KLILF 2007, Day 3
This post is late because on the actual Day 3, my day started early and didn’t end until about 3am the next day. No place to fit in a blog entry!
Joyce took me out to breakfast at an old-fashioned coffee shop before dropping me off at Bangsar.
For my last workshop, I attended Brian Castro‘s session on autobiographical fiction and how family history can be used in literature. One of the first things that stuck is that the term “true story” is an oxymoron! Autobiographical fiction is essentially using personal/family history to weave together a tale. It’s writing a story out of material you already have and giving it some form.
It doesn’t necessarily have to follow your exact history, as in chronicling the life of public figure like… oh, David Beckham. Fact, much like Beckham, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be interesting.
Brian Castro reading from his book “Shanghai Dancing”.
So what is it about families and autobiographical fiction that is so seductive?
“Half-truths.” said Castro. “Autobiographical fiction is about psychological truths, truth about the human character rather than about particular people.”
When asked if he asked permission from his siblings to use them in the book, he said he didn’t. He is not in touch with them. Anyway, he fictionalised them and took interesting factors of their personality to form their “characters” in the book.
The crowd at the session @ Starbucks, Bangsar II.
As there was no proper closure to the KL LitFest, we simply drifted off after the session. It was kinda weird in an “I can’t believe it’s over” way.
I had the pleasure of sharing a table with Dr Lee Su Kim, author of ‘Malaysian Flavours’ and ‘Nyonya in Texas’ and with Cat, who wandered in just as the session was starting. I had my photo taken by NST to go with the interview I gave them the day before. I lingered, chatted and went off to find the bathroom.
Lydia later tried calling me because I wandered off while she was on the phone, but the number she had was the one one my card and I was using a different number in KL. She got me through See Ming later. Lydia gives her take on the Fest here.
I had such an amazing time at the LitFest, not because of the workshops or sessions, but because of all the people I met there. More writers than you can shake a stick at! Editors who answered a couple of burning questions! Poets of all types! Writers in various stages of denial! (“Oh, but I’m afraid to show my story to anyone.”)
I might have blown into KL and the Fest alone, but I certainly wasn’t lonely.
That’s all for this entry. I still have a few more coming when I find time and if Streamyx doesn’t decided to spend most of my day dead like the last couple of days.
KLILF 2007, Day 2
I got started a bit later than I wanted to this morning and had to run to catch a taxi. I wanted to figure out the bus system but I was just too tired/rushed to bother. Anyway, if I’m not sitting in a workshop or talk, I’m walking all over Bangsar Village 1 and 2 just checking out the sights and the shops.
KL is a bit less intimidating after a couple of days. I found myself enjoying the rush and the people today.
The Tash Aw workshop this morning was about endings. We looked at the endings of two of the novels we used yesterday. Again, it was nothing most of us don’t already know but probably need someone else to verbalise it for us.
Someone asked him a very interesting question about whether he decided to pick a literature approach instead of a popular fiction approach.
“I don’t think that anyone makes a conscious choice. I don’t have the kind of writing style that lends to popular fiction. I wish I could [write pop fiction]; I could make more money, (*general laughter*) but I can’t.” he said.
But I think we can all agree that a good novel is made up of a little of everything.But what determines readability?Simplicity in words. Originality. Simple language in delivered in an arresting way. People look for different things in books, which is absolutely true. You may have enjoyed one particular book, but someone out that thinks it’s trash. Vice versa.But publishers look for something they can sell. ;-)
I had lunch with Lydia, Eric Forbes, his colleague Janet and another LitFest goer Neela at The Marmalade. I learnt a lot just listening to Eric and Lydia talk shop and got to ask Eric a couple of questions myself. We’ll get into that later.
After lunch, I went to Word Forward‘s session at Caffe 1920. They are a Singaporean poetry slam group and together with Ray McNiece of the original poetry slam, they gave us a good mix of styles and themes. Here’s Ray, who did a wonderfully interactive poem to open:
I’m one of the people in the very sparse crowd for the Malay poetry recital. I wanted to know what it is like, since I haven’t seen it outside of school. These guys are the heavyweights of the Malay poetry world – award winners and such – and their selection of theme is kinda heavy.During Q&A, I asked if anything got lost in translation when their poetry were translated to English. Afterwhich, I realised that I asked a question in English during an entirely Malay session. Oops.
Marsli N.O. answered my question, saying that they do explain the poem to the translator to preserve the meaning and meter. That somehow led to him doing a super dramatic poem (arm gestures and all) about the war in Iraq and I have to say, it was really moving. It was one of those moments where the quote “Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful” applied.
There’s more but I’ll talk about it another day. I leave you with this:
KLILF 2007, Day 1
I survived Day 1 in KL!
The awesome thing about it is that I met so many people who are also writers or poets, and a whole lot of people whom I’ve only known online. On hindsight, it could have been a little lonely and I was admittedly a little restrained because I don’t know where I stood with the KL crowd. However, a handful of other people made up for the fact that I wasn’t very forward and said hello. Maybe I looked more approachable because I’m alone?
The first person I met after checking in at Silverfish is none other than Lydia Teh. I introduced myself and we ended up having breakfast together. We were heading to the same workshop (Tash Aw).
Tash Aw’s workshop is about the beginning of stories – how they hook the reader and what the suggest about how the rest of the novel is like. It’s nothing we don’t already know if we (especially avid readers) sit down and think about it.
We also studied the openings of several famous novels, where it became very much like English Lit class and you can start picking out the lit students in the crowd.
At the end of the workshop, it turned into an autograph session. Lydia introduced to Kak Teh. I’m not very sure who she is but her name is spoken with the tone of voice normally reserved for respected celebrities. I guess I should start reading her blog.
Cat appeared halfway through the workshop. A group of us decided to give lunch with Tash a miss and head to a mamak because we’re poor and can’t afford Alexis Bistro.
After lunch, we went our separate ways. I stopped by Silverfish to pick up two copies of Dina Zaman’s “I Am Muslim” (next session). The shop has a huge collection of Malaysiana. You can barely find any of these in Kuching. I stopped by MPH next and got Harmony Silk Factory for Tash to sign in his next workshop. I’ve been meaning to get a copy but decided to get it when I’m in KL so I don’t have to cart another book there and back again.
Anyway, Dina’s session was partly about her book and partly about the Muslim society, which is expected because they overlap. I can’t remember much of it now because I was sitting in an after-lunch coma, but it’ll probably come back when I get around to reading her book.
Benjamin Zephaniah was next. It was performance poetry all the way, with some background. Since British Council brought him in, Sunitha was there so there’s another familiar face.
At some point, Benjamin teased me about being so serious or something like that. I thought he was talking about someone behind me but one of the BC people later insisted that he was talking to me. Well, poo. I would have responded if I knew!
Here’s a video I took of one of his poems.
Chet collected me from Bangsar after it was all over. It’s so great to finally meet her! She took me to The Curve since it’s near where we live, and we went to The Street, which is this row of shophouses with two floors of all manner of restaurants. It was mind-boggling. We went to Chet’s favourite Vietnamese place and we had pho.
Xeus joined us there. It just occured to me that I met two authors whose books I brought over to KL to be signed, and I met the both of them on the same day and not have the books on me! I’m gonna be carrying a lot of stuff with me tomorrow.
The three of us went to Borders to browse.
Hmm, what else. Another trip to KL is definately a must, but I need to save up enough money to make it worth it. So many things to see and buy, so little time and money!
Well, I’ve blabbered on for longer than I planned on, so I’m off to bed in the company of one of the books I acquired today.
