An evening with Amir Mohammad and friends

On Saturday, 23 Feb, from 5:30 to 7pm, Silverfish Books, 58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur will host Amir Mohammad and his friends for a reading and book signing.

New Malaysian Essays 1 (Matahari Books) ( ISBN: 987-983-43596-1-4 ) is the first of a planned annual series concentrating on local non-fiction writing. From polemic to ode to memoir, this series invites Malaysian readers -- and writers -- to notice, analyse and interpret the living, throbbing, squelching vitality around them. Multi-disciplinary, multi-tasking and best appreciated on multi-vitamins, this first collection features six writers. Four of them will be present at the reading: Amir Muhammad, Brian Yap, Saharil Hasrin Sanin & Aminuddin Mahmud.

This book is available only in selected bookstores, and retails at RM30. So come on over!

Goenawan Mohamad and Laksmi Pamuntjak

In the last announcement (below) I appear to have given the impression that the event on the Saturday, 26th January 2008 will only feature On God and Other Unfinished Things by Goenawan Mohamad. Actually the event will be a double bill, featuring both Goenawan Mohamad and Laksmi Pamuntjak.

While, after the launch of his book, Goenawan Mohamad will talk about his book and other related issues, Lakshmi Pamuntjak will be reading from her new novel in progress her work in progress, The Blue Widow.

About Goenawan Mohamad: Founder and chief editor of Tempo news magazine (1971 -1998), Goenawan Mohamad is also one of Indonesia’s foremost poets, essayists and public intellectuals with six books of poems and several books of essays. The English translations of his shorts essays can be found in Sidelines (1994) and Conversations with Difference (2002), both translated by Jennifer Lindsay. Goenawan Mohamad: Selected Poems (2004) was translated by Laksmi Pamuntjak.

Goenawan Mohamad has received several international awards, among them the distinguished Louis Lyon Award from Harvard University.

About Laksmi Pamuntjak: Laksmi Pamuntjak has since 1994 written columns and articles on politics, film, food, classical music and literature for Tempo magazine and elsewhere. Her first collection of poetry, Ellipsis, appeared on The Herald, UK 2005 Books of the Year list. She is currently working on The Blue Widow, a novella partially set in Buru Island.

Goenawan Mohamad and Lakshmi Pamuntjak at Silverfish Books

On Saturday, 26th January 2008 Silverfish Books will host the launch of his latest, On God and Other Things, the English translation of his book of aphorisms, Tentang Tuhan dan Hal-Hal yang Tak Selesai. This event is sponsored by the Malaysian International Literature Society (MILS). The event will start at 5.00pm

Goenawan Mohamad's latest book of aphorisms, Tentang Tuhan dan Hal-Hal yang Tak Selesai, is inspired by Roestam Effendi's 1925 poetry collection, Pertjikan Permenungan (Scraps of Thought). Each of its parts is written with brevity, or with near-brevity -- a cut or a remnant of sorts of a larger piece. All 99 of these "scraps" can be read sometimes as parts that support or refute one another, other times as pieces that stand on their own.

While some of them are variations of the themes found in Catatan Pinggir (Sidelines), Goenawan’s weekly thought pieces in the newsmagazine Tempo, others are categorically new. All were written in times not unlike the one we are currently experiencing now, in which God seems to be irrefutable and religion gains ever more currency in the lives of many: dispensing strength, illuminating the path, but is at the same time confusing and frightening.

The book has been translated into English by the Indonesian poet and writer Laksmi Pamuntjak under the title On God and Other Unfinished Things.

Goenawan will talk about his book, and says in his email.

I understand that right now in Malaysia there is a raging controversy over the word "Allah", with the government imposing a ban on the use of the word by non-Moslems and the subsequent protests by the Malaysian Christians ... I hope my book, and my opinion, will not create a problem ...

Looks like we will be srating our new year with a bang. I suppose we can expect some visitations.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome. But space is limited. (Please do not telephone us to make reservations because we will not be taking any -- but you can call us to give us an indication of numbers. Admission will be strictly on first-come-first basis, subject to availability of space.) A limited number of his books (in Indonesian and in English) will be on sale at Silverfish Books.