News article by Darrel Khaw, Jinming Khor, and Teoh Zhi Yuan
Edited by Wilson Khor W.H.

During the recent Language Arts Festival (LAF) on 30th July 2024, LAW & CAP had released “Alone in the World”, their first ever student anthology, through the Advanced Book & Writers Club.

The much anticipated publication featured original stories from 9 participants of the Saturday and Sunday club sessions, written based on the prompt, “Imagine waking up one day only to realise you are probably the only person left in this world”.

With help and guidance from the Club Advisor, Mr. Wilson Khor, the anthology participants took one month to complete and submit their respective stories. According to him, the compilation of this anthology is considered to be the next phase for the Advanced Book & Writers Club, whose members are finally ready to move on to physical publishing after gaining confidence and experience from publishing digitally on LAW & CAP’s website for the past two years.

“Even when our technology has advanced so much to the point that we are mostly reading on digital platforms nowadays, a large number of Malaysians are still valuing physical publications over digital ones. By publishing their works in physical formats, members get to create something tangible out of their writings, and see the public support, keep, and appreciate their work as opposed to just posting them on a digital website. It will be a great opportunity for club members to have themselves and their efforts acknowledged for the things they enjoy creating.”

The Principal of LAW & CAP, Ms. Sue Sudarak, has been one of the biggest supporters of the anthology project. Being the original founder of the Book & Writers Club, she has always wanted club members to be able to express their passion for writing and to demonstrate the reasons why reading and writing must go hand in hand.

“We should continue to promote English Literacy as a good cause. We should support our existing members to achieve their personal goal as aspiring young writers and have their written works officially published on our blog regularly as well and get every member to appreciate the platform we have created for them. [sic]”

Yong Yan, both one of the senior members of the Book & Writers Club and one of the writers involved in the anthology, expressed that her involvement in the anthology was something worth remembering.

“I had never considered my works being published. I used to think that writing a piece worthy of publication was unachievable, but actually it was just about taking the first step. Once you sit down and decide to write, everything will come in a flow.”

“This anthology has helped me step out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to continue learning, writing and trying out different styles. I’ve gained so much experience in this solo writing project, which I believe would be beneficial in the future.”

Priced at RM25 each, parents and students can purchase physical copies of the anthology from Ms. Lim in LAW & CAP’s LAW 2 classroom. Limited copies of the publication are currently also available for sale in Artlane and Sukmabumi Bookstore, located along Beach Street (next to the fire station building) and Armenian Street (upstairs of Langit Senja Kopi) in George Town respectively. For those who are interested to read the other works written by the members of the Book & Writers Club, all of them can be accessed and enjoyed in the “Media & Creative” section in LAW & CAP’s website – with the most recent ones being a travelogue by Chloe Pang and a movie review by Teoh Zhi Yuan.