A foreword by: Wilson Khor W.H.
Are you sure you are okay with me running the Club like this, Ms. Sue?
That was the question I asked when I first presented her my proposed club activities and curated materials for the Advanced and Intermediate members in the LAW Book & Writers Club last year.
Quoting Frost, the plan I had was a figurative road less taken—a road never taken to be exact, as there had never been a precedence in LAW (to the best of my knowledge) where we had introduced an itinerary with so much emphasis on local and indie Malaysian literature.
But to Ms. Sue, that deviant idea I had was precisely why she wanted me to run the Club in the first place—and had it promptly approved without questions asked.
One of the issues we encountered with many of our current learners in LAW is that they were not reading sufficiently—both quantitatively due to poor reading habits and/or lack of access to books during the pandemic, and qualitatively as learners (as well as their parents) found it increasingly difficult to find the right literature and resources that would keep their minds broadened and stimulated the older they become. This becomes a stumbling block especially among the Intermediate and Advanced learners of Grade 4 and onwards, as they find themselves critically lacking in both general knowledge and intellectual maturity to meet the standards set by Trinity College London for their respective CSI/SCA/PA Grades.
At the same time, we teachers had also identified the need to provide some of our excelling learners a platform to further cultivate their potential—especially in the areas of creative, critical, and analytical writing which while are known to be crucial in both higher learning and everyday adulting, are often neglected and stifled down in conventional Malaysian schooling.
It was while bearing these factors in mind that I had introduced my proposed itinerary and curated materials to Ms. Sue—works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction by Malaysian writers from all walks of life, with some of these authors and poets being people whom I am personally acquainted with due to my own involvements as an indie writer and zine publisher outside of my teaching and club hours.
My specialty aside, I personally see much rationale and long-term benefits in introducing our teen and young adult learners to local literature. Many of our local works explore themes, issues, and nuances found in our multi-faceted Malaysian society—offering Club members the window to engage with these topics in a conducive learning environment and subsequently, grow more aware and in-tune with the current developments of our nation and society that they would need for their own CSI/SCA/PA exam tasks. Our local literary works are also a treasure throve of representations, featuring the cultures, religions, and even languages of the many ethnic groups in Malaysia that the members will be given the opportunity to connect, learn, and appreciate in their process of learning and growing up.
And above all, the grassroot locality of these literature would give the Club members a sense of belonging and confidence as young writers—
That they do not have to be British or American, or to imitate and replicate cultures, settings, and narratives that they do not own in order to write a story others would enjoy.
That they do not need to look to and compare themselves with writers like J.K. Rowling or Roald Dahl in order to produce writing that is of value and significance.
And that writers are more human and present and closer to home and everyday life than what they have previously imagined them to be. Humans who members can be inspired by, look up to, learn from, and even get to know in order to create works that they could truly call their own.
Up to this present day, we have covered a number of short stories and poems from various authors—from the creative portrayal of our local Chinese deities in Wan Phing Lim’s “The Goddess and The Sea” short story from the Home Groan NutMag anthology (which I had personally played a role in during its publication stages), to the grim reality of urban poverty in one of our nation’s most populated and expensive cities in Matthew Goh Shan Quan’s “Sons and Daughters in JB” poem from the recently published Malaysian Millennial Voices poetry anthology. At the same time, it is also within my intention to immerse our Club members further in the cultural diversity of our nation in the latter half of this year—such as of the Kadazan-Dusun in Julie Padasian’s “Unduk Ngadau” from The Principal Girl anthology, as well as of the Straits Peranakan in Helen Yeo’s “Nasi Lemak and Sambal” from Once Upon a Kamcheng.
Writing-wise, our members have been producing a number of original works through the Club’s Quarterly projects—some which were inspired from the writings they have learned or discussed during their weekly meetings, and others being results of their experimentations as they explore writing genres they had previously never tried before. By now, you should have noticed that some of these writings have been uploaded online on this website—“A Break with Komichi” was Jinming’s very first attempt at café review writing, while Chloe Pang (one of our youngest club members) had submitted a brief but honest reflection on her own on her experiences in the Book Club. Many more would be posted on a periodical basis—with promising and exciting content from members such as Jan Rie who had attempted her first writing submission with this year’s NutMag anthology, and Zhi Yuan who had been delving into the history of WWII since the past quarter to bring his historical fiction into life—which I hope all of you would enjoy reading once they are finally out and published.
In a nutshell, I hope this article has successfully conveyed to you that the current LAW Book & Writers Club is a strong and vibrant platform—specially curated with the intention of not only nurturing the culture of reading and appreciation of literature in our youths, but to also further empower them to write, create, and experience personal growth while applying every single learning and communication skill they had obtained through the Trinity College London syllabus to be upmost. Parents who have signed up their children for the Club can certainly expect them to grow and mature as they discuss and relate the literature they read with their personal and everyday lives, and see their comfort zones challenged as they experiment with writing in new genres, experiment with new settings and themes, and even attempting to have their work published (whether with LAW or for other writing submissions).
Apart from being a facilitator in LAW, Wilson Khor W.H. is also known among the students as a poet, blogger, indie publisher, and a self-proclaimed troublemaker.
Any student who has stayed in LAW long enough would tell you that Wilson is the one everyone should watch out for the most – lest they wish to be dragged into one of his many shenanigans or suffer through his horrendous sense of humour.
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