Preeta Samarasan's on the Cover of the July-September 2008 issue of Quill

THERE ARE LOADS of stuff to read in the July-September 2008 issue of Quill, the only magazine about books and reading in Malaysia. And yes, Preeta Samarasan’s our cover girl! Her photographs were specially taken by New York-based photographer Miriam Berkley. Look out for the following stories:

THE QUILL INTERVIEW
The indefatigable Sharon Bakar speaks to PREETA SAMARASAN, the latest Malaysian writer to make it internationally with her début novel, Evening Is the Whole Day. Photography by Miriam Berkley

POINT OF VIEW
Début novelist Preeta Samarasan on why fiction matters in more ways than one in “No More Dirty Laundry: In Defence of Fiction”

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SPECIAL FEATURES
In “More from the Mistress of Anecdotes,” Amir Muhammad enjoys Adibah Amin’s new collection of pithy observations about Malaysian life, Glimpses

Daphne Lee tells us why the Chinese-sounding Tam Lin, a character in Scottish folklore, has such sizzling sex appeal in “Smouldering Scottish Folk Tales”

In “If Only Books Could Talk,” Lydia Teh, the best-selling author of Honk! If You’re Malaysian and Life’s Like That, imagines what books would say to us if only they could talk and speak their minds

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NEWSROOM
Tan May Lee and Eric Forbes talk to 19 of the 39 writers who were recently longlisted for the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award: Niki Aguirre, Elizabeth Baines, Richard Bardsley, Carys Davies, Gerard Donovan, David Gaffney, Vanessa Gebbie, Marianne Herrmann, Witi Ihimaera, Tim Jones, Nam Le, Alison MacLeod, Adam Marek, Donald Ray Pollock, Wena Poon, Mary Rochford, Robert Shearman, Elizabeth Smither and Clare Wigfall

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PROFESSIONAL
Tech-savvy Chet Chin enlightens us on her torrid love affair with digital books in “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways”

Feeling stuck in a career rut with no place to go and no idea how to get out of it? Trent Hamm shows you how you can take action right now and revitalise your career in “15 Things You Can Do Right Now to Rejuvenate Your Career”

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INTERVIEWS
Best-selling British crime novelist DAVID HEWSON talks to Tan May Lee, Janet Tay and Eric Forbes about crime mysteries, literary fiction, and what he thinks of the Man Booker Prize and the Dan Brown phenomenon

Authors tend to be shy and evasive when it comes to having their photographs taken, but an amazing photographer like MIRIAM BERKLEY manages to capture and elicit the best in her subjects. In “The Eyes of Miriam Berkley,” Tan May Lee and Eric Forbes talk to the famous New York-based photographer about books and photography, among other things

In “The Freedom to Make the Right Choices,” Tan May Lee speaks to cardiologist SARADHA NARAYANAN who decided to hang up her stethoscope and write her first novel, The Freedom of Choice

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COLUMNS
The Monkey Island
In “State of Irritation Address,” our U.K.-based columnist Tom Sykes pokes fun at the realities of culture and life in present-day Britain

That’s Just the Way the Cookie Crumbles
Is chivalry extinct? Not quite, as our intrepid columnist Alexandra Wong discovers much to her surprise in “In All the Right Places”: true-blue gentlemen are still found in an idyllic retreat surrounded by equally blue horizons on the little fishing village of Pulau Ketam

Deconstructing the Classics
In “The Stone’s Famous Story,” Tan May Lee commends translators for the English edition of Dream of the Red Chamber, the Chinese classic that inspired the TV series and the architectural design of two scenic spots in China

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FOOD
In “Malaysians Abroad,” Yang-May Ooi regales us with stories of baked beans, soggy toasts, the enduring nature of the Malaysian palate and how food signifies love and is pivotal to cultural exchange

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TRAVEL
Imagining the lush gardens and plum blossoms portrayed in the Chinese classic, Dream of the Red Chamber, just isn’t enough for Tan May Lee. She headed off to Daguanyuan to see the real thing

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All these and lots more in the July-September 2008 issue of Quill!

CREDITS
Photographs of Preeta Samarasan © Miriam Berkley
Photograph of David Hewson © Mark Bothwell

Contributors
Sharon Bakar / Miriam Berkley / Chet Chin / Trent Hamm / Daphne Lee / Amir Muhammad / Yang-May Ooi / Preeta Samarasan / Tom Sykes / Lydia Teh / Alexandra Wong

Quill is a quarterly book magazine coordinated and edited by Tan May Lee, Rodney Toh, Janet Tay and Eric Forbes and published in Malaysia