Legal Cat-asthrophe: Kuala Lumpur Alternative BookFest 2015

March 20, 2015

Kuala Lumpur Alternative BookFest 2015

It is happening tomorrow and Sunday, 21st and 22nd of March 2015 at Dataran Underground (below Dataran Merdeka).

I always have a sentimental attachment to Kuala Lumpur Alternative BookFest. My first novel, Pinjam, was launched there last year and of course, it was the first place it was sold. I have always visited it before I was involved in any direct way with it. Kuala Lumpur Alternative BookFest is always held together with Art for Grabs, which is a flea market for artworks and small time vendor.

Here is a video of the launch of Pinjam last year where Amir Muhammad, the owner of Fixi interviewed me.

It was always been held at the Central Market Annexe Gallery which made it even more nostalgic for me as Central Market was the place I lepak when I was in high school. Not that I was schooling anywhere near Central Market or Kuala Lumpur for that matter (My boarding school was in Labu, Negeri Sembilan), but it was where we, non KL-ites followed our brethen from KL when we alighted from the Seremban-Kuala Lumpur Ekspress. Yes, Central Market was the place I remember well.

Annexe Gallery, a building behind Central Market was one of the first cineplex in Kuala Lumpur. This was before cineplexes are a norm like nowadays. We were quite jakun seeing a cinema with multiple screen. I was from the generation where we went to one cinema to see one movie. The joke among my younger friends is I am so old I watched Superman (with Christopher Reeves) and Star Wars in cinema. Even when I said I watched the first Die Hard in cinema they had a laughing fit.

Anyway, this year, my second book will be out (it is sold as eBook since Friday the13th of March - I asked specifically for that date) and the printed version will be sold today, Friday, 20th March 2015). For the eBook, it can be bought here :

1) Pinjam in Google Playstore

2) Kaki Buku (AppStore) Link

3) E-Sentral link

4) Bachabooku Link

The printed version can be bought at most major bookstores within a week and can be ordered at Fixi's website. And of course, at the Kuala Lumpur Alternative BookFest 2015.

Pentas is about magic and 'real' magic. It is based on some story found in the Quran and how the magicians were judged when an incident happened on stage while they were performing. It refers to so many well-known magician including Houdini, David Copperfield and even the street magicians who are quite popular today. It has a bit of courtroom drama at the end and in true Fixi's books form, it has a twist.

This time around, Kuala Lumpur Alternative BookFest will be held at a new venue. It will be at Dataran Underground which is an event space under Dataran Merdeka, the place facing an iconic building no one shouldn't know if you are Malaysian or if you ever been to Malaysia. It has a nostalgic connection to me too, but enough of that. This place will be featured in my next novel, Persona, which I need to finish writing first.

Come over to Kuala Lumpur Alternative Book Fair and here are some links for you to check out in order for you to get an idea what it is all about.

Kuala Lumpur Alternative BookFest 2015 reviewed in the Star and Poskod.my. Both listed full schedule of the BookFest.

Here are some other events you can find at KL Alternative BookFest 2015. Fellow alumnus of my high school, Nasron Yassin is launching his Karya Agong, released by Dubook Press, at 3.30pm the same day.