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.)

Wena's Wet Weekend

Then, after lunch and a quick rush round the supermarket to get survival rations for the afternoon with Chet's help, dashed over to Seksan's and the heaven's opened.

I was drenched even before I had unpacked the car, and the inclement weather didn't let up the whole afternoon. (What is happening to the weather? It doesn't seem like the monsoon ever went away?) But fortunately our loyal audience turned up in decent numbers. (Thank you!)

Wena Poon read a passage from her story The Shooting Ranch, my favourite story from Lions in Winter. Again, it was beautifully dramatised, and really showed how much she gets into the skin of her characters to write about them. (Not all authors - even some very big name ones - are good readers of their own work!)

Wena sadly had to rush off early as she had another appearance at Borders. I'm so glad she came, but sorry we couldn't have arranged better weather for her.

Animah Kosai (above right) dragged friends Dina Zaman (above left) ...

... and actor Na'a Murad (here getting his photo taken by a member of the press) along to read a couple of scenes from a new play she's working on called 100 Stones, which featured a woman married to a guy who has just become an elected representative. He doesn't seem to be too interested in sex, and there she is, desperately frustrated trying to seduce him with every trick in the book including sexy negligees.

It was interesting talking to Na'a in the break who reckons that the changed political landscape and the greater openness and willingness to engage in issues that has followed, is making it easier for artists of all kinds, but especially playwrights. It's early days yet ... but really, let's hope he's right.

I've been looking forward to Sufian Abas' first book for a very long time ... ever since we both got out first short stories published in Silverfish New Writing 1, in fact. Kasut Biru Robina is a collection of short shorts, some short short shorts just a few lines long. Bite size and snackable.

Sufian read a piece called Malam Mailakat Tidur (The Night the Angels Slept), and modest chap that he is, was going to end there but we encored him back for a second piece - Kisah Cinta (Love Story), a very amusing little tale about the fickleness of women.

Priya K. made an appeal for funds for the forthcoming Malaysian-UK exchange project, and illustrator Shahril Nizam brought some of his pictures along to be auctioned. The bidding is still ongoing and I'll post more about this later.

The break was extra long because the rain overhead was nosiy, but no-one seemed to mind too much as they were busy partying, networking, selling books ...

Ted Mahsun read a story, Pak Sudin's Bicycle I'd read on an e-group earlier and liked very much. He read it for the first time at Kata Suara the other week and had been surprised at how well it had gone down with the audience. Ted's writing is warm and whimsical, and it's really nice to see him developing as a writer. (He has a review of the new Stephen King book in the Star today, by the way.)

George Wielgus, poet, performer and writer describes himself as :

... a refugee from the wastelands of suburban England.

Slipping into the persona of her alter-ego, Mighty Jah-J, he gave us some hard-hitting poems, including Liberation and Death No. 1, which left us in little doubt why he had won the last KL Poetry Slam.

He was also selling his recently self-published limited edition zine for the price of a teh tarik (cup of "pulled tea"). You can read his poem Inside-Outsiders here.

We ended with a short tribute to Lloyd Fernando who passed away recently, and Priya K. read an extract from Green is the Colour.

Thanks : to all those who braved the rain, those who read, those who sold books, those who auctioned art, those who helped set up and put away and wash glasses, Shahril Nizam who designed the blogposter, and of course Seksan for the use of his beautiful space and the stunning visual backdrop provided by the current exhibition.

Our next readings is on April 19th and among the writers appearing will be author Kunal Basu.

Looking for Lilian

It's quite fascinating to acquire an antiquarian tome with an inscription on the fly-leaf, so that you can imagine those long ago folks enjoying the book before you.

It's even better when you discover that the inscription was written by the author and signed for a personal friend.

It's much much better when the book in question just happens to be a first edition copy of an extremely important work by one of the C20th's greatest authors.

Can it get betterer?

Oh, yes it can. Ted Mahsun's dad found this copy of Time for a Tiger in a second-hand bookshop in Ipoh and snapped it up for just two ringgit. The inscription reads:

Lilian Sivaram

In friendship
--Anthony Burgess
(John Wilson)

Xmas 1956

I checked for a similar edition, signed by the author and found one via abebooks.com currently on sale from Jonkers Rare Books in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, U.K.

Price? (Don't faint!) US$2695.13 (RM9,157)

Ted's copy won't be worth as much as it is missing the dust cover and has been nibbled by some naughty bookworms. But still.

But it's the inscription that intrigues. Who is/was Lilian Sivaram?

I consulted the oracle at my finger tips and turned up this reference to an article simply called Malayan Teachers Reunion by D. Maheshwari from the of the New Straits Times (City Advertiser's Happenings section), Feb 22, 2001.

I don't have access to the NST archives so if anyone reading this post does have, could you help us to find the picture referred to so we can see what the lady looks like?

If this is indeed the lady, then she was a teacher, possibly a colleague of Burgess at MCKK.

Burgess did give copies of the book to his friends. Ted's uncle, one of my favourite people in the whole wide world, says that he received several copies of the book himself, but he left them in storage and they got stolen.

Anyway, the moral of the story is 1) poke about in second-hand bookshops because you never know what treasures you may uncover 2) invest in hardback first-edition books and store them carefully, and then get them signed if you can track the author down. Because I doubt that even gold or diamonds would give you such an amazing rate of interest.

But then, would a true book-lover be able to part with a treasure like this??

Could Rejection Slips Be the New Viagra?

Thanks Sham the Gene Girl for sending me this gem.

Locus Online has a report on a paper published in the Journal of Sexual Function.

Rejection slips stimulate libido, according to a paper published yesterday in the "Rejection Anxiety and Sexual Response in Speculative Fiction Writers," caps a nine year study jointly funded by the Institute for the Study of Sexual Behavior and the Science Fiction Writers of America. "The idea that performance anxiety plays a key role in sexual dysfunction is well established in the literature," says J.O. Bromfield, the study's lead researcher. "However using psychophysiological methods, we found that literary anxiety was often associated with an enhancement of response to sexual stimuli." Three focus groups involving 73 men and women (median age 34.3; range 24-75) participated in the study. They included recent Clarion, Odyssey and Creative Writing MFA graduates, attendees of the Sycamore Hill, Rio Hondo and Blue Heaven writers workshops and Nebula Award winners.

You can read the rest here.

Young Ted might be the man to watch (or watch out for) then since he has the largest collection of any Malaysian writer from prestigious publications around the globe.

Elsewhere Great Online Things

I had no characters, no plot, but there were no other problems ...

says Alexander McCall-Smith, creator of The Number One Ladies Detective Agency series and the most charming private-eye ever, Madam Ramotswe. Deepika Shetty blogs wonderfully about meeting the author in Singapore. And I am so jealous I could spit!

Meanwhile, online arts newspaper Kakiseni has a profile piece up on Malaysian short story writer Keris Mas. I remember reading translations of some of his stories some years back and liking them very much, and now wish I had a copies of his books. Has anyone seen them in the shops? Funny how - and once again I say this - there is so little available information on and promotion for local publications.

Meanwhile, Yang-May Ooi, currently packing her bags to fly back here for a visit, muses about how much an author should give away of the story they are writing. You can catch Yang-May at two events next Saturday (24th Feb), the Breakfast for Bloggers at the new MPH in Bangsar Village in the morning and in the afternoon at "Readings" at Seksan's. I'll be posting up more about these events shortly.

Meanwhile, Tungku Halim asks whether you write in silence, and if not, what's your soundtrack? (Me? I need silence.)

Meanwhile, Eric Forbes has a good go at local authors who don't read ... and if you make any claim to being a writer you should listen to what he's saying very carefully indeed. (And that's an order!)

And meanwhile, Ted finds hypermarkets a great place to shop for cheap books. Not only that but he has a lovely new teddy logo which really suits him, and who could resist pics of him a 5 year old complete with Beatles haircut! Cute! - both the teddy and Ted. But don't tell him I said that.

Good Stuff On Elsewhere Blogs

This is where I suck you all in to a whirling vortex of local litblog news and spin you out in all directions again.

Deepika is just back from the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka (here and here ... with more to come) where she interviewed Booker winner Kiran Desai.

Another Malaysian writer has begun blogging - master of horror Tunku Halim. I met him for the first time at MPH Writer's Circle the other day, and he wasn't at all what I expected ... much younger and a lot less spooky. Am looking forward to reading his new collection of stories, due to be launched soon.

I hadn't realised that short-story writer and long-term Malaysian resident Robert Raymer has a website, until one of his former students (Yan Yi at Marshall-Cavendish) told me about it. Robert previously taught creative writing at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and is now based in Sarawak. He was the editor of Silverfish New Writing 4 and has a collection of short fiction, Lovers and Strangers Revisited (both avaialble from Silverfish). Robert has put up some very useful tips and exercises for writers.

Eric, as always, has much good stuff on his blog, but this superb list of reading recommendations for the short story is well worth printing off and keeping as checklist.

Daphne Lee has had her first four children's books published (congrats!) and is taking criticism on the chin.

Ted gets steamed up about the ignorance of local teenagers who haven't realised that - yes, there actually is a writing scene here. There is! There is!

Lydia reacts to a comment made by Glenda's daughter that writers websites tend to be self-absorbed and whiny.

Amir is spot on when he talks about how to read like a writer. (Caution though, easily offended sensitivities and young minds should stay clear of this blog entirely.)

Then there are book reviews: YTSL has applauds Adibah Amin's new novel This End of the Rainbow. I was surprised to see a book review on Malaysian Medical Resources, a consistently informative and yes, even entertaining blog. Palmdoc recommends Michael Crichton's Next for stressed out doctors and medical student in need of a good diversion from work!

Okay then, what bookish things have I missed? Fill me in in the comments.

Oh, the frustrations of posting here at the moment! I began this post several days ago but my internet connection kept going down. My internet provider I am rechristening Screamyx. Is it still that cable problem? Very inconsiderate of the Taiwanese to host an earthquake.

Readings at Seksen's

Phew! That's all I can say. Yesterday's readings at Seksen's place not only happened but came off rather well, I thought, considering that I hadn't had much time to organise the event and hadn't advertised it very widely. (Blogvertising works well!) Many thanks to everyone who passed the word on - there was a good crowd there.

Ted Mahsun had his parents and girlfriend there to support. This was the first reading for this keen and hardworking young writer. I'm so glad he read his story The Ghost in the Garden as I personally like it best of all the pieces of his I've so far read. It's an autobigraphical piece in which you can really hear the voices of the characters. I love the gentle humour of it and sense that it could be developed into a longer piece. (You can read the whole story here.)

We got two thirds of the writers of Snapshots! Jessie Michael read The Change, one of the stories I like best in the collection because it makes visibly the disadvantaged community in Malacca's Portuguese Settlement. The story tells of one man who does his best to break out of the poverty trap but finds circumstances cruelly against him ...

... while co-writer Saradha Narayanan read her Rani, a moving portrait of an elderly woman.


I just loved this young guy, Roy aka Fairul Nizam who entertained the crowd with his poetry. How many miles from the traditional Malay deklamasi puisy has this new generation of poets come, with driving rhythms and street-wise language? Read his poetry here.

Sharanya reading another extract from her novel. Lyrical and sensual writing. I am really looking forward to the finish work.

The sporting Jasmine Low stepped in at the last minute to read some of her shorter pieces. She's so relaxed - love the way she relates to the crowd. it's one thing to write the words, another to show ownership of them when read aloud. She read some newly written short pieces including one partly written in Hokkien which I enjoyed very much.

We had a couple of "open mic" readers: Patrick Dominic and a very young guy called kG who positively shone with enthusiasm.

So it came off. It was okay ... even if I'm not as cool as Bernice! Phew again.

Many thanks to all the brave souls who put their work out there. (It is scary!) Many thanks to the crowd who supported. Many thanks (again) to all who spread the word about the event.

Many thanks to Seksen for allowing us to use this beautiful space.

Many thanks to Budi (?) who helped me to set everything up.

Many thanks to La Bodega for generously supplying the wines.

I hope to organise Readings again for 23rd September. More news soon.

Before then though, why not go to the readings organised by Jasmine at La Bodega on Wednesday night? It promises to be very good.

Postscript

Much nicer photos than mine are turning up on different blogs. I love Sharanya's arty set. Leon's are here. Nizam's are here. And here's a very honest account by Vovin.