The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf |
- Winners of Popular-The Star Readers’ Choice Awards tap the personal
- Celebrating the beauty and wonder of storytelling
- Stories and performers from all over the world
| Winners of Popular-The Star Readers’ Choice Awards tap the personal Posted: 27 Aug 2012 09:20 PM PDT This year's winners at the Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards delve deep into matters of the heart, love and life. THERE are two sides to every tale, and in the hotel industry, there might even be more than two. Veteran hotelier Hanley Chew, having been in the hotel industry for over two decades, knows this well. His first book, Hotel Tales, transports the reader into this multifaceted world, where unpredictability is the order of the day. "In this industry, we deal with people from very different backgrounds and expectations. It's service oriented, and service is something subjective. This book is all about human experiences reflecting that behind the scenes," he said at he Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards ceremony held on Saturday in conjunction with BookFest@Malaysia 2012 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Chew won the first prize in the fiction category. Chew, who collaborated on the book with writer Choy Ee Ling, says when he first conceived the idea for the book, he approached fellow hoteliers to contribute stories. "But I came to realise that hoteliers don't write, or don't like to write. So I got them to sit down, put on a recorder, they told their stories, and we did the writing. This is my first book, and it was a tough journey," he says. But it's a journey that he wants to make again: Two years in the making, this book is going to be the first of many. "Hoteliers get to experience many things that most other people do not. There are many stories to tell," Chew says. He has another four books in the works, including one based solely on his personal experiences. He plans to launch the second book in the first quarter of next year. For second prize winner in the fiction category, Kuan Guat Choo, the writer's journey is one she's made four times now and she's been nominated three of those times; her winning effort, 4...5...6, is her fourth book and it turned out to be an easy experience for her. "I was able to write it very quickly, the pen just flew. It took maybe only a month before I was done with the writing. When you are inspired, it just flows," she says. Interestingly, the idea for the book came to her in a dream. "In my dream, I saw what a girl saw happened to her family. It is a very tragic story, but my writing style is light and the book is easy reading," she says. Yeoh Gim Suan, who bagged third prize in this category with her collection of short stories, Melody Of Love & Other Stories, is elated with her achievement. "I cried when they announced my name, I'm so happy. It's the first time I've won an award for writing. I actually prayed for third place, and God answered my prayers. There are so many other good writers, and I'm Chinese-educated, so I didn't quite expect to win. I told myself that third place would be good enough for me," she says in fluent English. A retired Science teacher, she started writing about five years ago and now has three books to her name. "I think it is my calling to do this, to write. I always carry a pen and paper with me, so I can scribble down my ideas when they come," she says. On the nonfiction front, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's autobiography, A Doctor In The House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, swept first prize. An obvious crowd favourite, his book, published in March last year, has sold around 110,000 copies to date. MPH Group Publishing general manager Ivy Tan says that when they were first told by Dr Mahathir's office that he had chosen MPH to publish his memoirs, they were elated and honoured. "We knew that the book was going to sell well, but the response from the public surpassed our expectations. On the first week of the official release, 25,000 copies flew off the shelves of bookstores nationwide. This is not something that happens every day, especially for a locally published book," she says. The appointed editorial team from Salt Media (responsible for research, compiling of information, and content outline) worked closely with Dr Mahathir, she says. "He wrote every page himself, and because he is a perfectionist and a busy man, it took him eight years to complete the memoir. Tun also prefers 'long-hand' writing, so the manuscripts were not typed, but handwritten. The editorial team had to sometimes decipher his handwriting, which could be quite a challenge!" adds Tan. Publishers from all over the world – including China, the Middle East, South Korea and Vietnam – have requested for the rights to translate the book into their respective languages. "This just goes to show that Tun is still very much highly regarded and has a strong following not just in Malaysia but from people outside who admire him for his charismatic views and political vision," she says. In second place in the nonfiction category was Datuk Wong Sulong for Notes To The Prime Minister: The Untold Story Of How Malaysia Beat The Currency Speculators. Containing previously unpublished material from discussions between Dr Mahathir and his then unofficial economic advisor Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop on the 1997-98 financial crisis, Wong says that it is both an economic textbook as well as a historic book. "Tun's book is about his whole life – my book focuses on one of his greatest triumphs as prime minister. It is about how we rejected the International Monetary Fund approach despite world wide condemnation, how we imposed foreign exchange control, pegged the currency, and the economic recovery that followed," says the former group chief editor of Star The Star. In third place the nonfiction category is Growing Up With Ghosts by Bernice Chauly. In her memoir spanning a hundred years, stretching from China and India to Malaya and Singapore, she attempts to get to the bottom of the curse that is thought to plague her family. "My book is about tragedy, grief, history, bloodlines and who I am as a writer. It is also a forbidden love story, a great love story, between my parents who fought against the odds; they fought to love, they fell in love, and then my father died," she says, adding that she decided to work with six different narratives to give voices to her ancestors. "It was a labour of love, but it was not an easy book to write. It was very painful confronting the past, confronting my father's death again, and transcribing his letters and my mother's journals. I have lived with this story, these ghosts, for 23 years, and the book took, in total, almost three years to write," she says. Dr Mahathir and Chew each received RM3,000 and a trophy while the second and third-place winners took home RM1,500 and RM1,000 respectively. All were awarded certificates of recognition. The ceremony was attended by Media Prima Bhd chairman Datuk Johan Jaaffar, Star Publications (M) Bhd managing editor June H.L. Wong, Berita Harian Sdn Bhd group editor Datuk Mior Kamarulbaid Mior Shahid, Popular Holdings Ltd chairman Chou Cheng Ngok, director Vangat Ramayah and Popular Book Co (M) Sdn Bhd executive director Lim Lee Ngoh. Star Publications is a media partner of BookFest@Malaysia 2012. |
| Celebrating the beauty and wonder of storytelling Posted: 27 Aug 2012 09:16 PM PDT Celebrating the beauty and wonder of storytelling. DO you remember being a child and eavesdropping on adult conversations? Remember the thrill of listening to all those old stories – the shocking family scandals? The tales of love and heartbreak? The accounts of amazing feats of strength, sacrifice and endurance? Whether or not we were read to as children, it's unlikely that we grew up without ever knowing the joy of listening to a tale told well – a tale told with emotion and energy, as if the storyteller had lived it (which they often had), felt it and knew it intimately. And now ... well, we still eavesdrop, whether or not we like to admit it, and the stories we aren't suppose to know about are the ones we are most likely to repeat several times over, to people who eagerly listen precisely because they are secret and, thus, extra exciting. So, what's all this about the oral tradition of storytelling needing a boost or it'll all but disappear? In my opinion, it's alive and well, and positively thriving. You just have to think about the way we exchange tales of road bullies, cheating husbands and annoying bosses over teh tarik and nasi lemak to know that this is true. We really are, all of us, storytellers and, most of us are jolly skillful ones too. We know what to edit out, and what to add. We know about poetic license. We know about getting into character and doing different voices. The thing is, we generally don't know that we know all these things. It's second nature, not a performance and so we don't tend to think of ourselves as storytellers. Thus, while the practice of oral storytelling may not be dead and buried, we could definitely do with more storytellers who are storytelling consciously and purposefully. Singapore resident Kamini Ramachandran, 43, artistic director of the upcoming Singapore International Storytelling Festival, believes that stories don't just educate and entertain, they are also sources of emotional sustenance, giving strength, comfort and support to listeners. In 2004, she founded MoonShadow Stories with Singaporean Verena Tay to promote what they felt was the "lost art of the oral narrative tradition", believing that by re-introducing "the beauty and wonder of storytelling to adults" children would benefit too. "This literally spiralled into storytelling as a profession, and now a full-time one at that," says Ramachandran, who says she is often asked what her "real job" is. "(Stoyrtelling) is viewed as an unconventional profession and usually dismissed as a hobby," she says in an e-mail interview. However, she feels that professional storytelling is undergoing a renaissance on a global level. "Professional storytellers are in demand in educational institutes, in corporate organisations, for heritage and cultural exposure, to bond communities and families," she says, adding that, "The work is very broad and diverse. It is imperative to know your craft, to have a good repertoire and to never stop training." Ramachandran, who names her late maternal grandfather as her inspiration, started out telling "cultural, religious and family stories" to her sons (Kabir, 12, and Karan, 11) "to keep them anchored in their roots and to connect them to family that was not in the same country." Ramachandran was born in Malaysia where most of her family still live. She says that this then led to her telling stories in her children's pre-schools and being asked to train the teachers. The Singapore International Storytelling Festival, now in its seventh year, is one indication that storytelling is recognised as an art and storytellers as performing artistes. Ramachandran is particularly excited about this year's festival, which "celebrates Asian stories from a global perspective." "The line-up of storytellers is very different with a big emphasis on traditional Asian storytelling forms like rakugo (Japan), keertan (India) and dialect language telling (Cantonese session)," she says. Among the Asian storytellers that will be featured at the festival are Made Taro, an Indonesian cultural medallion awardee; Shinoharu Tatekawa, a full-time Rakugo performer based in Tokyo; and Joe Hararwira, a Maori rituals expert from New Zealand. Ramachandran is also looking forward to performing at the festival. What she loves most about being a storyteller, is breathing "life into dormant and untold tales." She says, "So many oral tales (published and accessible, or otherwise) remain untold, unheard. A story is only a story when it is told and passed on to a listener who in turn re-tells it to someone else. I love that I can give these stories wings and allow them to fly." The Singapore International Storyelling Festival will be held from Sept 1-5, 2012, at The Arts House, Singapore. For more information and to register go to bookcouncil.sg/sisf. |
| Stories and performers from all over the world Posted: 27 Aug 2012 05:38 PM PDT HIGHLIGHTS of the Singapore International Storytelling Festival (Sept 1-5): > Eddin Khoo is a Malaysian poet, writer and translator. Foll-owing his tenure as an arts and cultural journalist for The Star newspaper, he founded Pusaka: Centre for the Study and Documentation of Traditional Performance in Malaysia. Performance: Khoo will be presenting The Door To The Twelve Eye Spots: Ritual, States Of Wonder, Orality, Healing And The Traditional Storyteller, the keynote address at the Asian Congress of Storytellers on Sept 1 at 9.30am. > Joe Harawira is an international storyteller and tikanga (protocols) expert from Aotearoa, New Zealand. He is a passionate teacher and performer of kapahaka (traditional Maori performing arts), an exponent of the Maori language, a bearer of ta moko (permanent body markings), and a strong supporter of all Maori art forms. Harawira's vast repertoire spans creation tales, nature tales, and the anthology of beloved Maui stories. Performance: Sept 1, 2 & 4 at 7.30pm / International Storytellers Showcase. > Lee Swee Har has been a keen student of Cantonese opera since young. Her repertoire of traditional Chinese stories includes the timeless tale of the archer Ho Yi and the heavenly maiden Chang-Er, who now lives in the moon. Performance: Lee will be performing A Tribute to Lee Dai Sor on Sept 4 at 7.30pm. > Made Taro was born in Bali and has always loved traditional stories, games and children's songs. He has been a storyteller since 1973 and has performed in Indonesia, Darwin (Australia), Pretoria (South Africa) and at the Ubud Writers' and Readers' Festival in Indonesia. His storytelling sessions also include singing and traditional percussion accompaniment. Performance: Sept 1, 2 & 4 at 7.30pm / International Storytellers Showcase. > Peter Chand is one of Europe's most popular and acclaimed performers and workshop leaders. He has a huge repertoire of tales from the subcontinent, many of which he has collected and translated from Punjabi into English. An experienced, energetic, and versatile storyteller, Chand has told his stories in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Holland, India, Ireland, and Norway. He is also one of the organisers of Festival at the Edge, an international storytelling festival and the oldest of its kind in Britain. > Shinoharu Tatekawa is a full-time rakugo performer based in Tokyo. Rakugo is best described as Japanese sit-down comedy of comic storytelling, and although it is usually only accessible to Japanese-speaking audiences, Shinoharu has painstakingly translated some of these stories into English to make them available to a global audience. Performance: Sept 1, 2 & 4 at 7.30pm / International Storytellers Showcase. For a full list of performers, speakers and events, go to bookcouncil.sg/sisf. |
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