08 Dec Festival Follow-up

There are a couple of excellent reports on the recent George Town Literary Festival which was, by consensus, a huge success. Samantha Joseph’s piece in the New Straits Times focuses in particular on the state of publishing – highlighting the contributions of publishers like Bernadette Foley, Hans Kemp, Tom Vater (of Crime Wave Press) and Amir Muhammad (of Fixi) to reflect on the place of books in the face of the gigantic publishing Goliaths, on the one hand, and the new technologies, on the other. Meanwhile, Andrea Filmer’s piece in The Star concentrates on more intimate portraits of two writers who undoubtedly made a big impression on the festival audience: Susan Barker, who’s new novel The Incantations is set in Beijing; and Sudeep Sen, whose wonderful new collection, Fractals, shimmers with a quiet brilliance. Both articles are well worth your time. (Links to articles below)

• New Straits Times, Words on Malaysian Writing by Samatha Joseph
• The Star, Words with friends: Writing chose us, say author Susan Barker, poet Sudeep Sen by Andrea Filmer

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