KLIBF Day 3 - Kata-Suara Khas.

Day 3 for me was spent mostly running around the fair but during the more quiet times I at least had my wife for company.

Kata-Suara Khas went well, despite my worries that the readers/musicians wouldn't be able to turn up (it was raining heavily outside and I was scared they might have got themselves stuck in a jam somewhere).

I was also worried that no one would actually turn up to watch, but thanks to Usratika, who started the event, we managed to get a sizeable crowd, although they did begin to taper towards the end.

Sharon Bakar came up next and read a hilarious piece excerpt from her still-unfinished novel, about a wife of an expat living in Malaysia and who absolutely hated living here. (Her blogpost here.)

Tan Sei Hon came up next and sang two songs, one about rain and another about a couple. I overheard Sharon mention to him later that he sounded like Cat Stevens, and to that Sei Hon replied: "Before he converted or after?" Hah!

Intan Rafiza came in late but desoite being out of breath, she managed to deliver a few poems in the form of letters written from a father to a daughter (or was it the other way round? Why do my notes never make any sense?)

Raja Ahmad, who was emceeing Kata-Suara (and has always done so) decided he wanted to be in the limelight as well, so he read two poems, one for Usman Awang, another for A Samad Said, and that made a perfect lead in to the next reader: Pak Samad himself.

Pak Samad read poetry from his latest collection, 68 Soneta Pohon Ginkgo and about his recent experience in Korea.

Syed Munawwar took the stage after Pak Samad and with his awesome charisma, managed to convince most of the audience to check out John Naisbitt's Mindset! He also mentioned something he learned from Pak Samad, that a book can be read multiple times, and each time you can get different and/or additional knowledge.

Dewangga Sakti closed the event with their unique act. They played two songs: "Tertinggal Kapal Angkasa" and "Berlayar ke Pulau Jauh untuk Mencipta Rekod Dunia".

Thanks everyone who came! To the readers and musicians and the audience.

Also, I think I owe an apology to those who might not have found the venue! (Yes, I mean you, Eyeris.) I totally take the blame. I don't have experience organising an event at a huge venue like this and it showed. The posters were incomplete, the venue was not properly known and prepared beforehand. Gah! It was a nightmare. Well, at least I know better next time.

Apart from the hoohah of Kata-Suara, I also managed to meet more new people!

During one of the lulls at the booth (Sunday saw a noticeable decrease in the crowd compared to Saturday), a colleague mentioned how the booth next to us had some sort of booksigning, but she didn't know who the authors were.

"They must be famous or something," she said.
"Oh?" I said. "I'll go check them out." But all I saw were books with pink and girly titles. Okay, must be a publisher of romance novels or something.

But then I saw a familiar name on a table inside their booth: John Norafizan. I've only talked to him online once, so it was good to finally meet him in the flesh. So I bought his newly-released Garis-Garis Deja Vu and asked him to sign it. Now all I have to do is figure out how to read the book in public...the cover's pink and purply and people will laugh at me if I read it in public. A few people already did. Cis! Anyway, I will read it soon since John said it's metaphysical and was inspired by Rumi and I'm always up for that kind of thing.

I also got to meet Arthur from Kinokuniya who I had a good long chat with after Kata-Suara. It's kind of funny how we know the same people but I guess it's a small city. Also also, managed to tell Vovin how I liked his Opera Angkasa (review coming soon) and finally managed to see a bit around the PTS booth as well as the Wira Bukit booth.

Puan Siti Zainon and Pak Samad were there and they told me they wanted to set up a coffeeshop based on the concept of their booth...kinda like a literary coffeeshop. Sounds like a neat idea. I hope it comes to fruition.

Okay! Enough name-dropping! I have a slight fever and I want to get ready to go to KLIBF. My shift starts at 2. See you there!