Readers’ Choice Awards: Delicious local flavour

Authors (from left) Masao Usui, D. Devika Bai and Marco Ferrarese, pictured below their respective books.

What makes a book ‘Malaysian’? Three authors whose books have been nominated for the Readers’ Choice Awards share their thoughts.

THE Hikayat Hang Tuah, that collection of tales about the legendary warrior during the glory days of the Malaccan Sultanate in the 15th century, is one of Malaysia’s most well-known works of literature. More recently, we have well-known books by K.S. Maniam like The Return (1981) or Echoes Of Silence (1994) by Chuah Guat Eng — all titles many of us would have heard of at the very least if not actually read. And with their local characters and settings, all three seem quintessentially Malaysian.