or anti-government or whatever, as long as it relates to the your experiences of what being Malaysian or living in Malaysia is all about.

If you want to take part contact her: priyaish at gmail dot com.

The Young Ones

Would you believe our slam has made the papers yet again? This time it's mentioned in a very nicely written piece about our young performance poets by Syarifah Syaliza Alia in the Youth section of today's Star.

Syar interviews Sharanya (photo left, by Leon Wing), as well as Project OMG's Pat Low and Priya K (below) and Nicholas Wong.

I love Priya's can-do attitude, which is really Project OMG's whole attitude:

Anyone can hold a reading, even if I don’t like to admit it ... You just need the commitment, how much you’re willing to put into it.

Just do it lah, don't wait for permission.

And here's a quotable quote from Nic:

I think young writers nowadays are quite self-absorbed in their art ... They see it (their poetry) as a means of expressing themselves primarily and not see it as a collective responsibility to speak for others, to others.

If young guys like these represent the future of poetry in this country, then let's just say, it's in excellent hands.

Food Foundary Poets

Saturday afternoon at the Food Foundry, the young poets came out to play. Two workshop sessions with Jacob Sam-La Rose (above) resulted in new pieces and an increased confidence of delivery. Each young (at heart in Datuk Shan's case!) poet read three pieces - two old, one new, none borrowed, some blue.

Jacob introduced them, encouraged them, made us laugh, elicited cheers and applause, and read some very fine pieces of his own.

We listened, and let in whatever had the right shape and dimensions to slip inside our ears and lodge in our hearts. That wasn't everything, but whenever these poets were able to move far enough out from their self-conscious selves, and give us what had really touched them so that it could really touch us ... magic happened. Enough magic to make the afternoon very worthwhile.

Priya K is blossoming as a writer and reader of her work. Her poem about KL captured the city very well.

Liyana Yusof wrote movingly about a breakdown, about two souls in a salt-shaker ... but the best piece was a tiny poem about her grandparents.

Catalina Rebuyan read a few nights earlier at No Black Tie and impressed me. Her first poem was about controversial Sarawakian blogger Sixthseal. She also read the poem about the road through the hill that she has read at NBT, but I actually preferred her delivery of it there - it seemed more natural, more her.

There's one poet I forgot to photograph altogether, I realise now, putting this up. (Guilt!) It was Chan Sow Ping, who says about the workshop that she was "pushed to dream in words".


Datuk Shan captured during the interval. He read Mamee's Talk, Green Revolution and Rolling in But Kicking Out.

A better pic of Jacob.

Nicholas Wong, much teased for his lovely (natural) curls. His first poem made the most impression on me - a journey in a red sports car and a conversation about black holes ... inspired by his lift in Reza's lovely Lotus after NBT.

Divya Jiwa read Changing, and The Ways of You, and one as yet untitled piece.

Zalikha Harun is a lady with a big personality and a lot of style. She warned us that her poems were abstract and read to us Aries/Sagittarius, a poem about "jangling memorabilia", and about how people underestimate the power of widening vocabulary.

Sharanya Manivannan read a poem she had written in Jacob's workshop about hair - his and hers. Sexy stuff.

This photo is the most telling of the lot, perhaps. After the event, after most of the audience had trickled back home, Jacob sat with the poets for a very detailed post-mortem of their readings. It sounded like tough love.

I admire Jacob's commitment and all the hard work both he and the poets put in for this afternoon.

Nic's Nicobar Pigeon

You may have noticed the young man I've been bullying at recent readings, making him fetch and carry heavy loads, put out chairs, sell copies of Elarti and at Seksan's open the wine bottles and wash the glasses. One of these days I'm sure he's going to exact his revenge and that I'll find my big bossy self between the pages of a book. Even though Nic is 17 (and I do tend to be horrible patronising to talented 17 year olds as kG knows), he's already got an impressive writer's CV, and has a scholarship to read creative writing and literature at Columbia University.

When I gave him a lift home the other day, he let slip that he has just had a poem published in what is perhaps the most-prestigious British poetry journal, Rialto in the Young Poets section. I asked Nic to send me a scan from his copy, and here it is below (click to enlarge).*

Will be getting him to read at Seksan's a little down the line. (He's already strutted his stuff at Indie Scene cafe and for Project OMG). But he still has to wash the glasses.**

Meanwhile, Nic's at a bit of loose end between school and university and longing for some local friends to talk deep literary stuff with. (His school friends are all in Singapore and roped in to do their National Service.) Someone please take him out for a cup of poetic coffee. He might be superbright but he's a really nice guy too.

(Literary Lonely Hearts Column ...)

*Some ornitholgical info might help your reading.
**You can also enjoy his poem Carry On on the QLRS site.


(Pic stolen from Project OMG)