July 2012 intake for Silverfish Writing Programme

The next intake for the Silverfish Writing Programme will be on 14 July 2012, and run for 10 Saturdays from 10.30am to 12.30pm, and will be opened for registration in early June 2012. The past few programmes have been extremely popular and we have had to turn away many late inquiries, because the maximum number of participants we can accommodate is 10(ten). So we encourage those who are interested to register early, and avoid a last minute rush. (Please, also, tell your friends who are interested.) The registration fee will be RM1000.00 per participant for the full ten week programme, but an early bird discount of 10% will apply until (and including) June 30, 2012.

The world is full of stories. Humans are the strangest of all animals. We may miss meals (ask your teenager buried in a book or your aunt or mum hooked on a television soap) but not our stories. Even in famine stricken zones, while people wait for the food trucks to arrive, they tell one another stories to keep alive. In war zones, where life is in danger every single minute, people cannot resist telling stories. All religions have tons of stories that are constantly repeated. Stories are part of our very being, our claim to be human.

We are surrounded by stories every waking minute of the day. When we turn on our radio or television to listen to the news, or to watch a drama or sitcom or even a cooking show, when we open our newspapers or surf the net for news, when we go to the movies, to a dance, listen to a song, or look at a painting, when we go to the office, pitch a proposal to our boss, our clients, meet our co-workers when we relax over tea and gossip, or tell them about our day, or listen to their stories. When we read books, we read stories. And stories will make us laugh or cry or angry, and dozens of other things. We will love characters or we hate them. Good stories never leave us indifferent. We have a desperate need to tell stories in whatever form. That’s why some of us want to become writers: to tell our stories. But what do publisher's want?


That's what the Silverfish Writing Programme is all about: what publishers are looking for.


READ MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMME and REGISTER

AFCC: Malaysia as Country of Focus next year

Mr Ramachandran, Executive Director of the National Book Development Council of Singapore, announced on Monday, 28 May 2012 that Malaysia will be the 'Country of Focus' at next year's Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC). Now in its fourth year, the AFCC is held annually in Singapore to promote Asian content for children. More than 80 sessions were organised during the Festival covering topics on writing, illustrating, editing, translating, apps for children and critique sessions. Book launches and author signings added to the buzz and there was also an inaugural rights fair. An estimate of more than 700 people attended over 80 sessions held over the four days while total attendance from the public at various events were estimated at 3000. Sixteen countries from Asia, South Africa, UK and US were represented at the AFCC. This year's country of focus was the Philippines which made a strong showing with 10 speakers, a stand showcasing books from the Philippines accompanied by musical performances. Norhayati Razali, officer at the Kota Buku, a body set up to promote the Malaysian book industry, said the Kota Buku is pleased to play a leading role for Malaysia's participation at AFCC 2013 which will be held from 25-28 May 2013.


Picture shows Malaysian artist Yusof Gajah and his wife, Zakiah with Norhayati with Mr. Ramachandran. Yusof Gajah was an invited guest at the AFCC, and conducted his popular picture-book workshop in Malay, as he did last year.

Why is Apple settling in Europe but not in the US?

The latest news is that Apple has offered to settle its e-book price fixing charge in Europe, but vows to fight a a similar battle in America because the charges against it by the Department of Justice are "simply not true". Forbes.com reports, Apple Offers E-Book Settlement: But Only in Europe, "The technology company was initially tight-lipped about the US case but last week broke its silence to declare itself innocent and paint itself as a hero for breaking Amazon’s “monopolistic grip”. It said the iPad’s bookstore “fostered innovation and competition ... However, it has taken an altogether different approach in Brussels. Joaquín Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, said he has received settlement offers from Apple and all the publishers other than Penguin."

One speculation (by contributor, Tim Worstall) is, "As to why the settlement in Europe I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because of the size of the potential fines," implying that Apple might be trying to stave out a potential hefty fine. Maybe. But I am inclined to think that Apple is gambling on Europe being more sympathetic towards it because it genuinely thinks it is promoting competition, and saving the world from the likes of Amazon.

It is in Europe's DNA to side with the underdog, to protect workers and small businesses (known, derisively, as socialism in America), especially in an industry it gets very emotional about and regards as a cultural heritage. When Amazon implemented free shipping in France, it was found to be in violation of a law that disallowed unfair discounting of books. Amazon already has a reputation for being the bad guy in Europe. Apple might genuinely think that it would get a fairer deal across the pond.

In the US, Amazon's practices are seen (by some) as morally wrong but not illegal. Scorched earth business practices are legal in America; as long as consumers 'benefit', jobs can be bangalored, and small businesses shuttered. The stated goal of antitrust laws is "consumer protection", which critics say does everything but.

All that might be changing, though. Wendy Milling says in another story in Forbes.com, The DOJ's Mugging Of Apple Reminds Us That Antitrust Is Theft, "The absurdity of the Department of Justice’s latest antitrust charges against Apple has prompted a long overdue re-evaluation of the validity of antitrust doctrine." She adds, "If an e-book seller (Amazon) charges a price so low it takes a loss on its e-books to gain market share, no charges are filed. If publishers (HarperCollins, Penguin, etc.) agree to an agency model that decreases their total revenue on e-books, charges are filed."

Will Apple be instrumental in changing the world yet again?

South East Asian publishing perspectives

Reading the story by Vinutha Mallya in Publishing Perspectives, As KL Book Fair Opens, Publishers Eye Booming Southeast Asia, it is easy to get intoxicated in the euphorias of self congratulations. Publishing in Malaysia (and South-East Asia) is, certainly, not what it was 10 years ago, but much remains to be done. The Trade and Copyright Centre (TCC) is an interesting move, but what is it? What is its USP? Soon, every country in ASEAN will organises? Some are already planning. How many are we going to attend? How many are visitors going to attend? Will it all simply die off like the Merdeka Cup?

Since Frankfurt, Trade and Copyright Centres have become the new buzzword; the new me-too fix for all that ails publishing. Everybody now wants to sell rights. But the operative word in TCC is 'trade', and that involves both buying and selling. And, now we have one tacked to the KLIBF as well.

I am not against KLIBF's TCCs, but I have a strong aversion to failure and history is not on our side. Is there no hope, then? Actually, there is, and it is called ASEAN; unfortunately, it is also an organisation that falls into the category of 'satu sen tada guna' in the minds of most. After 45 years of ASEAN, Malaysians don't know anything about literature from Singapore, nor are we interested, and vice versa (except when books are banned on one side of the causeway or the other). Don't even think of looking for books from Burma or Vietnam or Cambodia or The Philippines .... you get the drift ... in any country outside the home nation. Why? Are Malaysians worried of being flooded by books from Indonesia? That's strange, considering how our markets are already flooded with books from the US and the UK, and with some absolutely dreadful ones at that. Language difficulty has been cited as one problem against creating a regional market, but one suspects there is some other more fundamental factors at work here; sibling rivalry and petty jealousy. (Seldom does the intellectual level of our intra-regional debate rise above recipes for chili-crab.)

I was one of the invited speakers at a forum in Singapore four years ago (as part of the Singapore Writers Festival), and one of the main laments of all the panellists (and audience) was the lack of access to book markets within ASEAN. It was almost unanimously agreed by participants (who were writers, publishers, agents, and others) that something had to be done about this bizarre situation. The idea we came up with was a unique ASEAN marketplace for books; where books from every country in the region, in every language and translation is available either in traditional or virtual form; where publishing professionals from the region can regularly meet, talk and trade; where publishing professionals from other parts of the world come for any publishing information from the region. An ASEAN book clearing house, so to speak. I was talking to a suited senior Singaporean bureaucratic type from the National Art Council at the farewell cocktail after the forum, and I mentioned this to him. His immediate reaction was, "We must not just think about ASEAN, we must think of the whole world." Enough said.

Get real. The Anglo-American publishing industry is not interested in anything not invented there, so we can forget about them. Besides they only want to sell, not buy. Ask Frankfurt. (When  asked about the London Book Fair, a local publishing professional quipped, "It's like Hall 8 in Frankfurt, lah.) The Europeans might be more adventurous, but how do we can get them interested enough to come here to KL (as opposed to other cities in ASEAN)? Karipap and luke warm teh tarik, or air bandung, is not going to cut it, even with halfway talented dancing girls thrown in. Bali has got its beaches and boys, Bangkok has Patpong, Singapore has shops and Sharjah paid business class airfares and provided full five-star board and lodging for over a hundred publishing professionals from around the world in November last year, besides providing translation grants.

Anyway, why are we even thinking about world markets, when we have half a billion people living right here in our neighbourhood? Make that, almost two billion if we include China, Japan and Korea? If we (the countries of SEA) work together, we can do it. Otherwise, we can watch others do it. This is a G-to-G job. Now, if only we can persuade ASEAN bureaucrats to roll up the sleeves of their pretty shirts and do some real work.

When Silverfish New Writing was released in 12 years, there was euphoria on the streets like we had just invented sliced bread. (Some are still dancing.) I could only watch in amusement. Since then we have scaled many more heights, but we are not going to get carried away. There's much work still to be done.

Children's writing in Singapore

Asian Content for the World’s Children 2012 @ The Arts House, Singapore

The National Book Development Council of Singapore and The Arts House present ASIAN FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN’S CONTENT 2012 from May 26 to 29.

This year’s festivalbrings together writers, illustrators, content makers, publishers, distributors and retailers, international buyers and other professionals related to children’s content in a plethora of formats such as comics, books, e-books, graphic novels, videos, films, educational games, etc.

Four days of events include:

•    Celebrating Our Stars, Pre Festival Event (25th May 2012)
•    Primary and Preschool Teachers Congress (26th May 2012)
•    Parents’ Forum (27th May 2012)
•    Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators Congress (28th & 29th May 2012)
•    Media Summit (29th May 2012)
•    Specialised Workshops (26th & 27th May 2012)
•    Masterclasses (30th May 2012)
•    Media Mart and Rights Fair (26th – 29th May 2012)
•    Book Illustrators’ Gallery (26th – 29th May 2012)

Mr R Ramachandran, Festival Director of AFCC says, “Our objective is to develop children’s materials with Asian content for information, education and entertainment. Through this festival, we hope to continue to be a catalyst to the creation, production, publication and distribution of children’s materials with Asian content to children worldwide.

70 speakers and experts, including writers, illustrators, digital artists, producers and designers, from around the world will engage, educate and empower the audience at this Asia’s gateway to the international children’s content market.

For more information, please visit www.afcc.com.sg.