Come Saturday, 14 April 2012, 5.30pm, we are having a book party at Silverfish Books, 28-1, Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru (Tel: 22844837) in celebration of Dina Zaman's King of the Sea. (Well you can call it a launch -- hard or soft -- if you want, but as Eddin said, ‘One launches ships not books.’ Watch out, get out of the way, here it comes! I got an email from Dina saying that Sandra Sothy has agreed to read from the book, and have also heard rumours of a 'Masbabu cha cha' session! What else? You have to ask Dina. If she promises you a party, it will be a party.King of the Sea is one of the fastest selling book in the history of Silverfish Books (rivalled only by I am Muslim) and it has taken Dina, by her own admission, 13 years to complete it. And it is already on the longlist for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. (Received their email.) Frankly, didn't think anyone outside Malaysia would 'get it'. Obviously, I was wrong.
Dina Zaman, a survivor from the I Am Muslim tsunami, has been writing in the Malaysian media for over 17 years. Her first book, a collection of short stories, night & day, which was part of the Black & White series, was published by Rhino Press in 1997. She has had her works of fiction, and non-fiction, published in many journals and periodicals, locally and regionally. She is currently studying saints, and other holy men and women, and their impact on Malaysia for her next book Holy Men, Holy Women under the API Fellowship 2012-2013 programme that she has just been awarded. (She went to the orientation programme in the morning of 25 March, got ill and fainted, but that didn't stop her from showing up at the Annexe that evening for a reading of her book. That's Dina for you.)
All friends and fans (and the merely curious) are welcome, and admission is free. (It might get a little crowded, so do come early.)
