When
Isa Kamari asked if we would publish a translation of his Malay novel
we were a little hesitant. First, we have not published a translated
work before and, second, we have never published a Singaporean (since
our mission has always been Malaysian, Malaysian, Malaysian. We decided
to read the manuscript anyway (in Malay). We were stunned. It was world
class and, Singaporean or not, we decided to undertake the project. But
Isa Kamari had to be happy with our work, too. We sent him sample
chapters of the first book, and received a very positive, response. The
author offered two more of his novels for us to work on, and we agreed.
We applied for funding from the NAC of Singapore, and they liked the
project too. The books will be launched officially at the Singapore
Writers' Festival in November (more of that later).Isa Kamari's Malay prose is beautiful, and our work was about rendering the three novels in English, without loosing their flavour, beauty and authenticity. Having grown up in a small town in Johor, our translator connected with the subjects immediately, which made the work, though long and tedious, thoroughly enjoyable.
We are giving away free e-book downloads (in Kindle, Apple and PDF formats) for you to read and decide for yourselves. We think he's world class, and such talent deserves support.
"Rawa is the name of the island and its waters. Rawa is the wind. It is also the name he has lived with for seventy years. He is Rawa, in name and essence.He's now returning to the land, to the waters. He is coming back to the winds after more than thirty years."
RAWA is the story of the Orang Seletar (an indigenous people of Singapore and Johor who lived in boats) that spans three generations from 1950s to 1980s. It is a story of how the Orang Seletar became refugees from their own land in the relentless pursuit of modernisation in Singapore in the sixties, and of how they were assimilated into the Malay community. It is also the story of the socio-political changes in the Singaporean Malay world during that period.
“Again, Rawa can’t help, but smile. Everything has been thought of. Rawa concedes that it is a triumph of the rational, albeit an artificial attempt at improving the bond between man and man, and man and nature. Hassan’s is a lucky generation. Still, he worries about nature being trampled upon and destroyed, and of man being suspicious of man in the relentless pursuit of all things material, with no regard at all for the essence.”
Subject:Fiction, Price: RM33.00
To buy: Silverfish online bookstore
Free sample e-book downloads:
Mobi (for Kindle)
Epub (for Apple and many others)
PDF (for PCs and Macs)
