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Taking Malaysian Stories Abroad

14/8/2018

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The first international book fair Oyez! went to was the Bologna International Children's Book Fair in 2009. It was truly an eye opener and a very good experience.
When we started, we were nervous, and we felt very small. Our stand was simple and we shared it with another Malaysian publisher. We had prepared our books carefully, but they had been created for the Malaysian market and while they had been well-received at home, would people from other parts of the world like them?
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At the Bologna Book Fair
We were pleased when some people stopped to inspect our books and a few expressed admiration. We learned very quickly what people liked and didn't. We didn't make any sales that year but we felt optimistic because overall, we'd received more favourable responses than not. 
Visiting international book fairs is also the Oyez! way to benchmark our books at the international level. It also serves to keep us on our toes, to keep producing world-class books even though they are created for the Malaysian market in the first place.
The Bologna Book Fair was followed by the Frankfurt Book Fair, also in 2009. Since then Oyez!Books has travelled to international book and content fairs in New Delhi, Beijing, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Indonesia, Tokyo, Seoul, London and Singapore.
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Malaysia Country stand the Frankfurt Book Fair, 2015
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At the Abu Dhabi book fair, 2012
They are all wonderful experiences because we meet people from different parts of the world, experience different cultures, and see a wide variety of books all in one place for a few days. Glamour aside, exhibiting at international fairs are costly and tiring affairs. Oyez!Books is a small company and we cannot exhibit at as many fairs as we would like. We are lucky that we do get some support from government agencies like Matrade, MBKM  (Malaysian Book Council) and KotaBuku.
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At the Matrade Frankfurt office in preparation for the fair
So, for the few fairs we visit each year, we prepare very early in advance. We choose the books we feel would have the strongest appeal and sometimes we make hardcover editions of them so that they look nice on the shelves. We send out marketing flyers in advance to invite potential buyers to come to our stand.  Sometimes we place advertisements in selected fair magazines. Finally, Oyez! directors play an active role by speaking at international fairs or taking part in panel discussions.
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At the Beijing Book Fair, 2011
We feel that we have to work harder to make ourselves known because there are many big publishers at the fairs who have been exhibiting for years. They have thick glossy catalogues and wonderful stands (the ones we take pictures of to post on our facebook page!).
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Malaysia country stand at the Tokyo Book Fair
Why do we keep going to fairs? Of course, having an international market for our books is always a plus money wise, but we also feel strongly that we have our stories to tell and we must tell them. We will not be silent or silenced. Yes, we are a children's book publisher and we believe that picture books and children's story books are a great way to tell our story. Picture books especially, are friendly and attractive and before you know it, you have fallen in love. They are a great way to build bridges across cultures. But we also believe that it starts by telling our own stories to our children. And to create from the heart.
So Oyez! priority has always been to create wonderful books at home and then to work hard to take those books abroad because we want to take our place on the international stage.
Oyez! aims to create wonderful Malaysian books at home and to place them on the international stage.
We are happy to say that in the past few years, books by Oyez! have been translated into several languages and some have won awards overseas. Here are a few:
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Malaysian Stories in Oyez! Storybooks

7/8/2018

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Picture books are a great introduction to children who are learning to read and to encourage reluctant readers. However, older children who want a bit more bite out of their books will be looking for story books. These books are sometimes referred to as Chapter books (as they have chapters) or in Americanism, middle grade books, typically books for children between 8-12.
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One of Oyez! first story books was Master & Apprentice by Lim Lay Har with some black and white illustrations by Lim Lay Koon. This book won the Calistro Prize and was published on behalf of the prize.
This story tells of life in a typical small town in Malaysia, with some very interesting characters. The main character was an elderly man who had been making and selling kuih for many years, indeed, he’d raised his family doing just that. He wanted to pass on his special kuih lapis recipe but his only son preferred western-style baking and life in the city. One day, in conjunction with the Merdeka celebration, a cake competition was organised and the elderly man challenged his son to take part. This humorous story will appeal to slightly older children (we have seen adults quietly reading it too) and the black and white illustrations are a wonderful addition.
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Pigeon Post by Gwen Smith has six separate stories featuring some very determined, courageous and ingenious children. One was caught in a landslide; another saved some chickens when a lorry carrying them had an accident; while some schoolchildren and their teachers found a way to find homes for homeless kittens. And what is more Malaysian than monkeys that we see in hilly and leafy areas. In this story, the monkeys are losing their home to a new golf course. With black and white illustrations by Lim Lay Koon, we only wish there are more such stories.
These stories feature some very determined, courageous and ingenious children.
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Rainforest Hike by Cecilia Leong is suitable for younger readers who are just starting on chapter books. The illustrations are in colour (by Chooi Ling Keiong) and features a young girl, her family and her best friend. The author highlights traditions such as making acar, bedak sejuk, tang yuan and simple activities such as going to the pasar malam, hiking and fishing in the river. Even in today's on-demand entertainment from various electronic devices, we know that children love making things and playing with their hands. They feel such a sense of accomplishment and are so proud of their creations. This book certainly enables a number of creative activities with children.
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Making acar, bedak sejuk or tang yuan, this collection of stories highlight the traditional as well as seeing the everyday with fresh eyes.
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... the extraordinary people that are a part of Malaysia’s history.
Next, we have Heidi Shamsuddin's Door Under the Stairs series which combines school life with mystery and history. Three children, Emil, Hanna and Jo discover a door under the stairs near the school science laboratory. But it is no ordinary door as it takes them to the past, more specifically to Malaysia's past. In the first book, The Mystery of the Missing National Anthem, they met Malaysia's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman who was looking for a suitable national anthem for the new country, Malaysia. Coming from the future, they were able to help the Prime Minister select the 'right' national anthem which became Negaraku.
In the second book, The Case of the Talented Trio, young readers get to meet the great P. Ramlee, musician, singer, actor, playwright, and director extraordinaire. Children today may not have heard of P. Ramlee so we hope through this book, apart from enjoying the story, they may get to learn about another slice of history and the extraordinary people that are a part of Malaysia’s history.
In the third book, The Case of the Football Champion, young readers will be brought back to a golden period of the game in Malaysia's history. Both boys and girls love this story!
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All the stories are fiction, but they are based on historical facts and life in the period mentioned. They are great reads besides being informative.
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The fourth book, The Case of the House at No. 74, is perhaps the most harrowing book among the current five, with our young heroes finding themselves right in the middle of a real war, ie World War II. But otherwise how could they have met someone so special as Sybil Kathigasu, the courageous war time nurse who only wanted to save lives.
The latest book in the Door Under the Stairs series is The Case of the Missing Elephants which takes readers further back into Malaysia's history with the discovery of tin in Perak.
All the stories are fiction, but they are based on historical facts and life in the period mentioned. Besides having to do a lot of research, the writer, Heidi also has three school-going children of her own who must have inspired her because all the books are great reads, besides being informative. Lim Lay Koon, who has become our favourite illustrator for black and white illustrations, illustrated all the books in this series.
Oyez! has published more story books than those listed above, including a wonderful collection of science fiction stories by Golda Mowe and a series about a 700-year-old boy ghost with his two modern-day friends who save the world from the very worst of baddies. But in this post, we are only highlighting those books with Malaysian content.
To celebrate Merdeka and Malaysia Day, we will be having promotions for two whole months, August through to September. So don't miss this chance to get more Malaysian stories for your children. In addition, watch this space as we will be highlighting more books as well as behind the scenes with Oyez! publishing.
Read:
Malaysian Stories in Oyez! Picture Books
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