Cooking Up A Stormkitchen

Author and Publisher Amri Ruhayat (aka Ruhayat X), talks to Bissme S. in The Sun and I think some of his comments are bound to stir up some lively discussion.

On the philosophy behind his imprint, Stormkitchen, he says :

A stormkitchen is this cheap cooker you use on camping trips. It is simple and utilitarian. That is the underlying philosophy: to make writing fun. Even frivolous. ... My belief and experience is that young Malays are repressed. Our society behaves like it does not welcome young ideas … That these youngsters have no value. Fair enough. But we still need to give the young an outlet to express themselves safely before it gets too late. Otherwise it will be like a pressure cooker without a safety valve. But there are not many places where they can be creative and expressive. I wanted to give them one such platform. If they go to mainstream publications, they are unlikely to get published. ... Maybe it is simply the job of the mainstream anywhere to not tolerate alternative viewpoints. Or maybe it is simply because often there are no messages in these "karya picisan" (unimportant works). When I first started out I was often asked: "What is the message of the story? What is the moral?" But heck, not every story needs to have a moral purpose.

No moral values writ large, to cram down kids' throats?? *Blink*

I feel the same, but Amri says it better :

A writer needs to be aware that whatever he writes will have an influence on at least someone. If words have no weight then people would not have burnt books or prosecuted writers throughout history. But honestly, a writer of fiction should write for no reason other than to tell a story. It is not for the writer to guide society. In the realm of fiction, the story should operate on its own moral terms. That is what separates it from reality. ... I do believe that writers have a responsibility, but that responsibility is simply that they should be true to themselves. Anyone who writes deliberately with a subtext in mind is being manipulative, if not naive. Today you cannot dictate what the subtext is going to be anymore.

He also talks about his challenges in running the magazine Elarti. Besides the financial burden he says the publication hasn't been appearing because :

... we just don’t get enough quality contributions. And my bar is not set very high, so that ought to give you something to think about.

And not enough writers are prepared to challenge convention, which, he says, may be a result of upbringing :

Traditionally, the Malays are not outspoken. Even when we criticise, we are very polite. We do not say things directly to your face. For example, if you asked us to do something, we always say "Insya Allah" even when we already know we are not going to do it. It is one of the things I admire about this culture, but these days it is not always the right solution.

He also reckons :

Culture has become stagnant and stereotypical here.

Do the rest of you reckon things are as bleak as Amri paints them? I see writing in English really taking off in Malaysia ... at all levels. But am not at all qualified to talk about writing in Malay. And if Amri's right - then is there anything we can do?

Hallowe'en Hauntings

The Ghosts, Threesomes and Taxi booklaunch on Halloween night at Rahsia restaurant was tremendous fun. (Although it's murder trying to find a parking space for a broomstick on halloween night in central KL.) I was in real huggy kissy mode in my fancy witches hat. Amir and I look particularly good together, don't you think?

A few more pics on my Facebook page. There are also great pictures taken by Grace Chin on Danny Lim's page. Amri Rohayat's pics are of course extra classy.

Spooky Book Launch for Undead Malaysians

If you aren't too busy revving your broomstick or sticking your fangs into people's necks or otherwise scaring up the neighborhood, you might like to attend a truly ghoulish halloween launch of not one but several books by ZI publications, Matahari Books and Oxygen.

The books involved are :

Taxi by Khaled al-Khamissi (ZI Publications) (RM25)
The Malaysian Book of The Undead by Danny Lim (Matahari Books) (RM20)

Three mini-books, collectively known as Tiga, published by Oxygen:
- Lost in KL by Bernice Chauly (RM7)
- Kayangan by Ruhayat X (RM7)
- Pasca Manusia by Sufian Abas (RM7)

You are all invited to this unique event. Please see the event's Facebook page for more details and RSVP your attendance there.

Date: Friday, Oct 31st, 2008
Venue: Rahsia Restaurant, KL
Time: 8.00pm - 10.00pm
Dress: Costume (ghost, ancient Egyptian, as yourself, anything you want...).

More about the books later on.

Those Amazing Alternatif Malay Boys

Are these guys in the vanguard of alternative Malay literature?

There is a very nice piece today in The Sun about Sufian Abas and Ruhayat X, plugging their recent publications.

Sufian, the author of Kasut Biru Rubina is not too happy with being called "alternative", feeling the word is over used. Instead he wants to make fiction in Bahasa Malaysia more accessible to the masses :

It is not about changing the literature scene. I want to create books that I want to read ...

The shy guy who does not like giving interviews tells the interviewer :

You can invent anything about me …. You can say I was a kampung boy who was gang-raped by beruks (apes). A writer should not say anything. It is his work that should be talking.

Ruhayat X sees Aweks KL as :

... a platform for new voices to emerge ... If they [these writers] had submitted their works to Utusan Malaysia or Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, it would never have been published. ... It doesn’t mean these writers have nothing legitimate to say. I think they should be able to say it; then, we will have a more colourful culture instead of a culture that is just dictated by a certain establishment.

And he's actually quite proud that the National Library refused to co-launch the book!

I do not know whether this book is daring or not ... From what I understand, the writers are just writing whatever they felt was the truth. What’s surprising is that a majority of the stories deal with deprivation. That should say something about Malaysian culture. ... Some people are surprised by the themes. Some are repulsed but at the same time attracted to them ... I just thought these people should be heard. It is not supposed to be provocative; it is supposed to be a reflection of the plural culture we live in.

(Picture is nicked from The Sun which nicked it from my blog! Haha.)

KLAB Curry

Went to the first day of the KL Alternative Bookfair yesterday, and it was a really fun event where I couldn't turn without getting hugged by yet another bookloving friend.

Chet was doing a brilliant job organising a free book stall where people could donate books and take up to three donated by someone else. I took along a couple of bags of books and took just one - a historical imprint about tigers in Terengganu, but I was sad when I got the book hope later and found pages seriously infected with mildew!

Noorul was selling books in aid of the Malaysia-UK Exchange.

Ted was selling books for Suara-Suara publications, and also selling off some books Raja Ahmad had culled from his shelves, so I bought Prizewinning Asian Fiction by Leon Comber.

Bought a copy of poet/singer-songwriter Jerome Kugan's excellent first album Songs for Shadows. (Listen to songs here.) Also really love Shahril Nizam's art work on the cover.

Writer-publishers Sufian Abas and RuhayatX also had a table to flog their books. I'm glad to hear that the next edition of Elarti is due out soon.

Malaysian Bookcrossers were also giving away books - the only catch - you have to pass the book on to someone when you're done with it and register it online so that its journey can be tracked.

Bersih (The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections) launched (with a little help from Bubu the Clown) Selak a stunning book of photographs of the November 10th Rally. I didn't stay long because I realised I was hungry and there was so much else on in the afternoon. Guat came with me to enjoy the delights of the mamak shop downstairs. (Best naan and tandoori in the city?)

The lovely Farish Noor (looking remarkably gym-toned) on his way to talk give his talk about post-colonial race politics.

(More pictures to come.)

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.

Blue Shoes and Silverfish

Saras came by yesterday bearing the gift of a copy of Silverfish New Writing 7, in which her short story Invisible appears. (Some of you will have heard it when she last read at Seksan's.) There are also stories by Wena Poon (in next Saturday's line-up), and Yusof Martin , Robert Raymer, Viren Swami, Peter Brown and others. The collection is this time edited by South-African academic Ashraf Jamal, and Shanti Moorthy (whom I suddenly realised I had met ... she's the daughter of a very dear friend of my husband's. Small world, huh.)

If there's anyone whose story is included would like to read at Seksan's, please let me know, okay?

The cover by those amazing malay boys (Sufian Abas and Ruhayat X) is so nice, especially so as I recognise Saras' house and my friends in the moody sepia photo!

And talking about Sufian Abas, his new book Kasut Biru Rubina (Rubina's Blue Shoes) is now out, and can also be bought from Silverfish. Here's the blurb and it sounds intriguing :

A woman wakes up without her body. A boy tries to endure the pain of being an adult when mini animals start to come out of his anus. What do you do when angels forgot to bring a unicorn for your daughter's birthday? And are all shoes evil or just the blue ones?

Many of the characters in Kasut Biru Rubina want to live ordinary lives. But the unexpected happen. Brief, shocking, and full of lies that can only come from the twisted mind of Nigerian scammers, Sufian Abas' stories are snapshots that illuminate the strange hidden in a world we never want to live in.

Sufian will also be reading at Seksan's this Saturday.

The Long and Winding Birth-Canal of Elarti

Exclusively guest-blogged by Ruhayat X!

Elarti is a project five years in the making. The idea actually came before Wilayah Kutu, because in our naivete we thought a magazine would be simpler to manage than a book.

Not only is it more expensive to produce, it is also probably as close to a commitment as I will have; in the near future, at least. For, now that the almost-stillborn foetus is ejected into the world, I suddenly find that we have to keep it going.

Alarming, maybe, but true. This was not what I had signed up for. Elarti was merely supposed to be a proof of concept, something to be done just to show that it can be done. It was never meant to be a proper business. But now people are expecting it to be one.

There is a reason for my cautiousness: the magazines that have tried this before had all failed. To me, it's a sign that this is not something you should take too seriously. You do it only because you can, not to profit financially from it.

When you talk about Neohikayat Press, you're not talking about a company. It's just Irman and I, two guys and a Mac who do have daytime jobs. I don't know about him, but ever since I left the corporate sector most of the time I struggle to survive. So we come out with something whenever I have spare change. No, Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore.

That's why we can only make Elarti a quarterly -- because that would give me time to save up to fund each issue.

Why self-funding? Advertising would have entailed some kind of compromise; I've been in situations where advertisers insisted on dictating terms concerning the content and placement of the ads. Not acceptable.

Elarti must be completely independent. This is our space, dammit. It is also why we're not going for Government grants or endorsements.

And besides, like I have said before, Elarti is really a social experiment. I want to see if people out there are willing to walk the talk and put money and printouts where their mouths are.

Just as the cover charge for the launch issue was an experiment: Irman was the one who suggested we open it for donations because maybe we'd get a bit more that way for the 50 copies. I was merely interested to see how much value people would put on something like this. I got my answer, and I am not wholly unhappy.

In case you're interested, here is the genesis of Elarti:

The original inspiration was the many zines I'd come across in Malaysia (mainly photocopied cut-n-paste montages done by rabid punk and heavy metal fans) and later the UK (mainly by socialists and artists, which often are one and the same thing). They were produced from the bedrooms of individuals or amateur groups who just felt strongly about something and thought it was too important to not get the message out there.

I am drawn to these things like a fly to a bug-zapper. I've always enjoyed pamphleteering, starting from secondary school to university and then later when I was involved in a small group called the Young Writers Club back in the late-90's. It's kinship.

Anyway. The bunch of us -- Irman, Amir Muhammad, etc -- were sitting around our then-regular teh tarik session in Bangsar before it started going downhill, idly musing about things the way people do. Something needed to be done about Malay writing and someone
should do it, we felt. But for a long while it was just that: talk.

The next inspiration was Rebel Press, an independent setup in the UK that churns out obscure out-of-print works (and, later, original works by relatively unknown authors).

I liked the name. I liked the attitude. I liked the why.

Most of all, I liked the way they worked. My first contact with a Rebel Press production was a tiny book -- a collection of short stories -- given away with a large-circulation men's magazine (no, not the one with bunnies in them, even though I also did buy those for the - ahem - articles and - err - splendid interviews). This was in 1997, I think. My tiny mind was impressed.

Over time I thought about it and felt there was a niche for something small and light that people could buy and read on their daily commute. Hence the name.

And then I came across articles about some company putting up vending machines that dispense mini books for a paltry sum at European LRT terminals (Parisian, perhaps, or maybe London. Who knows -- these Europeans all look the same to me. Wink wink.)

But by far the biggest influence was this magazine called Zembla.

It was hip, kooky or juvenile, depending on who you are. And it spoke of writing in a way that was fresh. One blog described it as a cross between Vogue and a sixth-form school magazine. The layouts were arresting, and some of the articles had intriguing concepts (interview with dead authors, authors reviewing their own books, celebrities like Rachel Weiss interviewing their favourite writers).

Zembla tanked after 8 or 9 issues. You can still see a couple of the covers here.

Elarti's resemblance to Zembla, needless to say, should be apparent.

And then, five years later, here we are.

Sometimes we do something not knowing what the outcome will be. But if you don't reach out -- standing on tiptoe -- and touch the kettle on the kitchen counter, how are you to know that it would scald you? On some days I live for those kind of moments. Childishness -- and a touch of madness -- is what we need in these times.

What struck me most at the launch on Saturday was not so much the expectations people have of the magazine. Rather, it was the experience of having all these writers coming up to me wanting to know if they could please send in their works to be published in future issues.

It seems to me that a lot of creative people here -- new voices doing weird new things, mainly ("My poetry is very, very erotic, is that okay?") -- have been starved of an outlet and here is a platform on which they can be heard.

Which is exactly what Elarti is supposed to do: unearth new talent and present them to the world, without judgment.

Here's hoping it will succeed beyond expectations and then a big publisher jumps in with their own title and kills off Elarti. That would relieve me of my obligation and then I can go off and do something else.

Related Posts:

The Birth of Neohikayat (14/5/06)
All Aboard the Elarti (8/8/06)
Getting Elarti on Track (18/12/06)
Stesyen Elarti (25/12/06)

Stesyen Elarti

Saturday was of course the launch of the first edition of Elarti at Seksan's. I didn't know who was reading until Ruhayat X (aka Amri Ruhayat) and his sidekick Sufian Abas turned up a short while before the whole thing began, bearing the long awaited first copies.

It's a slimmer volume that Amri had wanted it to be, because he did not get the avalanche of entries he'd wanted and the financing of it was also touch and go. But now the magazine is idea made manifest, I'm sure the project will keep rolling, and the contributions for the next and the next and the next issue will come flooding in! This is the place for your writing!

The layout of the magazine is classy with lots of grainy black and white photos. And there's some very interesting content. The features and fiction are mainly in Malay (a challenge to my reading skills but one I will enjoy!). There's an interview with Nizam Zakaria by Diana Dirani, book reviews by ... Monyet di Mesin Taip (Monkey on a Typewriter - clever monkey!) an exhortation to Penulis dammit menulislah! (Write, dammit, write!) by Ruhayat X, which everyone should take to heart ... and there's much more. And then the best section of all - Zon Kreatif - with stories and poetry from Diana Dirani, Sufian Abas, Dina Zaman, Natasya, Hati Kasih, Tok Rimau, Amaruhizat, Nazri M. Annuar, Animah Kosai, and Muslin Abdul Hamid.

To launch the magazine, we had readings from ...

... Animah Kosai who gave us her very funny The Idiot's Guide to Restricting Books (so now we all know what goes on behind the scenes at the KKDN!) and a very effective poem called Denial ...
... Muslin Abdul Hamid (back from doing the MA in Creative writing at UEA) read the first part of her short story about polygamy, That Shade of Grey, and left us with a cliffhanger! ...

... It was first reading for Vovin (Nazri M. Annuar) who gave us his short story Dogma (which I liked because it has cats in it, having a cat-conversation.)

Dina Zaman sadly couldn't make it, because she is recovering from surgery. Her two short short stories TV Tengkok Aku (The TV is Watching Me) and Ilusi Cinta (Illusion of Love) were read by Sharanya Mannivanan and KG, respectively. ...

... Here's Diana Dirani who read a piece which she said was another piece of chick-lit ... her story in the magazine is called Jin ...

... and Amran who writes as Amaruhizat (and is the little brother of Ruhayat X! See the resemblance?) read his short short That Last Blooming Petal.

If you're wondering why there is a great big (scary!) picture of me and the name of this blog plastered across page 5 ... it isn't that I am so terribly deperate for fame but ... well when Ruhayat X wrote that buying an advertising slot is a bit like:

... buying a plot at the Nilai Memorial Park, really, except that you're not dead yet and we're not a graveyard ...

... I decided to make a bid for immortality ... and support a cause I truly believe in.

My biggest congrats to Ruhayat X and Sufian for making the effort to get local writing out there. Congrats to the writers.

Thanks to to the great audience that turned up and bought the fifty review copies which were sold for a donation (and I was happy to see Ruhayat X with a fistful of ringgit!). Copies will soon be more widely available - check back here for details later on.

And our great thanks, as always, to Seksan and La Bodega for sponsoring the event.

Getting ELARTI on Track

This month's "Readings" is taking place this Saturday.

Ruhayat X and "thoseamazingmalayboys! (TM)" will be launching the long-awaited first edition of their publication Project Elarti with readings from an all star cast at Seksan's this Saturday:

... featuring a monkey on a keyboard and about a dozen
humans.

Date : Saturday, 23 December 2006
Time : 3.30pm
Place : Seksan Gallery, 67 Jalan Tempinis Satu, Lucky
Garden, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

Since it's Christmas, why not come wrapped in tinsel and baubles?

The event is generously is sponsored by La Bodega (who provide the wine) and Seksan.

"Readings" is the brain-child of Bernice Chauly, and Sharon Bakar is brain-child-minding for Bernice.

Please pass on this information to anyone you think might be interested and feel free to stick it on your blogs.

Related Posts:

The Birth of Neohikayat (14/5/06)
All Aboard the Elarti (8/8/06)

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!

Saturday in Photos

Saturday was every bit as hectic as I knew it would be.

First, there was MPH Writers' Circle where Puan Hafizah of The National Library (pictured above with her colleague Pn. Zalina) told us all about how ISBN numbers work and why we need them for our books and how to get them. She also introduced us to the 13 digit EAN numbering system which will be introduced next year. There was an interesting discussion afterwards about the work of the National Library and its role in promoting local writers and developing libraries in the rural areas.

Local writer Lynette Kwan (right) had some great news to share. After taking part in the first Writers' Circle meeting last year, she was so enthused that she went home and wrote a collection of short stories, found an agent in Singapore (apparently the one and only) and soon had four publishers competing for the right to put her work into print. Dark City, her book of tales with Dahlesque twists in the end is called , is written under her pen name Xeus, and some of the stories are being filmed for Singaporean television. Lynette is a doctor by day and fits writing into a very busy schedule.




I had a quick nosey around the new 1 Utama branch of Pay Less (sorry MPH!) and bought a couple more volumes of Best American Short Stories. Had lunch and a long chat about writing with a friend from the Writer's Circle, Chris, and then drove to Bangsar for the readings at Sek Sen's place.

Bernice (left) kicked the event off with a touching tribute to Pramoedya.






Kam Raslan's (right) first novel is being published soon by Marshall Cavendish in Singapore ... and you may not have realised it, but you've probably being reading it already if you read Off the Edge each month. Yes, that's right, you thought it was just a column written by an codger reminiscing about the good old days days ... Am so happy for him!








Zedeck read too (left) ....
















... so did Bernice's CENFAD student Farid Ramlee who can draw on a family history populated by British, Chinese and Malay forebears for his fiction. (Lainie was supposed to read but was sick, so Soefira Jaafar read her piece). ...









... The lovely Ruhayat X read a deliciously humourous piece which had everyone laughing ...

... Dina Zaman read pieces from her I Am Muslim column. I took a beautiful picture of her (which doesn't make her look like a chipmonk!) but we both agreed that I shouldn't post it up because of the moronic sicko who took the photo of her from my blog to post online advertisements which has her being bombarded with lewd SMSes (she showed me) and emails. What exactly is it about her that provokes this gonk?

The third and final port of call was Silverfish and I got there with Saras and Diana just as the event ended. Apparently Raman decided against a conventional reading and Robert Raymer was talking about how the stories in his collection came to be written ...

Rounded off the day with a nice cold beer with Saras, overjoyed because my long-term writing buddy has a story in the next Silverfish collection!!!

It was a really good day with so many reasons to be hopeful for local writing.

Saturday is Writers Day!

Funny how you can go for weeks with very little happening, and then suddenly there's three things on the same day. This coming Saturday, that is.

The MPH Writer's Circle meets 11a.m. in the Booker room at the 1 Utama store. The topic is Publishing, but I haven't yet received any further details about who's speaking. *

After a hiatus of a few months readings are back on track this Saturday, May 20, 2006 3.30 pm at 67 Jalan Tempinis Satu. In case you didn't know:

readings' is a monthly event where established, new and emerging writers come together to read new works and works-in progress. very simply, it is a chance to get heard.

If you wish to read YOUR works in the future, contact Bernice Chauly at mulutmata@yahoo.com

This Saturday's readings feature the talents of:

Ruhayat X

Jit Murad

Dina Zaman

Zedeck Siew

Farid Ramlee

Lainie Yeoh

and

Kam Raslan

And the third thing that's happening is the launch of the Best of Silverfish New Writing and Robert Raymer's collection of stories Lovers and Strangers - Revisitedfrom 5.30pm-7.30pm at Silverfish Books, 67-1 Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur. Admission is free. All are welcome.

One of the saddest things about the launch of the anthology is that one of the writers whose story I featured in the collection I edited, Chee Kok Liang, has since passed away. I didn't learn exactly what happened until just now, when I read this piece by his wife. Marriages are Made in Heaven was one of the strongest stories in Collateral Damage and well deserves its place in a Best of collection. Chee had, I believe, only just begun writing fiction although he had published a management book. There was enough in that single story to show me that he was a fiction writer of great potential. My deepest sympathies to his widow.

I'm going to be busy Saturday, but hope to bump into some of you guys along the way.

Update

* The MPH Writer's Circle is moderated by Oon Yeoh and this month's special guest is Cik Nafisah Ahmad from the National Library of Malaysia. She will share about the importance of ISBN numbers for books and give you an introduction about how libraries work. Thank, Renee for filling in the gap for me!

We Are Beatniks!

Dear Mr. Raman has his latest installment of his litmag up, and a couple of pieces will look familiar to readers of this blog 'cos I donated 'em.

He writes about Amir Mohmamad (left) writing again, with a new column in the NST (certainly the best reason to buy the paper!).

But look at this paragraph and examine the sheer bitchery of Mr. Raman's comment:

What I like about Amir Muhammad is that he does not think it's necessary to do the 'reading' circuit. He simply writes. He does not see the need to pout and pose like a leftover 70's New York City beatnik, reading stuff he wrote ten years ago. And he hasn't threatened to write his definitive novel for the past fifteen years. Nor does he attempt to write 'poetry'.

Beatniks? He means us, of course. Hopeless cases like Bernice and Ruhayat X and Raja Ahmad and Kam Raslan and Fahmi Fadzil and Zedeck Siew and Dina Zaman and Sharanya etc. etc. And me.

Pose and Pout???? Aiyoh!

I think I irked him last time I was in the shop and he started his - you-people-never-complete-novels spiel by telling him that one of his Silverfish writers has his novel finished, it's really good, and he is hoping to publish overseas. (Not to mention that another is on the UEA course and is bound to have a manuscript tucked about her person somewhere, while others are beavering away on writing projects.)

If you want to know what's really going on and who is getting good work written, I said, you should come along to the readings and just talk to people. Touché!

But of course he won't. Not even when the readings are held a few steps away from his shop.

(I shall say nothing of the way he talked loudly through the readings at Maya Gallery that night.)

Now Mr. Raman can be relied on to step on toes and that's much of the fun of reading his website and fair criticism is good for us all ... but who needs the spiteful of spirit?

I can't think that it can be too good for business either when you rely very much on the goodwill of others ...

Talking about the readings - nothing has been happening for a while apart from KLue's events. Bernice says that Sek Sen's place has now become so popular for arts events of all kinds that it's hard to find a free slot. And she has been busy with other projects including a photography exhibition.

But it does need to happen.

Related Posts:

More about the readings here.

Bardic at Borders

,Thanks to all who sent good wishes. And big hugs to those who turned up.

There was a pretty good crowd there and I was happy that they didn't wander off after Tempered Metal (excellent!) had done their set.

The reading went fine. Read some poems and an autobigraphical piece based on The Leaves of Life entry I posted here yonks ago (but have rewritten quite a lot thanks to friends who have told me more about the music's possible origins ...), it's a piece close to my heart and I plan to tighten it up a bit more to send out soon to find a home.

It's true what Dina says, you feel a piece when you read it aloud and see where it connects with an audience (or doesn't!)...



Fahmi and Azmyl were up after me with their Wayang Buku - perfectly nutty, and very funny ... Books by local authors (the loneliest books on Borders' shelves) became shadow puppets and talk show characters ...

Sat outside Starbucks for a good long time with Ruhayat X, Irman and Raja Ahmad talking about publishing and ways to make things move.

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.

Francesca and the Troubagangers

Scooted off to British Council yesterday for a lunch-time interview with performance poet Jessica Beard over pizza in the courtyard. (Here pictured with daughter Lola Choo who is learning how to follow in her mum's footsteps.) It was as much a meeting with a friend, because we'd met in Manila last November when I got my first taste of what Performance Poetry is all about in Francesca's workshop sessions.

Then at night the La Bodega gig. Francesca and the Troubagangers – a showcase of local talents. There was something for sure at stake for both parties. This was Francesca’s first ever Malaysian performance even though her roots are here (half-Malaysian, she was born in Assunta Hospital and grew up in Penang).

And our local guys had something to prove too - would their performances flag and sag when put side by side with a professional performer/poet of Francesca’s? As it turned out, it was a totally brilliant evening.

The upstairs of La Bodega was packed to the rafters with an incredibly supportive crowd. (This was Wednesday and this was poetry for heaven’s sake!) Jerome and Yasmin Low compared the evening incomparably. (Though Jerome added me to the list of people to read on the open mic afterwards ‘cos he said I was a heckler! Not good.)

Francesca was totally connected with the audience as she shared hilarious stories about her childhood,her dog Fluffy, multicultural encounters in Tesco’s and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Poetry meets stand-up comedy meets song.

But this is the heart of it - her poems were addressed directly to the audience, drawing them in, in a way that reading them out cannot. One poem was a survey about which way we'd prefer to die if we could choose (being eaten by a lion in KLCC Park, getting chainsawed by a nutter, left to drift slowly into outer space ... ) - a grimly funny piece, which had her soliciting views from the audience. Poetry that talks and lets you talk back.

The Troubagangers were on top form, feeding on the electricity of the occasion. Most of all I enjoyed: Jerome's lyricism, Fahmi Fadzil's No Exit (which he improvised on for the occasion), Ruhayat X performing his piece about the pencil, another dose of Pang's encounters in the dark, Sharanya's very sexy poem about everything wanting to make love to her ...

But it was Rahmat Harun's rollercoaster ride of a performance of Keranamu Malaysia which came closest to upstaging Francesca ...

I came away inspired. Syabas to all who worked so hard to pull the evening together and a special mention for Sunitha Janamohanan of British Council and her team.

(Below - Francesca relaxes with a glass of wine after the performance.)

Troubaganger's Wayang Kata

Performance poet Francesca Beard takes to the stage with Troubagangers (a collection of local poets you know and love - see below) on April 5th at 8 p.m. at La Bodega, Tengkat Tongshin. The performance is given in association with the British Council and there will be an open mic session afterwards for all you poetic wannabes. Admission RM5.

Believe me, this is something special. Don't miss it!

Here's the blurb about it:

Hailed by the London Metro as the “British Queen of Performance Poetry”, British-Malaysian poet Francesca Beard will take you on a journey that breaks down old perceptions of what poetry is with her acerbic wit and cross-cultural takes on life. Spoken word is poetry that is performed; a contemporary art form that is popular yet profound, accessible yet inspired. Francesca Beard does it in her inimitable style, mixing sharp observations with humorous anecdotes, churning them out as only a poet could.

Francesca will be joined on stage by eight of Malaysia’s most exciting young poets, giving you a night of rhyme and word as you’ve never had in KL.

About Francesca Beard
London-based poet Francesca Beard was born in Malaysia and spent the 70's growing up in Penang, before moving to the UK. She is a full-time poet, performing spoken word to audiences all over Britain, as well as internationally.

She has worked as a workshop facilitator in creative writing, poetry and performance for Apples & Snakes, the UK’s leading organisation for performance poetry, and is working on longer term projects with theatres and organisations.

Francesca’s poems have been featured in numerous publications, and she has performed commissioned work for Apples & Snakes, BBC, Chris Ofili and Victoria Miro Gallery, the Arts Council, England, and more. In May 2005, her first radio play, ‘The Healing Pool’ was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and London Live. Her one-woman show, ‘Chinese Whispers’, produced by Apples and Snakes, has recently been and still is touring, and she is developing a new show supported by the Arts Council, England.

This is Francesca’s first time performing in Malaysia.

For more details on Francesca, visit www.francescabeard.com

About the Malaysian poets
Bernice Chauly has worked as a filmmaker, photographer, publisher, actor, playwright and teacher. Her work as a poet explores subjects including love, history and identity.

Fahmi Fadzil acts and writes when he can, and watches and reads when he can't. He is a member of theatre ensemble Akshen and arts collective Five Arts Centre.

Jasmine Low—publisher, marketing consultant and event organiser—writes stories based on her experiences as a migrant living in between Malaysia and Australia.

Jerome Kugan is a poet, writer and musician. His hauntingly imagistic poems are products of his deconstruction of the nature of perception in a fast-changing world.

Pang Khee Teik is a writer, photographer and editor of Kakiseni.com. His highly frank and amusing stories are based on past and present real-life bedroom adventures.

Rahmat Haron is a prolific young poet and visual artist. He has also worked as a theatre activist, performance artist and supporter of political change in Malaysia.

Ruhayat X is a writer and publisher whose stories and observations of urban life in Malaysia are witty, biting social satires with a sly surreal bent.

Sharanya Manivannan was born in India in 1985. A writer, dancer, painter, activist and journalist, she is currently working on her first novel and collection of poems.

About Troubagangers
Troubagangers is the combined outfit of Troubadours and Doppelganger, together responsible for two regular monthly events nights of live music, original song-writing, poetry and prose by local burgeoning talent in Kuala Lumpur. Doppelganger is headed by Jasmine Low while Troubadours is headed by Jerome Kugan, Azmyl Yunor and Tan Sei Hon.

For more details and to see images of past performances, please visit:

www.webprojx.com/troubaganger
www.troubadourskl.blogspot.com
www.doppelgangerkl.blogspot.com

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Of Apples and Snakes
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Biar Papa Asal Bergaya

Talking as we were yesterday (thanks Animah!) about the outrageous price of books here in Malaysia, I thought this little quote from RuhayatX's article Well Stuff That which appears in the current edition of Rentakini was particularly appropriate.

Ruhayat applauds the Indonesian democratic spirit, and recounts a conversation with an Indonesian journalist in which:

She remarked on how food and books are dirt cheap in Indonesia but shopping is not, whereas here it's the other way around: food and books are expensive while shopping is cheap.

I thought that was good to know. At the very least, it means even our poor will still look stylish as they lie starving and ignorant in their huts.

Brown Sugar and Special Branch

Went along to the readings at Jalan Tempinis 1 yesterday afternoon. People write, must support, what. Though was not in the mood to sit and listen because was in a big strop with my other half who started World War Three because we were out of brown sugar (white doesn't count apparently).

A bit disappointed about changes to the advertised programme, and the crowd that showed up ... didn't exactly amount to a crowd despite bernice's exhortation to "datang beramai-ramai" .... there were about 15 people, and three of them Raja Ahmad's kids.

Raja Ahmad read first. I have a running joke with him because I bump into him all the time, at every reading and literary event. "You still following me around?" I say "We just can't go on meeting like this." But it's great to see a writer who supports other writers to this extent.

I was glad that Raja Ahmad told me that he is a poet, that first time we met at a Darling Muse, because he looks the part with his long hair and thoughtful expression.



He read several of his poems including one called membaca buku di kinokuniya - a nice piece of free advertising for Kino! I like the way the poem ends:

if everybody is silent
what kind of society
is this

Quite.

I bought his collection of poetry Manyarung Jiwa, a beautifully produced book of uncluttered layout and quality paper. I'm so glad that it is a bi-lingual edition so that I am not going to miss anything.

Raja Ahmad had his daughter read an extract from his work in progress, a novel written in English.

Then some of the kutu-kutu guys read. RuhayatX gave us Anak Kepala Anjing; Natasha "champion blogger of the Neohikayat website" read Dhoji's Tsunami; Irman read a piece by Danny Lim; Nizam Zakaria read his Penunggu Malam. Then Abror Rivai, a young poet who has been writing for about a year read a few poems, and the very encouraging Bernice insisted on reading a few more herself.

I can't give you any stunning critical insights into the texts ... I really have to get my brain into gear to begin reading again in Malay ... And I'm a much better listener when my head is not full of visions of brown sugar and deeply-disappointed-in-me husband.

Nizam wins my prize for the most sartorially elegant performer of the day. His t-shirt had a picture of fingers held up in a victory sign (was it? or?) outlined in flashing bands of neon. It was not magic as some had thought, Nizam showed me the battery pack. (Haven't seen any piggy t-shirts for a while, which seemed to be de rigeur garb for those who wanted to project an image of being both creatif and alternatif in the Darling Muse days.)

Listened into a conversation between some of the Wilayah Kutu-kutu, debating whether or not there had been Special Branch guys at the launch at Silverfish and if there had been quite what it implied. Whilst not exactly the Stasi, the thought of Special Branch opening a file on their subversives strikes a certain amount of terror particularly as ther ISA means that dissenting voices can be disappeared for quite a while.

Perhaps it's all paranoia? Those Special Branch guys don't actually need to show up in a physical sense to show up in your psyche.

Perhaps too, there's a vicarious thrill to be gained from courting the possibility?

Oh yes, and the other big news of the day was that Zedeck has had a haircut. And now you can actually see that he has eyes.