Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD) cordially invites you to the launch of the book No Cowardly Past in Petaling Jaya. On our distinguished panel of speakers are well-known personalities, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Jomo K.S. and Dominic Puthucheary.

No Cowardly Past: James Puthucheary - Writings, Poems, Commentaries (Second Edition). Edited by Jomo K.S. and Dominic Puthucheary

Informed by a profound understanding of history and convinced by the need to construct a sustainable future for his country, Puthucheary spent a lifetime engaged with the most pressing problems of the day. The new edition of No Cowardly Past brings together some of his most important essays on political economy, the struggle for a progressive politics and the character of university education, as well as his lyrical and pungent poetry.

'Time past and time future are both contained in time present', wrote James Puthucheary in an honest and provocative letter from prison more than y years ago. Informed by a profound understanding of history and convinced by the need to construct a sustainable future for his country, Puthucheary spent a lifetime engaged with the most pressing problems of the day. e new edition of No Cowardly Past brings together some of his most important essays on political economy, the struggle for a progressive politics and the character of university education, as well as his lyrical and pungent poetry. The essays are written in a forthright style that makes his work so accessible and with an unusual candour about the di culties of transforming a rapidly changing society. Together with half a dozen commentaries that throw light on his personal life, political career, intellectual impact and literary output, No Cowardly Past o ers the most comprehensive introduction to one of Malaysia’s greatest public intellectuals.

Date: Monday, 22 March 2010
Time: 8.00pm -- 10.00pm
Venue: Auditorium, MBPJ Civic Centre, Jalan Yong Shook Lin, Petaling Jaya
Programme:
Welcome by Ismail Gareth Richards
Speakers
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah - The Malaysia We Want
Jomo K.S. - Half a century later: The relevance of the Merdeka generation for us today
Dominic Puthucheary

Discussion
Official Book Launch and Presentation
Light refreshments will be served
Book sale and signing

Beyond the postcolonial

Talk by Dr Emma Dawson

The changing face of global Anglophone writing

From Nigeria to Kenya to India to Malaysia, Anglophone writing is changing. This talk will look at the thesis of being 'beyond the postcolonial' and the changing face of Anglophone writing. Please come along for interesting debate on this topic on Tuesday, 26th Jan 2010, 8.05 pm (after dinner, over coffee) at Silverfish Books, 58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur. The discussion will be led by Dr. Emma Dawson (Keele University, UK)

Bio
Dr Emma Dawson, works at the intersection of postcolonial writing, pedagogy and the emergent field of World Englishes literature. Her recent study addressed the teaching of World Englishes literature in schools in England. As an editor for CCC Press (UK) she is managing a project which is set to publish 8 anthologies of new writing in English from around the world. Cameroon and Nigeria (Nov 2009, Jan 2010) are out, Uganda and Kenya will follow. Malaysia, Singapore, India and a Caribbean nation will be published in 2010/2011.

Call for Submissions (from Malaysian writers):

CCC Press is showcasing new writing in English from around the world in their new series of country anthologies. Anthologies of short stories from Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda are already underway. 'The Spirit Machine' and Other New Short Stories From Cameroon' was published in July 2009 and the Nigerian anthology is due to be published by the end of 2009. The anthologies focus on the production of new writing in English which is newly sourced, edited and presented with a critical introduction. This is a call for the projected collection from Malaysia.

Submission Guidelines For Short Stories
- Word count: 3000 - 8000 words
- There is no theme, only 'Malaysia'.
- This is adult fiction (in the sense that it is not 'children's fiction').
- The work must be written in English (i.e. not translated from another language) and must be written by a resident of Malaysia (this is not a collection of diaspora writing).
- The story must be 'new' in the sense that it is 'unpublished in book form' - this makes life much easier in terms of 'rights'. (We can accept submissions which have been previously published in magazines if necessary.)
- Please send submissions by email to worldlits@googlemail.com, attached as a Microsoft Word document (saved as a 1997-2003 version please) and formatted as follows

- Name of author (Times New Roman, 12pt, bold, left justified).
- Contact address, telephone number and email (Times New Roman, 12pt, bold, left justified).
- Title of short story (Times New Roman, 14pt, bold, centered, underlined).
- Body text (Times New Roman, 12pt, justified, 1.5 line spacing, black).
- Page numbers and name of author on every page please.
- Word count at the end of the story (Bold, left justified)

- Maximum of two entries per person please.
- Please submit by January 31st 2010 (The closing date has been extended to 28 February 2010)

Dr Emma Dawson
Series Editor
World Englishes Literature
CCC Press
www.cccpress.co.uk
email: worldlits@googlemail.com

Book Event: Planter Upriver by Mahbob Abdullah

A book event: Planter Upriver by Mahbob Abdullah at 5.00pm on Saturday, 19th of December, 2009 at Silverfish Books, 58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 228 448 37 Email: info@silverfishbooks.com. Admission: Free

Mahbob Abdullah will talk about his life as a planter and about what he went through writing his books.

About the author:

Mahbob Abdullah chose planting as a career in the early 1960s when most plantations were growing rubber, and later joined the oil palm estates, mainly with Unilever Plantations. He later joined Sime Darby in the refinery business producing edible oils in Johore, Singapore, Thailand and Egypt. On his retirement he became a consultant on plantation and refinery management.

About the book:

Planter Upriver has sixty short stories set in Perak, Johor and Sabah in Malaysia, as well as Solomon Islands, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo).

The stories span the early 1960s to mid-1980s when the writer was working mainly in Unilever plantations, which had rubber, oil palm and cocoa and coconut, and also ran cattle in islands in the South Pacific.

There were colourful characters even in the most remote places. The writer has also seen the lighter side of their work as shown in some of these stories.

Planter Upriver follows the writer's first book Planter's Tales.

Book Launch: qur'an and cricket

Launch of qur'an and cricket: Travels through the madrasahs of Asia and other stories the latest book by Farish A Noor, Malaysia's leading public intellectual, at 7.00pm on Friday, 6th November, 2009 at Silverfish Books, 58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 448 449 37 Email: info@silverfishbooks.com. Admission: Free

Here is an excerpt from the book:

However, in the course of the same research I have also visited some rather dodgy institutions that can hardly be called madrasahs. Once in Pakistan I had to interview some students while in the corner of the room played a videotape of the gruesome murder and decapitation of the American journalist Daniel Pearl. The boys I was speaking to were between seven to ten years of age, and were smiling and laughing -- while others lay asleep. I tried to look away as long as I could, resisting the urge to puke.

Santri: Another Look at the Pesantren al-Mukmin of Abu Bakar Ba’ashir

Farish A Noor, academic, activist, traveller extraordinaire, visits, lives and interviews students (and others) in 'jihad factory' madrasahs (Islamic seminaries) from Patani to Pakistan and from Kashmir to Cairo, and comes away dazed and confused. In attempting to make sense of it all, he ends up confronting his own demons and nightmares.

This is a book that only Farish A Noor will attempt and can write. He visits locations we would like to avoid even in our worst nightmares. Although he writes with his sense of humour firmly in place throughout, that does not obscure the seriousness of the subject. Is the world ready for some truth?

Also launched on that day will be set of six postcards with photographs and drawings by Farish A Noor. You may view them here: http://www.silverfishbooks.com/slideshow/farishpostcards/farishpostcards.html

Note: Photo caption: The author on his last day of fieldwork, Central Java, May 2008

Mexican writer at Silverfish in October

NEW MEXICAN NARRATIVES. A TALE WITHOUT END...

A dialogue with Pedro Angel PALOU at Silverfish Books, 58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur on October 14, 2009 at 18.00 hours. Admission is free.

Since its origins in the sixteenth century, Mexican literature has been a significant component of Western literature. All along the Colonial period, Mexican writers were a key element in the development of Spanish imagination and creatitivity. After Independence two hundred years ago, they struggled to creatively contribute in building up a national identity within the Modern world. The Revolution of 1910 strengthened this commitment and generated a vital nationalistic literature.

Today Mexican writers consider themselves universal novelists, deeply involved in the crisis of globalization. The fact that Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world and a neighbor and major partner of the United States reflects itself in a vibrant and highly competitive literary environment.

New topics to attract Latin American readers, strategies to penetrate global markets, the complex interrelation with massmedia and Internet are among the issues and challenges faced by contemporary Mexican novelists.

Pedro Angel PALOU (Puebla, Mexico 1966) is a reknown novelist and thinker, author of 33 books. As a leading Mexican intellectual, he has been Minister of Culture at his home state of Puebla and President of a prestigious private university, The University of the Americas, as well as recipient of several national and international awards.

PALOU is an anchorman for Mexico's public television (Channel 22) and for the American broadcaster History Channel. He also enjoys a reputation as a futbol referee and a sophisticated chef. His visit to Malaysia is sponsored by the 2009 International Cooperation Program of Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.