12 June 2014: The Rumah Book Launch November 6, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

The Malay rumah kampung is a cultural icon, and we should remember and hold on to the tradition that makes up our identity. — Lat Areca Books is happy to share with you the video of the Rumah book launch in Kuala Lumpur recently. Malaysian cartoonist Datuk Mohammad Nor Khalid, better known as Lat, was guest of honour at the launch held at the Kuala Lumpur Gallery in March. In his speech Lat described the traditional…

03 June 2014: The Chulia in Penang November 3, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

Provides a fascinating persepctive on Chulias in Penang…with evocative images that sharply capture their Indianness and Islamic cosmopolitanism. Areca Books is happy to announce a new publication The Chulia in Penang, a cornerstone study on the history of a significant South Indian community. The book is on sale at Areca Books, and for a very limited time, in Kuala Lumpur at the International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences at ESTCON 2014, Kuala Lumpur Convention…

30 April 2014: Penang – The Fourth Presidency of India – Posted in: Newsletters

An in-depth and compelling narrative of a fascinating period in Penang’s history Langdon has accomplished a book that no person interested in Penang’s past can do without. It is finely produced with an impressive array of illustrations, and is clearly one of the finest books on the first decades of the island’s history. — Ooi Kee Beng, Penang Monthly Marcus Langdon’s Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India — a flagship title from our catalogue —…

12 April 2014: Plague Fighter – Posted in: Newsletters

A legacy that will continue to make a real difference to lives all over the world We are happy to present the latest addition to our ‘Reprints’ catalogue – Plague Fighter: The Autobiography of a Modern Chinese Physician. First published in 1959, it is now available again for your reading pleasure. To order or purchase the book, please visit our website or drop by our bookstore. Thank you! The pages of history are scattered with the…

31 March 2014: My Father in His Suitcase – Posted in: Newsletters

An engaging and frank autobiography of a renowned scientist Much more than a biography of one of the titans of tropical botany. Meticulously researched, beautifully written, riveting. Perhaps The Fates had a hand in it – a boy who rediscovers a father he thought he had lost in, of all places, a well-travelled suitcase intriguingly marked For Kay, wherever he might be. In 1960, John (Kay) Corner left home at age 19 and would never…

11 March 2014: Rumah – Ode to the Malay House – Posted in: Newsletters

The Malay house represents the wisdom of traditional ways of building Where else would we find a place to shelter that is more peaceful, than in an abode such as this… – Lat Tenas Effendy once said that a house is not only a place to live, but it should also serve as a microcosm of the perfection of life. The Malay house, poetically depicted in his poem, represents the wisdom of traditional ways of…

05 Mar 2014: Upcoming Areca Book Launches and Events, March 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

Launch of Living Landscapes, Connected Communities: Culture, Environment, and Change across Asia in Kuala Lumpur Areca Books will be formally launching Living Landscapes, Connected Communities: Culture, Environment, and Change across Asia. Date: Sunday, 2 March This event is by invitation only. Click here for more info on the book and contributors. Tanglin Conversations with Marcus Langdon, author of Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830 Marcus Langdon is the author of Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India 1805–1830…

05 March 2014: Living Landscapes – Posted in: Newsletters

Living landscapes: perspectives on communities and their environment Traditional knowledge, local wisdom, values, and beliefs … are more than static forms of cultural identification. Landscapes are the silent, antediluvian results of changes wrought by the planet’s natural processes combined with human activities. Man shares a symbiotic relationship with his landscape – when changes are creative and positive, landscape and inhabitants thrive; when they are not, the opposite happens. In an abstract sense, landscapes are portals…

07 March 2014: Living Pathways – Posted in: Newsletters

A glimpse of alternate pathways to the future Asia is gripped by a crisis of modernity. Rampant development, as exemplified by the modern Asian mega-metropolis, is heralded as a symbol of progress. This is the conventional vision of the future, and one that is deeply unsustainable. We live in the shadow of a deepening ecological crisis; lives and livelihoods are increasingly threatened by climate change and environmental degradation. We seem to be at an impasse.…

10 October 2013: Musika – Malaya’s Early Music Scene – Posted in: Newsletters

Rediscover the groundbreaking artistes that helped to shape Malay musical heritage! If the song and the melody were separated, there would be no soul, wrote P. Ramlee in Getaran Jiwa, one of his many compositions. Indeed, music in all its forms is so interminably woven into Malaysia’s history that we could never contemplate ever having being without it. From the days of bangsawan during the Malay Sultanate to the era of shellacs and gramophones, films,…