23 Jan Soul of the Island

Following the feature on the bookshop in this month’s Penang Monthly, there is a nice piece from last week’s The Edge by Emily Chow. She’s titled the piece “The Soul of the Island” and explores some of the people who are helping to shape the arts and cultural scene. One of those featured is Joe Sidek, the indefatigable director of the successful George Town Festival, who says: “Vibrant and diverse arts and cultural activities are important contributors to the liveliness and vitality of an urban environment”. And then Gareth, on behalf of the bookshop, asserts: “the bookshop adds something important to the cultural life of a place – without it, the area would be poorer. The bookshop is also a place where people meet, browse and talk. This is important in itself … Cities should be in a constant state of reinventing themselves”.