Since Joko Widodo came to power earlier this year, there have been some important policy advances – even as he battles with the entrenched political elites. He's announced plans to protect rainforests and peatlands; he's ordered a crackdown on bureaucratic excess; he's taken on Australia...
Thanks to our partnership with William Knox of The Penang Bookshelf, we have some lovely rare and out-of-print books on our shelves. Here are two stand-outs. Betty Molesworth Allen's Malayan Fruits (1967) was the first comprehensive guide to the wonderful variety of local fruits –...
We've not featured many cookery books here – though we stock a few good ones – reckoning that Penang's food obsession looks after itself. But why not make an exception for the exceptional? Newly published is Andrew Johnson's AJ's Food Roots: Southeast Asian and Sri...
With the George Town Literary Festival at the end of the month, it is not at all surprising that most (though not quite all) last month's bestsellers were from authors who made panel appearances. With his charm and wit, Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh's Floating on a...
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...
This month's copies of Penang Monthly arrived in the bookshop today. As usual, there's a good array of interesting pieces: a history of local elections in Penang and art education in Malaysia stand out. But we'd like to draw your attention to Marco Ferrarese's interview...
We are very proud to be cooperating with the Women's Centre for Change (WCC Penang) and Pusat Perkhidmatan Wanita in promoting their excellent new publication: Hear Our Stories: The Moment The Butterfly Flaps Its Wings (in English and Chinese). This is no ordinary book. It...
This week came the wonderful news that the great Toni Morrison will release her eleventh novel next April. That much in itself should get all lovers of literary fiction salivating at the prospect. The new novel is called God Help the Child, a title that...
Poetry is – for reasons that are quite unfathomable – the Cinderella of the literary world. Perhaps novels, short stories and essays simply shout louder. But one of the most eloquent voices at the recent George Town Literary Festival was Sudeep Sen whose newly published...
This book is a labour of love and a long time in the making. More than three years ago Chin Yoon Khen embarked on a project to meet, talk with, photograph and write about the women and men who keep alive the artisanal traditions of...