My Children's Malaysia

In helping Husband narrow down his thesis topic, we paid a visit to Silverfish Books to broaden our horizon. It was a lovely trip.

Husband bought us this:

Shirley Lim's Princess Shawl.

I was amongst the priviledged to whom she read her working manuscript to back when I was an undergrad. I was quite thrilled to get to meet Shirley Lim.

But the visit saddened me.
The hard fact that statistically, Malaysians read one book a year.
Any book.

And then there's the hard fact that there aren't that many Malaysian writers in English.
Say what you will about my not loving my mother tongue. You don't know me or my preferences.
(Oh dear, I was distracted)
I'd like to read a fiction written about Malaysia, by Malaysians.
Something to put Malaysia on the literary map.

Princess Shawl is the first Malaysian children's literature I've come across.
I know that there's K.S Maniam's and there's Daphne Lee's, but this is the first that I was exposed to via Shirley Lim's visit to the university.

I'd just like my children's Malaysia to be available in literature, written by Malaysians.
They deserve that much, what with the advancements the country has made over the past 10 years.

Anis