Shifting the Course Over Tea

Got invited to be a forum panelist at MPH's Saturday event - the annual Hi Tea for Local Authors. It was a great chance to meet friends and make new ones - even though some of the folks I'd hoped would be there couldn't make it.
 The panel discusion. The question before us:

What is the direction of the local industry based on current developments? Is this where we want to head, or should we collectively shift the course of things to come?

A whopping big question. Janet Tay (above, far right) chaired the discussion. The rest of us grabbed a bit of the elephant to describe.

Nisah Haron (below, holding the mic) talked about the problem of lack of promotion of especially for Malay writers and the need for an "Oprah Bookclub" on TV. Nafisah Ahamad of the National Library (in blue below) gave some good news about the development of 425 rural libraries, and said that 14,000 titles had been published locally so far this year.

I talked a bit too long and I'm not sure how interested everyone was in my tuppence worth because I wanted to focus more on fiction. (A genre not much talked about at these kind of events.)

I talked about the need to develop and encourage new writing talent while raising critical standards. (Hobby horse lah!)

I also wagged a stern finger school-marmishly at those who put out work which is badly edited and proofread, and told 'em that that their competitors were not the other authors in the room, but also every author from overseas whose books hit the shelves. You have to be as good as: not merely good enough for the local market, I said. And I had to slip in something about the overseas published novelists (and also Kam, published locally) raising the bar too. (Wonder if local authors wanted to hear any of this??)

Datuk Ng Tieh Chuan CEO of MPH (above centre) gave a very interesting speech. We don't have a direction, he said, we are quite lost and writers are too left to fend for themselves.

Nevertheless he said, we are ready for the global market. MPH is planning to set up an export division to make available the work of local writers regionally and globally. He also talked of the need to form a guild for local writers to provide advice and practical support.

Then there was a Q&A. Antares talked about US protectionism; CEan about the high cost of postage on books from Malaysia (there needs to be a books postal rate!); an author called Rozita (?) had more to say about the shops not promoting her book and not reordering when stock ran out. Several more authors made observations or asked questions, but the discussion slipped away from the big picture to the small one: the me-and-my-book. Understandable. The big picture is so big that it would merit a conference to thrash out issues properly.

Datuk Mohd. Zaid Ibrahim, (MP for Kota Bharu) who has just launched his new book In Good Faith said a few words before rushing off to his next appointment, and then Datuk Ng invited Rehman Rashid to say a few words. He told the story of the publication of A Malaysian Journey, and the way it continues to resonate with the Malaysian public.

Then the formal part was over. Authors posed for group photos. Hugs were exchanged, curry puffs were eaten, photos snapped.

Here's one I love, of Nisah and baby. We're friends who have met through blogs and by e-mail but never in the real world before. I also met Choong Kwee Kim, another online friend who materialised in the flesh!

Rehman (the handsome one), Lydia Teh (the little one) and me (the one with the inane grin) with Gerald Chuah (the one who looks like Rocky) in the background.

Thanks MPH for inviting me.

KLILF Hanger

Yesterday, of course, the media launch of the The KL International Literary Festival (which now goes by the acronym KLILF!) at Bangsar Village which is to be held in various venues in Bangsar 28th March - 1st April.

The guest of honour was YB Dato' Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minster of Women, Family and Community Development, who also happens to be the MP for Lembah Pantai (the constituency which includes Bangsar). She turned up a fashionable one hour late, as Ministers are always wont to do. For me the time was well spent, though, chatting to Saras, Dina, Adam, MPH's Dato Ng and others, and getting a Starbucks caffeine fix to propel me through the morning.

Here is Shahrizat making a grand entrance. The others are (left to right) Professor Lim Chee Seng, Raman, Tunku Halim with his back to the camera, Datuk Shanmugalingam (with the beard) and (in the corner) Dato' Ng Tieh Chuan of MPH.

Professor Lim introduced the event, and then Ronald Quay Ong Guan (above) the President of Bangsar Baru Business Council made a speech ... not only pointing out that Bangsar is a great venue for the festival but also asking for a community library for the area.

Ronald is the proprietor of the pub Ronnie Q's - the sporting pub where all my rugger bugger friends hang out on match nights. Now it's going to be transformed into a venue for Literature!

Dato' Seri Shahrizat's speech was nicely delivered and natural. It seems that she, Raman and Prof. Lim were all students at Universiti Malaya's Fifth College, at the same time. She also talked about the intellectual depth of Bangsar residents (haha!) which made the area an ideal one a litfest.

Professor Lim then read some favourite poetry ... and what a nice thing to have happen midweek just outside the supermarket! We had a sonnet by Petrach in Italian, Shakespeare's Sonnets 18 and 130, a Chinese student read poems by Li Po and Su Shi. Prof. Lim added a little John Donne, Tagore and Usman Awang much to the bemusement of pass-by shoppers, and then it was time to eat.

The lovely food was catered by the Hilton, but I was so busy gossiping to a whole range of people that I didn't eat much and went home hungry afterwards. Above, Raman with Eoin Duggan, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Ireland.

I'm glad Raman and Prof. Lim decided to use Bangsar as a venue (which I suggested to them both way back - common sense, innit?). The venues there should be more relaxed and informal than in some impersonal ballroom of some stuffy hotel, and dropping out to have a nice coffee or meal and gossip will be easy too. I'm glad too that the dull academic part of the festival has been dropped and there is no utterly confusing pricing structure this time.

In fact I'm looking forward to the festival. Have you registered yet? Get in before March 15th to get an Early Bird discount.

There are incidentally much better pics on Raman's site. Watch the slideshow and see how many faces you can name.

Oh and yes, here's the flier to pass on and stick on your blogs. Doesn't seem to be on Raman's site yet.