Readings@No Black Tie on Sunday

Bernice is organising a special edition of Readings at No Black Tie this coming Sunday with a really good list of writers lined up.

Ceritaku at Readings!

For the first time, Live Storytelling in KL!

'Readings' celebrates its 3rd Anniversary and we now welcome the storytellers and 'penglipur lara's' among us. We know you can write, but can you tell a story?

'Ceritaku' is a platform for people who can spin a good ol' fashioned yarn and are not afraid to do it live!

If you have a story to tell, please contact Bernice (012 323 0929)

See you there!

Got a Story to Tell? Here's your Platform!

Bernice Chauly is looking for storytellers for a no Black Tie Gig. Here's her email in all its lowercase splendour, but with links added:

dear friends,

as you may know, the 'readings' that i began in january 2005 at darling muse art gallery celebrates its 3rd anniversary this month. sharon bakar, now brilliantly* runs the monthly readings at 67tempinis satu.. in the middle of 2007, i also started 'readings' at popular jazz bar noblacktie at the invitation of evelyn hii. both venues have achieved success as platforms for new and emerging Malaysian writers, as well as foreign writers who happen to be in Malaysia at the time.

since kl now has an abundance of literary events; 'readings', wayangkata (a british council event), omg (open mike gig at dram projects), maskara (malay poets/writers at rumah pena), suara kata (r a fine art) and an upcoming poetry slam (wordforward s'pore and dram projects), i have decided to open up this platform even more. inspired by stories related by ex-mcoba schoolboys who remembered mr.wilson (aka anthony burgess) at a recent event, and an email from the paris review which was an invitation to an evening of storytelling in new york (www.themoth.org), i have decided to try out a storytelling session at next month's nbt event. this is aimed at celebrating and remembering our 'penglipur lara' tradition as well as to celebrate the natural storytellers among us.. this means that your aunty, uncle, hairdresser, cikgu, taxi-driver, grandmother, cousin, housekeeper, 'siapa-siapa yang you tahu boleh cerita' is welcome to get up on stage and spin a good ol-fashioned yarn.

conditions: no script, no text, max 15 mins, have to be raconteur' style, off the cuff, entertaining, funny, sad, whatever as long as its a good story...and does not suffer from stage-fright!

i know its a bit last-minute, but if you know of anyone who can pull this off (that includes yourself) please let me know asap.

judging from the new york success of these sessions over the past 10 years, i am confident we will be able to inject even more enthusiasm and fun into our literary outings.

a website is in the works for the readings, and well as plans to publish work read and podcast work to come.

date for first storytelling session/reading - still thinking of a name. anyone??
sunday feb 3rd, noblacktie, 9-12pm

pass the word around!
and please let me know latest this sunday

have a great weekend!
bernice

Bernice can be reached at mulutmata at yahoo dot com.

She's certainly right about there being plenty going on and the need for events to differentiate themselves. I think this could be a very exciting venture. (And I wonder, am I brave enough to try myself??)

* Ahem.

(Painting = The Storyteller by David Watson Hood nicked from here.)

Malaysian Writing for Lion City

Here's a nudge or two about good things coming your way ... and coincidentally both initiatives are aimed at promoting Malaysian writing in Singapore.

Don't forget Wayang Kata IV at No Black Tie tonight. You get to choose the poets who represent Malaysia at the Singapore Writers' festival in December. Here's the poster below. Click to enlarge.

And if any of you are heading south of the border this weekend you might like to catch the launch party for four Malaysian authors Kam Raslan, Dina Zaman, Amir Muhamad and Shahril Nizam at the Substation. It promises to be a very exciting event and I wish I could be there.

Very Well Versed

Had a lovely surprise waiting for me when I got home today, a package of good things from Sunitha of British Council. (Many thanks!) First a copy of New Writing 15 edited by Bernadine Evaristo and Maggie Gee with plenty of good stuff inside - poetry and prose from exciting writers around the globe. (You can read about it and even read some of the pieces here.)

And then I found in the envelope something that I thought even better - three copies of a collection called Wellversed which pulls together the poetry of the writers who worked with the British Council as part of their programme to bring performance poetry to KL and/or performed at the Wayang Kata performances at La Bodega and No Black Tie.

Is Kuala Lumpur turning into some kind of poetry hot spot?

asks the intro to the collection.

Well if it is, the largest share of praise must surely go to British Council for making something really great happen here. For being the catalyst that has got so much else moving.

Sunday Night at No Black Tie

Missed most of the live lit events this weekend but did manage it to make it to No Black Tie for the episode of "Readings" Bernice organised, Sunday night.

The lady herself.

Jit read an excellent memoir piece on "sexuality and religiosity". Funny and honest. Beautifully written but with a real Malaysian voice. Hope this material gets collected and published. I still have some of the pages I found on the floor later. Will keep them for posterity.

Canadian Jordan MacVay was a big hit at Seksan's when he read an extract from the non-fiction novel he's working on. He's further along now, and read the complete chapter four in which Rizal and his friend are floating in a raft in the sea after the tsunami, and encounter a group of naked girls drifting in the branches of an uprooted tree. Again, I was very moved by this material and want to shout out to publishers across the world that this novel needs to be put out into the world!

Young Nicholas Wong, now growing his hair back after his National Service stint. Nic will be heading off to Columbia University later this month. He read a poem about a cleaning lady; Nicobar Pigeon; Son-net; and then "a triptych" (lovely word!) of philosophical poems - the first on beauty dedicated to Sharanya. He also played the piano - and he is good, really good. (I feel that it would be fairer if talented were more evenly distributed.) He had his mum, dad and little brother there to cheer him on.

After the break, playwright Ann Lee read a wonderfully surreal peace called Perpustakaan (Library). I never knew that stage directions could be so poetic. She was going to read another piece but it was getting late so we didn't get to hear it. (Another time, I hope.)

I had to leave before midnight as I had to get up very early for work, and so sadly I missed Sharanya and Bernice read.

I must say I like the venue very much ... but why do all cab drivers in that area seem to want to charge three times the fare even before midnight??

"Readings" at NoBlackTie

There are in fact two "Readings" events next weekend. The event at Seksan's on Saturday which I've already blogged, and a second event on Sunday July 1st at No Black Tie at 9.30 p.m. which Bernice has put together. This features the star-studded cast of :

• Dina Zaman
• Rehman Rashid
• Kam Raslan
• Salleh ben Joned

There's a cover charge of RM15, but NoBlackTie has kindly offered 'happy hour' alcohol prices all night.

Books by the authors will be on sale.

For reservations please call 03-2142 3737 or email noblacktie@gmail.com.

Suddenly there's so much more happening! MASKARA, KLue readings, NoBlackTie, Jerome also talking about getting some Poetika readings started at The Attic. Not to mention bookshop readings and other events.

But this event should be very interesting. I'm glad Bernice has managed to coax Rehman out to read. Salleh was not well during the Litfest when he was supposed to launch his new book of poetry Adam's Dream. (Raman is actually having the launch for the book in July.) Kam and Dina well deserve their honour laps, both their books are doing extremely well.

Namaya at No Black Tie

Hot news via the British Council!

We are delighted to announce that No Black Tie, the venue of our popular Wayang Kata series, has now started hosting regular spoken word events. They launched their first monthly event on the 1st of April, and are following up with another one this Saturday 21st, with a poet introduced to them by our soulful UK poet Malika Booker!

We’re so pleased, we have to pass on the good news.

April 21 ~ Saturday NAMAYA LIVE!

Namaya is an internationally renowned high wire performance artist of the spoken word. NAMAYA LIVE! is a fun, energetic fusion of spoken word, music, stories, & multimedia. He has performed on European tours which have included Denmark, England (with a show at the celebrated "Apples & Snakes" in London) & Holland. In 2006 he performed in New York at the Bowery, throughout the US, Ireland, Japan, and an extended tour in New Zealand . With his virtual electronic band the Jazz Beat Experience he weaves a magical spell of jazz, blues, and an astonishing flight of words.

"...hip, sexy, irreverent, and very political."

Equally engaging is Namaya's ability to spontaneously create poems and stories drawn from the suggestions of the audience; one performance in Amsterdam had the crowd cheering for more poems of, "Flying pigs, greasy chicken thighs, quantum physics and true love." Visit www.vermontpoet.com and http://www.jazzbeatblues.com to sample poems, audio clips, and a small video of a recent live show. The Nuyorican Café in NYC said, "Great show!"

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Apples and Snakes in London

"Encore!" said The Winston in Amsterdam

Performance starts at 10pm. Entrance: rm40

For reservation please call 21423737 or email noblacktie@gmail.com

No Black Tie

17 Jalan Mesui

KL 50200