Gina Yap Lai Yoong

Today, theSun published an interview with Gina Yap who have written four novel and will be soon coming out with fifth novel. Here is the article.

Headline: Writer of Malay Fiction

By Bissme S

There are very few non Malays who write Malay fiction in Malaysia. But 29- year-old Gina Yap Lai Yoong is one of the exceptions. To date, she has produced four Malay novels.

“I love the language (Bahasa Malaysia),” says Gina, a freelance graphic designer and copywriter.

“The language can be gentle and rough at the same time.”

She finds that whenever one tells a Malaysian story in the national language, the story seems to have a more authentic feel.

“The words sound better in Bahasa Malaysia compared to English when describing Malaysia’s atmosphere and our emotions,” she says.

“Besides, there are more publishers for Malay fiction compared to English fiction. If I write in Bahasa Malaysia, my chances of getting published are higher.”

She says she does not use highbrow Bahasa Malaysia in her novels and one can easily read her novels without referring to a Malay dictionary.

“My aim of using simple bahasa is because I want people who do not read Malay novels to read them,” she says.

Yap’s journey to becoming a novelist began in high school. She started reading more to improve her language and essay-writing skills, which slowly cultivated a love for words in her.

Once, her English teacher caught her writing poems, instead of paying attention in class.

“I thought my teacher would get angry and I would be punished,” Yap remembers.

Instead, her teacher was impressed by what Yap had written.

“My teacher told me that she would like to see me published one day.”

It was her teacher’s suggestion that first gave Yap the idea that she could become an author.She has her first novel, Experiment Cinta, published five years ago in 2011 under the pseudonym Geena Edora. She was only 24.

“My publisher thought a Malay novel with a Chinese name would not sell well,” she says of Experiment Cinta which centers on two best friends who are seeking love in all the wrong places.

The following year, she produced her second novel, a crime thriller called Ngeri, about a group of film students who write a script about a murder mystery which starts happening in real life.

This time around, her new publisher Fixi allowed her to use her Chinese name. Ngeri became a success and shot her to stardom.

Then in 2013, she wrote Mangsa, which is a sequel to Ngeri, where the inspector in the first novel returns to solve several missing person cases.

She recently returned to this story thread with the third book in the series, Obsesi. The book will be on sale at the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair at Putra World Trade Centre from April 24 to May 4.

“Now, my readers are expecting someone to die in every one of my novels,” she says with a smile.

In between, Yap came out with Serangkai Hidup last year, which centres on eight individuals who undertake a meaningful journey to fulfil their dreams.

There are plans to translate Serangkai Hidup into English and if everything goes well, the English version will hit the shelves probably next year.

Besides writing, Yap has also embarked on a new project. Early this year, she took 14 aspiring writers under her wing to help them complete their manuscripts. She meets up with the writers

individually every month and has even gone to one of the participants’ house and sat with him as he wrote his pages.

“I am not their tutor,” she says.

“I see myself more as their writing partner. I will be with them for one year.”

Yap is offering her services for free.

“I am self taught writer. I have never taken a creative writing course. I am only teaching them from the experience I gained from writing my five novels.

“I do not know any writing jargons. I know you can feel very small when scholars start using writing jargons and you feel very lost.”

She adds that she is here to give the writers support and help them to carry out their dream to complete their manuscripts. 

As for her future plan, she wants to find a foreign publisher in the United Kingdom and publish English fiction for the world market.

“My dream is to earn a living as a writer of fiction,” she says.

“I can only achieve this dream if I am able to reach a wider readership base."

Mamu Vies & Dog Pound

Today theSun published my interview with Mamu Vies who spoke about his debut Dog Pound that has hit the book shelves recently. The interview took place in Chawan Bangsar and his fiancee, the famous novelist Nadia Khan was also present at the interview and she  contributed a few words to the interview. Here is the full article.   

Headline: A Tale Worth Telling  
By Bissme S 

The Violent world of underground boxing formed the main plot for Muhammad Fahmi’s Dog Pound, his English fiction that recently hit the bookshelves. The author, who writes under the pen-name of Mamu Vies, explains that the boxing element in his debut novel is an allegory of how all of us are fighting for survival in life.
On his personal battles in his own life, Mamu says: “I am constantly fighting to make a living as an artiste. I have failed in so many things. But I always find myself coming back and doing artistic stuff. I feel alive when I am doing artistic stuff.”
Published by Fixi Novo, Dog Pound centres on Azroy, a risingstar in the underground boxing circuit, who finds himself in hot soup after he kills his opponent in the boxing ring. On the run from the law, he soon learns that he has been framed and that there are powerful forces involved.
Mamu himself has taken some lessons in kickboxing in the past and his experience proves invaluable in writing this novel.
“Some of my friends and I had sparring sessions after our kickboxing lessons,” recalls the 27-year-old full-time writer.
“But, honestly speaking, the sparring sessions I have watched and participated in are not as violent and gory as I have portrayed in my book. I have magnified my experiences some 200%!”
Mamu believes it is essential that writers today write books that are fast-paced and can be read in a few sittings to rival what the internet or smartphones and Facebook have to offer.
“People are spending more time online than on books,” he says. 
“Today, there are many more things out there that can distract you from books. I like to be a part of the movement that brings people back to reading.”
Writing this novel has been a personal achievement of sorts for this writer.
“I am one of those people who will start something and if I cannot make sense of the thing I am doing, I will not complete the task,” says Mamu who was born and raised in the Klang Valley.
“It took me three years to complete the novel. I really believe this novel is something that I really care about because I have completed it.”
Currently, writing any more novels has to take a back seat as he is busy writing three film scripts with his fiancée, Nadia Khan, who is also a novelist and writes in both the national language and English.
Some couples do not like the idea of working together. But not these two creative minds.
Nadia says Mamu is more attracted to the way a writer writes his prose while she goes for the way a writer writes the dialogue. 
“I think we complement each other [in this way].”
Is Mamu jealous of his more famous, and popular, girlfriend who has two bestselling Malay novels under her name – her debut novel Kelabu and second novel Gantung?
“If I’m successful, I want her to be happy for me and the same goes with me. I am really proud of her achievements,” says Mamu who reveals that they hope to get married next year.
“Nothing much intimidates him,” adds Nadia who states that they are very open when it comes to making criticisms or giving compliments to each other’s work.
“I will always encourage Nadia to be fiercer with her criticism on my work. I will keep asking her where are her claws,” says Mamu with a laugh.
Asked which he likes better – writing scripts or novels, Mamu admits to preferring the latter. He says with a smile: “I am a control freak. In [publisher] Amir Muhammad’s words: with a book, you deal with lesser idiots; it is only between you, your publisher and your readers.”
In some ways, he admits writing allows a writer to play god to his/her characters. 
“I like playing god,” he says. “But I would not be an intrusive god who throws out lightning or swallows up my characters.”
He also adds that whenever he writes, he makes it a point to never judge his characters.
“I believe that if you judge your characters right away, there will be a lot of self censoring and your characters will be bland and you will not get the full story.
“When your characters are bland, then it will not be a story worth telling.”
Interestingly, Mamu had wanted to be a cartoonist.
“Creating worlds and telling stories have always appealed to me,” he says. “[But now] instead of drawing, I am creating my worlds and stories with words.”
He hints that, one day, he might still be able to fulfil that dream where he gets to tell his stories through pictures.

Mamu Vies with his fiancee Nadia Khan

Mamu with his book Dog Pound

Shaz Johar & Sanctuaria

Today theSun  highlights an interview with the author Shaz Johar who  is promoting his fifth fiction novel that will be selling Pesta Buku Antrabangsa  Kuala Lumpur at Putra World Trade Centre ( PWTC) starting today till May 4.   Below the is the full article.  

Headline  Culvating Hard Topics

By Bissme S

Author Shaz Johar tackles the theme of cults in his latest novel, Sanctuaria (published under Fixi).The  2011 winner of the Selangor Young Talent Award for best Malay  novel, who made his debut on the local literary scene with Kougar, is no stranger to controversial subject matters. Kougar explored not only the romance between a much older woman and a youngerman but also touched on the subject of religion, sex, passion and friendship.

His current book is a story of the once idealistic Yang Ariff who builds his version of a utopian community in an isolated commune called Sanctuaria, where everyone is treated equally. Over time, Sanctuaria grows to become a 200-member commune and then, the story takes a dark turn when Yang Ariff becomes consumed by power and his utopia turns into a cult.

“His intentions started out as noble,” said the 36-year-old Shaz whose real name is Mohd Aswan Md Johar.

“But as his commune grew bigger,Yang Ariff becomes power crazy and wants everyone in Sanctuaria to obey him at all cost, threatening to kill anyone who dares to leave.”

Shaz, from Kuala Lumpur,Jones,was inspired by the biopic on Jim an American religious leader who founded a new religious movement called The People’s Temple of the Disciples of Christ. On Nov 18, 1978, Jones allegedly ordered more than 900 cult members, including over 300 children, to commit suicide by ingesting a cyanide-laced drink, in what is now commonly called “Jonestown” in Guyana. Jones shot himself.

Sanctuaria is Shaz’s fifth novel. He is currently working on his sixth, which also tackles a

controversial theme.

“I am exploring the subject of paedophilia,” said Shaz, who was rather tight-lipped over the

outcome of the story, except to say that it’s a story about a woman who forges a friendship

with a young boy who is being sexually molested by his adoptive father.

The woman herself is an ex convict who was imprisoned for killing her abusive husband. Shaz started writing at the age of 16. He would show his short stories to his friends for feedback.

He said: “I always love reading fiction more than non-fiction. In fiction, writers tell the truth in a more colourful way.”

He has since quit his job in customer service at a bank to focus on writing. His other works of fiction include Tabu, a story of a plussized Malay woman falling in love with an African man, and Mental – about a maid who works for an eccentric family, as well as a compilation of 22 short stories entitled Cerpen by Shaz Johar.

Shaz is unfazed by the criticisms of those who find his books too raunchy.

“There is nothing wrong in writing about sex because sex is part of life,” he said.

Sanctuaria will be officially on sale at the Pesta Buku Antrabangsa Kuala Lumpur at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), which starts from tomorrow till May 4. Shaz will be on hand for several book signings and talks on the book during that period. For details on that, visit the Sanctuaria Facebook.

The author with his previous books

the cover of his latest book 

Usman Awang

Today I am highlight a story that focuses on a well known poet, the late  Usman Awang from the eyes her daughter Haslina Usman. This interview appeared on Friday June 14 … two days away from June 16 which is father’s day.  

Haslina with her father when she was 16 year old.


Headline: A Daddy  Girl 
By Bissme S

THERE is a saying that no man can love a girl the way her own father does and Haslina Usman can testify to this.
The way she talks about her father, the national laureate, and late Datuk Usman Awang, one can see that he had been a great influence in her life. One of her most beautiful memories of her father was the many conversations they had on the swing in the garden of their home.
"He was the first person who exposed me to the world of arts," says the eldest child of the well known poet and writer.
"He took me to my first ballet performance and my first art exhibition. He would always ask for my opinions and my views on what I had seen and heard."
Another beautiful memory was when her dad watched her perform the traditional Malay dance performance called Puteri Sadong.
"I was so proud to have my father in the audience," says Haslina who now runs a bakery business called Cakes By Lyna.
"He always made a point to be there when his children needed him, no matter how busy he was."
From the late 60s to the early 70s, her dad was constantly travelling to various countries in Europe and America, as a guest poet and a writer.
"I was just a kid then, and I missed him very much whenever he was away," she recalls. "He missed me, too so he would send me postcards where ever he went. I loved rings and I would ask him to get me rings that reflected the culture of the countries that he had visited.
"Dad would take the trouble just to fulfil my request. Once, he even went to a Red Indian settlement in America, just to get a ring for me."
When Haslina was a teenager, her father would keep a hawk eye on her movements.
"My two brothers enjoyed greater freedom than I, and I was angry at my father for treating us differently," she says.
"Looking back now, I understand his reasons better. Fathers are always over protective of their daughters compared to their sons because they do not want anything unforeseen to happen to them, being girls. He was just looking out for me."
Strangely enough, Usman never wanted any of his four children to follow in his footsteps to become a poet or a writer.
"He always told us that a writer's life is a difficult life, and that he did not want any of us to have that kind of life," she says.
Since her father passed away in 2001, Haslina has been writing poems. But she has no intention of publishing her works.
"My works are not important," she says. "What is important is that I keep my father's legacy alive."
She has taken over the publishing company - UA Enterprises Sdn Bhd - that her father had set up in the 70s. The objective of the company is to promote her father's works which comprise of more than 300 poems and 100 short stories.
She is utterly sad to learn that younger generations have a vague idea of who her father was.
"My father has contributed a lot to the literary world and I did not want him to fade away," she says.
As part of reaching out to the young and hip readers, she has collaborated with Fixi publication to publish Yang Nakal-Nakal which features her father's works - 17 short stories and eight poems. The book will be officially launched and sold this Sunday, June 16 at 2pm at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market.
"Fixi has a steady set of young loyal readers who are always buying books that they published, she says, eager to expose this new generation of readers who might not have heard of her father.
Her other project is to publish another book entitled Kekasih featuring 40 of her late father's poems. She is also getting visual artists to translate her father's poems into art.
"It will be their interpretation of my father's work," she says.
If everything goes well, Kekasih will be launched at an event known as Hari Usman Awang on July 20. For this event, Haslina will be collaborating with two artistic bodies - Sebudi and Kelab Athma Jiwa.
She cited the pillar of strength in her father's life to be her mother. When her mother passed away in 1999 from an asthma attack, her father was not the same person any more.
"My mother's death was really unexpected," Haslina says.
"Dad did not have the mood to write after that. He became very sick without my mum around and his health deteriorated further."
Three years later, on Nov 29, 2001, Usman finally succumbed to heart complications.
When asked to name one thing that many people do not know about her father, Haslina laughs and says: "During his last days, when he was sick, my father loved to watch cartoons with my two children. One of his favourite cartoons was Tom & Jerry. It was nice to see him laugh."

The cover of the book that was recently launched

Haslina Usman ... wants to keep her father's legacy alive among the the young generation