TO revive Malaysia’s reading culture is the mission of the world of words (WoW) KL festival. Over three days, a mixture of people came together, elders and youth, educators and influencers, storytellers and academics, well-known authors, determined to reignite the passion for reading among Malaysians.
The inaugural festival, spearheaded by Sajeet Soudagar, festival director and award winning author, who together with his team, achieved a measure of success with over 1,500 participants. According to Sajeet, the various writing workshops and forums with children’s book authors, short story writing competitions for primary, secondary and university students attracted large supportive audiences and was an outstanding success.
The beginning of a movement
Sajeet worked together with his team of volunteers to come up with a programme designed to capture the attention of all segments of the young Malaysian population.
Each day brought a distinct focus; with day 1 dedicated to schools and children. There was a forum, “Children’s books, what still works”, which featured voices across the literary landscape, with nine year old Navnur and mother Amrit Kaur adding their voices to the discussion. There were short story competitions designed to spark an interest among the children for writing.
Day 2 was dedicated to universities and young adults with also a forum, “How to make literature cool again”, in response to many students who regard literature as an obsolete subject, due mainly in part to lack of exposure in government schools.
The forum explored adapting literature to the modern world and making it come alive with a sense of relevancy for students.
Mark Disney, one of the invited panelists to the forum said: “JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of books can be credited for the resurgence of reading, especially among boys and has done more than any other writer in the last 25 years (to revive reading)” said Mark, who previously taught A-level literature at Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar and also studied literature at Oxford University in the UK.
Mark still teaches part-time at Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar.
Also, there were discussion panels on careers in writing, publishing and digital storytelling, to show that literature is not just a pastime but could be a viable, meaningful career.
Day 3 was organised as a celebration for the literary community with author talks, book launches, panel discussions on publishing and innovation, with practical workshops on storytelling and screenwriting. The day culminated in the WoW-KL awards, where the unsung heroes of Malaysia’s literary world were honoured,
Ninot Aziz was recognised with the “Social Impact in Literature” award and 2 other special honours were given out, one to Prof Emertius Muhammad Haji Salleh with the “Lifetime Contribution to Malaysian Literature Award” and Mohana Gill received the “Special Jury Award” for her lifetime contributions.
Journey towards a reading ecosystem
Swagata Sinha Roy, assistant professor at the Faculty of Creative Industries, Universiti Tuanku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) based at the Sg Long Campus in KL said: “I was invited to be the chief judge for the short story competitions; there were 2 sessions of writing workshops prior to the students doing their writing.
“The first workshop on Day 1 of WoW was conducted for those 13-17 years and one organised separately for the university students. The materials went through 2 rounds of judging and 10-15 stories were shortlisted. There were 5 students chosen from each category who were awarded certificates and prizes.
“WoW can certainly contribute to a great ecosystem for reading as they can conduct workshops and talks in schools and institutions of higher learning. The emphasis by WoW is on community awareness and involvement, creative collaborations which can motivate an entire class or school community to work together to promote reading.
“We are looking at reading circles, author talks and a lot more. Also, the reach must include national public schools, which must be encouraged to participate. This is not intended to be a one-off festival but a movement to bring change and encourage reading and the love of books, for the enrichment of diverse cultures in our beautiful Malaysia,” she said.
“I am also involved in the Paperback Book Club, where we meet regularly in Brickfields on a monthly basis to discuss books.”
The future of reading
Sajeet said: “WoW is only the beginning. Plans are already underway to expand the initiative to more schools and universities, establish community-led book clubs, launch new platforms that gamify reading and make it more engaging.
“It is about planting seeds. We want reading to be natural and joyful. That’s how we can build thinkers, creators and leaders for Malaysia’s future,” he added.