Now here's a thing. Not one title appearing in the monthly bestsellers' list for March was on the list for the previous month. Promiscuous tastes – that's the only way to describe our customers' buying habits. It will come as no shock to learn that...
Once in a while a book comes along that captures the zeitgeist, the defining spirit of the times. Peninsula: A Story of Malaysia by Rehman Rashid lays claim to being just such an offering. It’s certainly a (very) personal memoir – including a loving account...
What does it mean to see the world as a poet does? The best answer is to join the annual celebration of World Poetry Day and take inspiration from an array of poetic offerings. Learn all about how to be good at being creative and...
Once again, to cement a new permutation of political forces in Malaysia after the latest purges in UMNO, we are hearing calls for Reformasi 2.0 by ‘patriotic and progressive Malaysians’ – the most recent attempt to force Najib Razak out office. Calls to reform Malaysia...
'To survive, you must tell stories'. The line is from Umberto Eco who died on 19 February – from The Island of the Day Before (1995) which, in the manner of Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Voltaire's Candide, is a profound and ingenious story artfully told....
'All that is broker must remain in the past'. That's a reflective line from a very fine essay by Tash Aw, 'A Stranger at the Family Table', published in The New Yorker a couple of days ago. It really is a subtle and insightful piece...
Tomorrow – 8 February – marks the lunar new year and the beginning of year of the monkey. The bookshop wishes all its friends a happy, healthy and progressive new year. To mark the occasion the shop will be closed for one day (Monday 8...
A new year but a return of an old favourite, with last month's top ten bestsellers. Unsurprisingly, two of the top authors made engaging appearances at our Nusantara Forum series: Marina Mahathir, with both her new book, Dancing on Thin Ice (EDM) and her previous...
The Challenges of Writing in the Mainstream Media Nusantara Forum Saturday 30 January 2016, 7.30pm at Wawasan Open University To celebrate the publication of her latest collection of short essays – Dancing on Thin Ice (EDM, 2015) – this Nusantara Forum brings Marina Mahathir together in conversation with...
The official Penang launch of Marco Ferrarese's Banana Punk Rawk Trails (SIRD) was the centrepiece of a Nusantara Forum under the title 'A Window on the Globalised Music Scene from Southeast Asia'. Both Marco and the guest speaker, Joe Kidd, focused on the meaning punk...