Photos courtesy of BooksActually
Bangkok just can’t get enough of literary input, and we are talking about just the month of August alone. Last month there was the Bangkok Book Festival, and ongoing until this Sunday is the much-hyped Big Bad Wolf Book Sale, offering 60-80% discounts on 2 million copies of English language books from every imaginable genre. It’s a fair where many have spent money on books they probably won’t get to read in this lifetime.
The ONEDAY x BooksActually Book Showcase is another literary event to look forward to this weekend, and it might be a bit of change that we need. For while the likes of the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale or the National Book Fair that we have twice a year seem to be thriving, they don’t necessarily reflect and promote the strength of Thais’ reading culture.
A visit from BooksActually, as one of the leading independent bookstores in Singapore, then, is to be welcomed, especially since it’s the time when many independent bookstores in Thailand are struggling for a more self-reliant and sustainable business model, with the industry still largely controlled by a few corporate giants. BooksActually is not only a thriving business, but also boasts its own publishing arm, Math Paper Press, which actively supports and promotes the poetry, short fiction and photo collections of Singapore’s writers and artists.
The two-day event, to be held at ONEDAY | Pause and Forward, hostel and co-working space on Sukhumvit 26, features Singapore Literature Prize winner Cyril Wong, and Pooja Nansi, curator of Speakeasy, a monthly spoken-word and poetry showcase. They will also be reading their poetry, and speaking about the craft of writing at the event. BooksActually’s owner Kenny Leck, who said that he chose Bangkok as the venue because of the city’s vibrant and growing literary culture, will be speaking about founding and running a bookstore, and the publishing climate in Singapore.
Books published by Math Paper Press will also be available for sale at the event, together with silkscreened tote bags and translated poems of Pooja Nansi and Cyril Wong on postcards created specially for the event.
Cyril Wong and Pooja Nansi. Photo courtesy of BooksActually
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.