The Book Laureate

Published February 2008


The supercool Urban Dictionary that I visit online regularly to update my colloquialisms, states that the term Bibliobibuli is a mixture of Greek ("biblio" - meaning books) and Latin ("bibulous" from "bibere" - meaning to drink), and can be loosely translated as being drunk on books.

Interestingly enough, Bibliobibuli is also the name of a blog by prominent literati figure Sharon Bakar . A self-confessed book fan who's tag line on her blog reads "Woman battles serious book dependency problem". A British citizen who has been living in Kuala Lumpur for the last 23 years with her husband, Sharon's ability to accurately profile books and her adoration for literature is a perfect reminder for people like myself on what made us want to write in the first place. She is clearly a lady who loves her books and all things pertaining to the written word, and I personally consider her to be an authority on this subject.

Apart from teaching and writing Sharon is also an active organizer for "Readings". States Sharon, "Readings" is a monthly gathering of writers which was started in 2005 by Bernice Chauly.  The aim is to encourage writers by giving them a platform for them to read their work and socialize.  Each session features 6 writers – and there is always a mixture of the established and newbie, published and not yet published, in Malay and in English.  Each reader gets 10-15 minutes (no longer!) no matter what their writerly status.

Readers may read in either English or Malay and the texts should be fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction or dramatic scripts.  You are welcome to read from works in progress. And if you have self-published books to sell, bring them along too. (If you feel terminally shy about reading your work yourself, you could ask a more confident friend to read for you)."

A monthly event that has clearly picked up momentum as it gives writers a valuable outlet to discuss their work, and as Sharon wrote in an email a couple of weeks ago, "you don't need qualifications to write well, or courses - just access to books and determination. But writers do get lonely without other writers to talk to."

A literary luminary whom I use as a reminder of why, after a very long dry spell in which I avoided reading like the plague, I fell back in love with books again :

*COULD YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF?
 I'm British. I grew up in the English Midlands near Birmingham and Coventry. I came to Malaysia to teach english in 1984, fell in love with the country and stayed.


* WHAT WAS YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND LIKE?
 I went to Catholic primary schools and then to a girls grammar school which was really quite posh.  I planned to be a librarian but at the last moment decided on teaching instead and did a B.Ed with Birmingham University.  Later I did an M.Ed course and a post-graduate diploma, also in teaching English.


* DID YOU ALWAYS HAVE A STRONG LOVE FOR BOOKS OR IS IT SOMETHING THAT DEVELOPED AT A LATER AGE?
My dad always used to read to me and encouraged me to read so the love of books grew from there. The trip to the library was part of our weekly routine, and the schools I went to also encouraged the reading habit. I think all of these things were very important in shaping me as a reader.


* HOW DID THE IDEA COME UP FOR THE NOW-FAMOUS "READINGS" SESSIONS?
Bernice Chauly started "Readings" three years ago, and I kept it going when her mum became terminally ill, and then she handed the event over to me while she set up another event at no Black Tie, in Jalan Mesui, KL.


* ANY MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES?
 All of them have been memorable, but none probably more so than Night of the Living Text  event held at Central Market last February in conjunction with The British Council. We had authors and poets from the UK, The Philippines and Taiwan, and our Malaysian authors (Tan Twan Eng, Dina Zaman and Kam Raslan) put on a really good show too.  I was amazed at how many people turned up to support us.


* PERSONAL FAVORITE AUTHORS AND / OR POETS?
Ian McEwan, Annie Proulx, Margaret Atwood, Barry Unsworth, Peter Carey, Rohinto Mistry and Vikram Seth are some of my favourites.


* YOU HAVE A PENCHANT FOR CREATIVE WRITING. COULD YOU SHARE SOME TIPS FOR NOVICES OR THOSE WHO ARE THINKING OF WANTING TO WRITE?
 The most important thing is to read, read, read to absorb the way good writing works.  The second most important thing is to put in the hours at your desk!


* AS A WRITER, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OBSTACLES THAT YOU HAD TO FACE AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?
My own laziness and disorganisation is the probably I face all the time.  Apart from that I think I've received nothing but encouragment for my writing.


* ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY FICTION AT THE MOMENT?
 I'm working on non-fiction stuff at the moment - mostly articles and essays, but someone just asked me to write a short story for them so am having a little panic right now.


* WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER ORGANIZING A WRITERS FESTIVAL OVER HERE IN SABAH?
 That would be really nice, actually!  I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, but there's no reason why something couldn't be done.  And even if we couldn't put together a whole festival I'm sure we could collaborate on some projects.


In a post on her blog entitled "You Are What You Read", Sharon explains that it really is that simple :

"You say that you want to write? Good, I'm glad to hear it. Welcome to the club.

But before you start to send out work thinking it is the best in the world and going to sell a zillion copies and going to net you a fortune as big as that Rowling woman, there's one thing you must do.

You must read.

You must read.

Not just the occasional book, but as many books and as hungrily as you can.

Good books. Bad books.

Books in any genre. But most especially books in the genre you want to write.

"Go away and read a thousand books," Raman tells wanna-be writer who wander into his shop to seek advice.

And I'd say, yes, more or less, that's exactly it.

Because if you don't read, how will you enrich your store of words?

Because if you don't read, how will you know what's possible?

Because if you don't read, how do you develop that inner critical voice that tells you whether your work is any good or not?

The answer is, quite simply, that you won't.

And I don't think you will will be able to write anything that will interest me.

If your time-impoverished-pragmatic-self baulks at the idea of carving out some reading time in a busy day, and you feel guilty because you see reading as an indulgence, remember: reading time is really writing time, and it is the most effective, least painful way to improve your craft."

H.L. Mencken once wrote, 'There are people who read too much: the bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion. They wander through this most diverting and stimulating of worlds in a haze, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.' 

For more information on the 'Reading' sessions or if you'd just like to have a peek at a superior blog which features information on books, authors and writing, visit Sharon at www.thebookaholic.blogspot.com