Anwar Ridhwan Malaysia

Bio
Anwar Ridhwan writes poems, short stories, plays and novels, and has won the Malaysia Literary Prize several times. A PhD holder from University of Malaya, he has taken management and book publishing courses at New York University and participated in University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. He is currently working as the dean of the Faculty of Creative Writing in Malaysia’s National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage. His works, which also include the novel Tales of Ogonshoto, have been translated into 15 languages.



What book would you like to snuggle under covers with, and why?
"When your spouse is slim, take a thick book under the covers with you. Or otherwise! For reads, I mean (of course).

It is a book written in 1612, by a genius Malay writer who produced equally genius literary work, an annals entitled Sulalat al-Salatin (literally means Malay History).  It is magical realism letting episodes of the past live in one’s postmodern era imagination, under the covers! I am always amused by its contents – with its magical realism and prophetic, creative language and arts of representation.

I never fail to re-read the book every year. Its 338 pages consume several nights to finish. Luckily my ‘other’ companion is printed on Long Life 80 gsm acid free paper, in bounded leather. No harm. Except for nyctalopia after the long reading in dim light!"

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