Malaysian Tales: Retold and Remixed
edited by Daphne Lee
Book launch by Zi Publications
Sun 19 Jun, 2011, 2pm – 5pm
KL Alternative Bookfest, The Annexe Gallery, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Free Admission
This stunning new collection features 16 classic tales as reimagined and retold by some of Malaysia’s brightest raconteurs. Preeta Samarasan, Kee Thuan Chye, Amir Muhammad, and other Malaysian writers spin new tales from old favourites like Si Tanggang, Singapura Dilanggar Todak, Raja Bersiong, Batu Berbelah, Batu Bertangkup, and the legends of Hang Li Poh, Admiral Cheng Ho, Puteri Gunung Ledang and Mahsuri.
The collection was edited by Daphne Lee who, after corresponding with for several years, I was thrilled to finally meet in person at the 2011 Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore. Daphne is a writer (she has published six picture books, as well as short stories in magazines and anthologies) and publishing editor of OneRedFlower Press, which specialises in Malaysian picture books. She also writes a weekly column about children’s and young adult books for Malaysian Daily and The Star (click here to read her article on my AFCC presentation), and runs reading initiatives for a Malaysian non-profit organisation. On her blog The Places You Will Go she shared her thoughts on how Malaysian Tales: Retold and Remixed came about:
When I first thought of collecting stories for this anthology, I imagined it would be for children. I didn’t grow up with Malaysian fairytales, myths and legends. Like many Malaysian children from English-speaking families, I was raised on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. I was baptised in the Catholic church and so Christian mythology was part of my life.
As an adult I felt something was missing. Why did I know European fairytales, myths and legends and not the fairytales, myths and legends of the country in which I lived and belonged? The obvious reason was because my parents never told me any of the latter. My mother would occasionally relate bizarre stories, of Chinese origin, about a filial son who went to incredible lengths to prove his love for his aged mother, but for most part she (and my sisters) read me stories which included fairytale staples like Snow White, Cinderella, The Goose Girl, The Bremen Town Musicians (my favourite) and Rumplestiltskin.
We had a few lovely hardbound copies of fairytales by Andersen and the Grimms. We did not own any collections of Malaysian traditional tales. This was why I thought of compiling one. However, this was several years ago and since then a few anthologies, including two fully-illustrated ones, have been published for children.
By the way, I think it’s worth mentioning that fairytales, myths and legends are not just for children. Collectively, these types of stories are often called folktales, a term that, in the strictest sense, refers to their original oral form, when they were shared with largely illiterate communities by amateur and professional storytellers. There was no idiot box to entertain then and, instead, common folk relied on travelling storytellers, or pengli
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