Malaysian author Tunku Halim looks back on a colourful writing career

'They ask me, what areas do you like to write in? And my answer is always, whatever strikes my fancy, ' says Tunku Halim. Photo: The Star/Norafifi Ehsan

He's probably one of the most prolific authors in Malaysia. Not just in terms of the number of titles he’s written (about 20 and counting!) but also in the range of areas he writes in. Tunku Halim is one of the few authors who commonly writes both fiction and nonfiction.

You might recognise his name from his bestselling anthologies Horror Stories (2014) and it’s follow-up Horror Stories 2 (2016), or his dark novels such as Dark Demon Rising (1997, reprinted 2017) or Last Breath (2014). Younger readers may know him as the writer of A Children’s History Of Malaysia (2003). More recently, you may have seen his name on So Fat-Lah: 30 Perfect Ways To A Slimmer You (2016), a uniquely Malaysian guide to losing weight, or on A Prince Called Charlie (2018), a biography of his late father, Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman.