Readings Goes International!

Beat those mid-week blues! Come and hear an exciting line-up of poets and authors from the UK, Malaysia, The Philippines and Singapore at Central Market Annex next Wednesday night.

Featuring:
Louise Doughty (UK)
Roger Robinson (UK)
Tan Twan Eng (Malaysia)
Dina Zaman (Malaysia)
Kam Raslan (Malaysia)
Isagani R.Cruz (The Philippines)

Venue: Top Floor Gallery,
Central Market Annexe,
Central Market, Kuala Lumpur.

Date: Wed 7, Feb 2007 / Time: 8.30 p.m.

FREE ADMISSION. Everyone very welcome.

Organised by Sharon Bakar with the assistance of The British Council and Central Market.

(Meanwhile, Hisham Rais is giving a free Philosophy Class that begins at 7.30pm in a different room at the same place. Come and find out the meaning of life!)

Writers’ Biodata for Night of the Living Text:

ROGER ROBINSON is a poet, short fiction writer and lyricist who lives between London and Trinidad. He has performed worldwide and is an experienced workshop leader and lecturer on poetry. His performances often incorporate words and music, and his one-man shows are: The Shadow Boxer; Letter from My Father’s Brother; and Prohibition (all premiered at the British Festival of Visual Theatre at Battersea Arts Centre). He was also chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the black-British writing canon over the past 50 years. He has published a book of short fiction, Adventures in 3D (2001) and a poetry collection, Suitcase (2004), and is currently working on a full-length novel.

Up to 2000, Roger Robinson was programme co-ordinator of Apples and Snakes. He was one of 30 poets chosen for the New Generation Poets collection at the National Portrait Gallery.

LOUISE DOUGHTY is a novelist, playwright and critic. She is the author of five novels: Crazy Paving, Dance with Me, Honey-Dew, Fires in the Dark and Stone Cradle, and five plays for radio.

She has worked widely as a critic and broadcaster in the UK, where she lives, including a spell as Theatre Critic for the Mail on Sunday and presenter of several books and arts series for BBC Radio 4. In June 2007, Simon & Schuster UK will publish her first work of non-fiction, A Novel in a Year, based on her highly successful newspaper column of 2006. Throughout 2007, she will be writing another column for the Daily Telegraph’s Saturday Review entitled A Writer’s Year.

ISAGANI R. CRUZ writes plays, essays, and short stories in Filipino and English, for which he has won numerous awards, including a SEAWRITE award, a Centennial Literary Contest award, and a Gawad Balagtas award. He has been named to the Hall of Fame of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature. He has written or edited more than 30 books.

He is also the Former Philippine Undersecretary of Education, the Director of the Teachers Academy of Far Eastern University in Manila, a Visiting Lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, and a Professor Emeritus, a University Fellow, and the Executive Publisher of Academic Publications of De La Salle University Manila. (A much longer version of his CV can be found on his blog!)

TAN TWAN ENG was born in Penang, but lived in various places in Malaysia as a child. He studied law through the University of London, and later worked as an advocate and solicitor in one of Kuala Lumpur’s most reputable law firms. He also has a first-dan ranking in aikido and is a strong proponent for the conservation of heritage buildings. He has spent the last year travelling around South Africa, and is currently living in Malaysia. His first novel The Gift of Rain is to be published in the UK by Myrmidon Books in March 2007.

KAM RASLAN is a writer and director, working in film, TV and theatre in Malaysia. He is a columnist in The Edge weekly and Off The Edge magazine. Some of his writings were previously compiled in Generation. He also writes for Instant Caf?© Theatre and will one day make his feature film. His first novel Confessions of an Old Boy has been serialised in Off the Edge and will be published in book form in March 2007 by Marshall-Cavendish.

DINA ZAMAN writes both fiction and non-fiction, and is interested in “religion, society and what makes Malaysians tick”. She has a B.A. in Mass Communication and Creative Writing from Western Michigan University and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Lancaster University and has been published abroad and locally. Her first collection of short fiction was night & day, published by Rhino Press (1997), while her play Harakiri was produced by Chakra Works in 2003.

She began her career in journalism with her column Dina’s Dalca in the New Straits Times. She has also written for other publications including Men’s Review, Marie Claire, and the Rentakini section of online newspaper Malaysiakini which she also edited. Her new book, I Am Muslim is due to be published by Silverfish Books in March 2007.