A Malaysian Literary Festival wins at The London Book Fair 2018, by Dipika Mukherjee
Picture from Facebook The George Town Literary Festival (GTLF) won the Literary Festival Award at The London Book Fair in 2018, on April 10. But why should we even care about this win by a little-known literary festival? The judges chose the George Town Literary Festival as it “stands out as a vibrant, diverse and brave festival that engages with a wide community of voices, speaking to the world from a complex region”. BRAVE. In a complex region. YES. This is first South-East Asian literary festival to win the prestigious award, GTLF director Bernice Chauly and her team continue to do the impossible. Buttressed by booksellers like Gareth Ismail of Gerakbudaya , this festival presents an eclectic range of world voices, with an emphasis on Asia, despite the odds. Malaysia has some of the toughest censorship laws in the world. Books, as well as movies are censored, and the authorities just passed a fake-news bill on April 2, 2018,...