By The Book

The Sandman, Archie Comics, Watchmen, Covidball Z... in this episode, we explore the world of graphic novels, from stalwarts of the genre, all the way up to webcomics and how they're changing the game. We also touch on Malaysian names to look out for, and discuss fundamentally why we love this marriage of drawing, paneling and writing.

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Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land, was one of last year’s most-anticipated books. It details the run-up to his historic election as US President, as well as some of the high and low points of his first term, including the 2008 global financial crisis, his healthcare initiative, and the killing of Osama bin Laden. The book also comes at an interesting point in time: the tail end of Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency. For this month’s book club, we take on the hefty tome, and discuss what Obama’s insights have to say both about the past and the world’s current political situations. We close things off with some other autobiographies worth checking out.

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A tale combining Malaysian folklore and mythology, religion and philosophy, and a rollicking adventurous road trip, How the Man in Green Saved Pahang, and Possibly the World is an ambitious, busy, and deeply enjoyable debut novel from Joshua Kam. We speak to Joshua about the inspiration behind the book, the research it took, and how it explores Malaysia and her history in a different way. And then in Footnotes, we give our take on the novel in a mini-review.

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Trying to condense the length and breadth of Chinese literature into one show is an impossible task - but with Sinophone researcher Dr Tee Kim Tong as our guide, we take a trip through time and around the world, to understand the roots of Chinese literature, how it has evolved, its literary and genre leanings, and its diasporic offshoots.

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Novelist, raconteur, flaneur, man about town - Charles Dickens is widely considered as one of the greatest, and most beloved writers of all time. In his day his stories were shared by the public (whether or not they could read - as people were paid to read them aloud) and hotly anticipated (since they were often serialised). In this Bibliography episode, we speak about Dickens' work, his legacy, as well as the multiple adaptations of his work.

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In our first Book Club of 2021, we go to a favourite Malaysian writer, Zen Cho, and her latest novella titled “The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water”. The wuxia-inspired fantasy story continues Zen’s tendency to draw on Malaysian history and mythology for her rich tales, and uses this intriguing setting to tell the story of a young nun and a ragtag group of bandits - all of whom are more than they seem. We close off the discussion by looking at what works and doesn’t when it comes to novellas.

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One of the best-selling and most-translated fiction writers of all time, Dame Agatha Christie spent much of her writing career exploring mysteries and murders through her two famous detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In this episode of Bibliography, we take a look at what was behind her success, as well as how her own very eventful life informed her work.

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As part of the Swadaya X George Town Literary Festival series of virtual events, we moderated a session with Singaporean writer Melissa De Silva on her book ‘Others’ is Not a Race. The conversation was a heartfelt and intimate one about Melissa’s Eurasian heritage, what it means to write about identity, and, as is often the case when Malaysians and Singaporeans converge, food. This is an edited version of the talk, which was hosted by Gerakbudaya.

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It's the beginning of a new year, and after the doozy that was 2020, we wanted to look at books that tackle the idea of starting over, whether through migration, a change of landscape, or having to begin again after hardship. As well as why moments like these, of renewal and change, have been fruitful starting points for so many authors. And then in Footnotes, we discuss some of our reading resolutions for 2021.

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As 2020 draws to a close, we look back at all the things we’ve read this year and discuss some of the highlights - especially the books that have kept us company or given us solace in what has been an extraordinarily challenging year for all of us. We close things off in Footnotes by talking about some of the books we are looking forward to in the coming year.

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