The write path to success
Hard work and dedication pays off for the winners of this year’s Popular- The Star Readers’ Choice Awards.
VERY few people become successful writers overnight. Becoming a well- known author often requires a great deal of passion, patience, and perseverance – the road to the top can be difficult, but once you get there, the view is amazing.
The winners of this year’s Popular- The Star Readers’ Choice Awards ( RCA) are certainly testament to that. One title is a collection of short stories, written over a decade and a half, that became an unprecedented success in local publishing. And the other is a comic written and drawn by someone who was often told that “comics are garbage” when he was young.
I am speaking of course about Horror Stories by Tunku Halim and When I Was A Kid 3 by Cheeming Boey, which took home the top prizes in the RCA’s fiction and non- fiction categories respectively.
“I am so pleased to be standing here today with this award,” Halim said at the prize- giving ceremony at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Saturday. “It feels like I’ve just won an Academy Award!”
And for good reason. This year’s RCA was a particularly memorable one, which saw many diverse and interesting nominees, as well as some well- deserved victories.
The RCA is possibly the only literary awards in Malaysia that acknowledges local bestselling authors. It is held in conjunction with BookFest@ Malaysia, the largest book exposition in the country.
Awards are given out in both fiction and non- fiction categories, with the nominees being the 20 writers ( 10 in each category) who authored the top- selling titles in Popular and Harris bookstores nationwide last year. Winners are chosen through votes from the public. All first prize winners took home a cash prize of RM3,000 as well as a certificate of recognition.
The English fiction category this year was particularly interesting. Unlike last year, which saw quite a few literary novels nominated, this year’s nominees were mostly pulp fiction, with seven out of the 10 coming from a single publisher, Fixi Novo.
Also unlike last year, many of 2015’ s nominees were short story collections. Some of these anthologies ( such as KL Noir: Yellow, KL Noir: Blue, and Lost In Putrajaya) were written by various authors – which raised the tricky question of who exactly would get the prize money if these books won? Would the anthology editor take it all or would the authors share in it as well?
In the end, though, that situation ( fortunately?) did not arise, as the top three winners were all books written by a single author. One Fine Day by RodieR, the only romance title nominated, won second prize, while Lee Ee Leen took home third prize for 13 Moons.
Halim’s book had probably been a favourite to win; his book of scary stories, a mid- career introspective for the veteran author, had been haunting the local bestseller lists since it came out last year, and had also won another award for being “Best of 2014”.
“My book actually started back in 1997, when I wrote my very first story. It’s taken 15- plus years for the book to come out and win an award, and it’s very pleasing,” said Halim, who flew down from Chengmai, Thailand, for the ceremony.
“I think an award like this will make writers want to write even more, and new writers start writing, to see their writing get due recognition. So I’d like to thank everyone involved for making this happen.”
In the English non- fiction category, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was announced as second prize winner for his The Wit And Wisdom Of Dr Mahathir, while third prize went to Captain Lim Khoy Hing for Life In The Skies: Everything You Want To Know About Flying.
For top prize winner Boey, it proved an emotional victory after he had previously won second prize in the RCA 2014 for When I Was A Kid 2.
“This feels so good. When I was writing this third book, part of me was gunning for the top spot. I said, if I had to lie about my childhood to get to first place, I would do that,” Boey joked in his acceptance speech. “But none of it is a lie. This feels so good!”
In a rather candid acceptance speech, Boey said people had discouraged him from becoming an author when he was younger, telling him it was no way to make a living. So this was sweet victory over those nay- sayers and doubters.
Boey also said he is unsure whether he will
write a fourth When I Was A Kid book, saying he did not want to be seen as a one trick pony.
“But Malaysia is in such political turmoil right now, that if I can bring everyone together again with our common shared childhood, I would so in a heartbeat,” he said.
The RCA was held together with the Popular- BH Anugerah Pilihan Pembaca, which rewards achievements for writing in Malay. The Malay non- fiction category was won by Grup Penjejak Tamadun Dunia for
Cerita Cinta Ahmad Ammar.
It was rather interesting to compare the Malay fiction nominees with the English fiction ones. The two seemed to be a reverse of each other: the English fiction nominees were mostly pulp fiction, with a single romance nominated, while Malay fiction had mostly romance titles, with one adventure novel.
What does this tell us about local reading tastes? Share your ideas at star2@ thestar. com. my.