31 March 2014: My Father in His Suitcase November 3, 2014 – 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,…

25 August 2013: Three Malay titles – Performing arts October 30, 2014 – Posted in: Newsletters

Areca Books presents three Malay titles … An Artiste for All Seasons… Trying to sum up the life of the late Mohamed Bahroodin Ahmad (or Cigku Baha to all who knew him) in a few pages is akin to choosing just three paintings to describe Rembrandt. One risks oversimplification when describing his talents – actor, teacher, performer, scriptwriter, choreographer and producer of Malay performing arts. Many remember his legendary performances which cut across social, culture…

18 July 2013: Perak Postcards – Posted in: Newsletters

The largest collection of postcards ever assembled into one volume … a masterpiece of design. There’s a scene from the movie Enchanted April where one of the characters, the cranky and feisty Mrs. Fisher, surrounded by old photographs, talks about “better times and better men.” Indeed, nothing stirs the imagination and awakens buried memories like old photographs. Distilled within those images are myriad stories and experiences all waiting to be told. Even old postcards of…

04 July 2013: My Days in the Sun – Posted in: Newsletters

Lucidly written, Dr. Soo tells his story simply and with deep sincerity. With much pleasure, I commend it to everyone. – Wang Gungwu In My Days in the Sun, a distinguished radiologist presents a candid self-portrait of his first 40 years. Mark Y.S. Soo was born in 1933 into a Cantonese family who divided their time between business interests in Malaya and Hong Kong. As a precocious child, Mark was an eyewitness to the Battle of Kampar, the Japanese occupation of…

29 May 2013: Convergence – Posted in: Newsletters

This book examines how people’s ways of life are shaped by the socio-political landscape of the places they live. Convergence proves that there is nothing more sublimely interpretive than capturing life’s subtle moments though the lens of a camera. Through carefully composed and thoughtfully compiled photographs, photographer Wei Leng Tan breathes life into difficult topics like diaspora, identity and the effects of cultural displacement. Resembling an attractive personal photo album, Convergence is filled with images…