Literary Works by Malaysians

Malaysian literature in English may be a relatively new literary phenomenon that originated in the late 1940s to unite the multiethnic population but how many Malaysians truly know the geniuses behind the literature produced (besides the major, well-known writers, dramatists, poets, and others, such as K.S. Maniam, Shirley Lim, A. Samad Said, and so on)?

                               A BIBILIOGRAPHY OF UNRENOWNED MLIE

NOVELS


Khoo  Kheng-Hor (1956)

Born on the 2nd March of 1956 in Penang, Khoo is a Malaysian author and speaker on contemporary application of the 500 B.C. Chinese military treatise, The Art of War, by renowned military strategist Sun Tzu. He received his formal education at St. Xavier's institution before continuing his pre-university education at St. Joseph's Institution when he left for Singapore in 1974. After completing his studies in 1978, he worked as a journalist with The Star until 1980 when he joined Malaysia's largest sugar refinery, Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Company Berhad, as a personnel manager.

To date, Khoo has published over 26 business and management books, most of which are based on Sun Tzu's Art of War as it was his mission in life to "suntzunize" as many people as possible. In 1997, he was appointed as honorary Assistant Superintendent of Police by the Singapore Police Force in recognition for his contribution as consultant-trainer to the Singaporean police force although he was a Malaysian citizen.

After pursuing his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Stirling in Scotland and graduating with Distinction in 1991, Khoo was offered the job as Director of Operations for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in Singapore. In early 1994, Khoo was retrenched from KFC as a result of an ownership change, despite contributing to increased sales and profitability. He said:

Months before leaving my office, I had already looked around for another job, but unfortunately, top jobs are hard to come by. I felt like a ronin then. It occured to me then that if no daimyo wanted to employ me, then I would be my own little warlord and employ myself.

At the age of 43 in the year 1999, Khoo went into retirement (hang up his sword'; in his own words) to live a quiet and laid-back life in Cameron Highlands with his wife and their "four-legged son", Bandit, a Yorkshire Terrier. When asked on his decision to live in the mountains, Khoo said:

Life is more than work, work, work or just making money. I don't want to be like the preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes (in the Bible) who lamented that he looked on all labors that he had labored to do, and he beheld only vanity and a striving after wind. We may not be very wealthy but we have made enough to live by since we do not subscribe to a lavish lifestyle. So why not have time to do the things we like to do for a change? [Khoo, Kheng Hor (2001). Are You A Maverick?. Malaysia: Pelanduk Publications. pp. 61-73, 79, 85-86, 117-120] 

His first novel, Taikor, was nominated by the National Library of Malaysia for the 2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His second novel, Mamasan, was released in April 2007 and his third novel, Nanyang, hit the book stores in October 2007.

• For more information, visit here.

Rani Manicka

• (2002). The Rice Mother. Sceptre. Republished in 27 July 2004. Penguin Books.
• (2004). Touching Earth. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
• (2009). The Japanese Lover. Hodder & Stoughton.
• (2013). Black Jack. Rani Manicka.
• For more information, visit here or contact her here. 

    

Preeta Samarasan

Born in Batu Gajah, Preeta's father was a schoolteacher in Ipoh where she attended Sekolah Menengah Convent School. She won a United World College scholarship in 1992 and went to the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West in New Mexico, U.S.A. After graduating in 1994, she went to Hamilton College and then joined the Ph.D. program in musicology at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. She started work on her novel in 1999 and eventually gave up on her dissertation to write. After graduating from the MFA program in creative writing from the University of Michigan, she worked on polishing her novel.

• (2008). Evening is the Whole Day. HarperCollins Publishers.

-The story illuminates the dark secrets and layers of lies of an affluent Indian immigrant family living in Ipoh while exposing the complex underbelly of Malaysia.

• For more information or contact, visit here.             

SHORT STORIES

Preeta Samarasan

• (2007). 'Our House Stands in a City of Flowers'.

Shih-Li Kow (1968) 

• (2007). News From Home. Silverfish Books. 
• (2008). Ripples and Other Stories. Silverfish Books.
• (Coming Soon). The Millers Go Fishing (novel)
• For more information, visit here.  

Margaret Lim Hui Lian (1947)

Born in 1974 in Kuching, Sarawak, Lim obtained a B.A. in English from the University of British Columbia and a B.Ed. from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. She taught 10th and 11th graders English Literature in Sarawak before she moved with her husband to Germany. She has no pets, but enjoys feeding the birds in her garden.

She established Fairy Bird Children's Books in May 2005 in Kuching with the sole intent of producing exciting books which would nurture children and at the same time, educate them on the rich culture of Sarawak. Her children's books are based on recollections of her personal childhood spent with the native people deep in the interior of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

Lim was included in the Sarawak Women's Museum, Kuching, Sarawak, on August 6, 2007. She was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards (ALMA) 2008. Her childhood dream was to be a Librarian or Museum Curator. Her advice is:

"What ever you do, dream on!"

• (2005). 'Payah'. Fairy Bird Children's Books.

-A fearless little Kayan girl called Payah who has a very soft heart for small helpless creatures in the rainforest of Sarawak and manages to rescue a hornbill and a mousedeer, and takes care of a baby Orang-utan. 

• (2006). 'Four Eyes'. Fairy Bird Children's Books.

-Sequel to 'Payah' in which after Payah's beloved playmates, Sammy the baby orang-utan and Kenyi the hornbill left for the Semenggoh Rehabilitation Centre, a mysterious thief steals her great aunt, Uku Nyalo's, fruits.

• (2007) 'Precious Jade and Turnip Head'. Fairy Bird Children's Books.

-Payah and her best friend, Usun, celebrates Chinese New Year with Precious Jade and Precious Jade's little brother, Turnip Head. Four Eyes, a little orphaned Penan boy becomes Turnip Head's best friend. However when one of Uku Nyalo's hens disappears, Payah learns that Four Eyes and Turnip Head are behind it and tries to hinder her great aunt's investigations.

• (2009) 'Nonah, or The Ghost of Gunung Mulu'. Fairy Bird Children's Books.   

-Nonah feels homesick for her tiny fishing village of Santubong on the west coast of Sarawak after joining her parents who were teaching in a school in the deep rainforest. She loses her shyness once she befriended Payah and her friends, Precious Jade and Usun. Together, they wrote a story winning them a trip to Sarawak's loveliest National Park, Gunung Mulu; just to uncover a plot to steal very rare orchids.

Uthaya Sankar SB

• (1977). "You, the Village and A Story". Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (1995). "New Year Wish" in Kisah Dari Siru Kambam. Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (1999). "Letters from Madras" in Tidak Selamanya Indah. Translated by Emmy Hermina Nathasia.
• (2005). "Listen, My Love..." in Kathakali. Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (2006). "The Tale of Paurnami" in Rudra Avatara. Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (2007). "Nothing but Nating". Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (2009). "Notes of a Young Sepoy" in Kathakali. Translated by Chris Arjun.
• (2009). "Nayagi, Mistress of Destiny". Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (2009). "Strange Things". Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.

POETRY


Uthaya Sankar SB

• (2001). "Bahasa Malaysia, My Grandfather" in Ratib Seribu Syair. Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (2003). "Sitayana". Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB.
• (2005). "Fear Not to Live in Our Own Hut" in Ratib Seribu Syair and Suara Kita: Antologi Seribu Sajak Merdeka (2013). Translated by Uthaya Sankar SB. Edited by Amir Muhammad.
• For more information, contact here.

Poesy Liang (1975)

Born in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 1975 to father Leong Khai Kwan, a Malaysian Chinese of Cantonese descent and mother Chuang Mei Yin, a Taiwanese of Hakka descent, Poesy started to appear in advertisements and television programs since being discovered at the age of 14 in a Levi's Strauss television commercial as the 501 girl for Malaysia and Singapore but retired from the Chinese media ten years later.

Poesy's mother is an acupunturist and traditional herbalist, and was also trained in modern midwifery. Educated between 1982 to 1992 in Bukit Bintang Girls' School, Poesy first suffered from paraplegia at 17 during her first semester in architectural school due to acute thoracic intradural meningioma. She has had three spinal surgeries since then and recovered from paralysis with the help of her mother, Dr. Chuang who also traveled extensively to offer welfare aid to underprivileged patients in Peninsula Malaysia.

Through her growing years, Poesy faced social difficulties and financial discomfort whereby she isolated herself through reinvention of her various academic and creative pursuits as the media world tormented her and watched her parents struggled to make sacrifices for her failing health. When the opportunities arose, Poesy worked in the media industry to lighten the family's burdens. She has established herself as an artist cum author cum music composer cum interior and multidisciplinary designer cum jeweller cum entrepreneur cum philanthropist and motivational speaker. She also founded Helping Angels as a global Facebook group, a movement of compassion based on random acts of kindness created by volunteers who motivate career professionals to use their wisdom, influence, skills, and time resources to help others.

Poesy spends her free time pursuing new artistic skills and travels, while still dedicating a calling towards philanthropy and humanitarian works. She also swims long distance to train her legs, as other sports are not possible due to the injury of her spine.

• (2001). Reflection of Today.

"Probability of 1 today = 1000 tomorrows.
Half a mistake a hundred sorrows.
Time consistently brims up choices.
To be made among clanging noises.
No sure win situation?
1% inspiration 99% perspiration.
Every angle lends a separate hue of day.
A colorless debt it cannot repay.
Visions improve with quiet reflections.
Complaints regrets define incomprehension.
Churn the secular knowledge one borrows.
Todays are infinite spectrum of tomorrows." 

• For more information, click here.

FILMOGRAPHY

Amir Muhammad (1972)

Born in Kuala Lumpur on December 5, 1972 and educated in the University of East Anglia, Amir is a writer and independent filmmaker who has been writing for Malaysian print media (New Straits Times) since the age of 14.

He started publishing non-fiction books since 2007 such as Yasmin Ahmad's Films (2009) and 120 Malay Movies (2010) under his company Matahari Books and is taking a break from film-making.

• (2000). Lips to Lips. 
• (2002). 6horts (#1-#6)
• (2003). The Big Durian.
• (2005). The Year of Living Vicariously.
• (2005). Tokyo Magic Hour.
• (2006). The Last Communist.
• (2009). Malaysian Gods.