Malaysian long-listed for the Booker
Earlier this summer, I had dinner with Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng and blogger Kak Teh in a restaurant near Queensway. We had first met in February this year when he came along to the LitBloggers Event I was speaking at in Kuala Lumpur. This time, Twan was over in the UK for a book tour promoting his first novel The Gift of Rain. We chatted about the state of Malaysian literature and compared notes on our experiences of having to do the circuit promoting our respective books. He confessed to being disappointed by the level of publicity he had been getting in the UK - although I tried to reassure him that being featured on Radio 3 is pretty prestigious.
Twan’s novel has recently been long-listed for the Booker, which is fantastic news. I’m thrilled for him personally and also, it’s great to see a Malaysian author recognised for this prestigious prize. From a publicity point of view, I don’t think Twan will have any problems in the future!
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Thu, August 30th, 2007 - Author
Yang-May Ooi - Category
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August 30th, 2007 at 1:49 am
This is great news. Queensway is a nostalgic place for me. As a teenager I roamed its busy streets, and wandered in and out of its shops. I must make sure I pick his novel up on my next KL visit.
August 30th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Thats great! I bought the book a few months ago purely because it had such good reviews on Amazon.co.uk. Very pleased that it has been longlisted for the Booker!
August 30th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Hal - you can buy the book off Amazon.
Megan - hear, hear!
September 5th, 2007 at 11:22 am
I was so thrilled to see that Tan’s book The Gift of Rain has been longlisted for the Booker. What an achievement.
I bought his book off Amazon.com when it was recommended because of other books i’d been buying, and thought it was a great book, well-written, convincing characters, authentic. Another amazing writer about the same period is Aw Tash.