Monday, March 05, 2012

Two M’sian writers in the running for world’s richest book prize


Two books authored by Malaysians are among 149 books long listed to win the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2012, the world's richest book prize. the two books, "21 Immortals" by Rozlan Mohd Noor and "Days of Change" by Chuah Guat Eng were selected and submitted by the National Library to be in the running for the prestigious award.

This is a good effort by the authorities in promoting Malaysian writers world wide. At least it will spur the curiosity of readers here and abroad on what those books have to say. The process of writing and publishing takes a lot of effort and trying to make it to the world stage takes a further leap of faith. Not all writers can be successful and recognised internationally, so this approach is one way of encouraging others to write for not just a Malaysian audience but for the whole world. Each tome is a personal experience, very subjective and influenced by the reader's own preferences. A reader anywhere will choose and pick what he likes based on his own perspective of the subject.

That book on the shelves in a Malaysian book store might not receive the same enthusiasm abroad. Nevertheless, a positive move and at least more English speaking non-Malaysians now realise that we have authors writing in English. 

Image from eleventhstack

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