Big book fest

ON May 24, the country's biggest book fair will begin at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. For nine days, until June 1, there will be author appearances – including Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad! – and a gamut of book-related events, as well as a whole lot of books on sale at great prices, of course.

To get into Popular bookstore's BookFest@Malaysia 2008, you need to buy a BookFest catalogue (RM2 each) from any Popular or Harris bookstore outlet around the country.

Here's a brief list of what's happening when in the areas featuring English language books and events. For information on Chinese language-related events and for a complete listing, go to bookfestmalaysia. com. The Star is a media partner in BookFest@Malaysia 2008.

May 24: Appearances by best-selling authors like James “Mr Midnight” Lee; The Star's Food Safety columnist and author of You Are What You Eat, Chia Joo Suan; True S’pore Ghost Stories author Russell Lee; The Unmaking of Malaysia author Ahmad Mustapha Hassan; and a sharing session with popular feng shui master Joey Yap.

May 25: Mr Midnight and Russell Lee appear; hair salon maven Winnie Loo shares her success story; the popular Senze shares secrets of How to Use the Internet to Make Money; and Zainal Abidin Rahman shows how to Catch the Coaching Moment.

May 26: Teen author Lim May-Zhee makes an appearance; indie filmmaker and author of the highly entertaining Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things Amir Muhammad appears; a session for all graduates would be Pass Your Job Interview Within 30 Minutes, surely; and celebrity interior designer Eric Leong makes his debut as an author with his book, Design Fast Forward.

May 27: Authors of What Would You Do, Sia Leng Suan and Ng Khoon Lay, will make an appearance; Kevin Zahri shares his Fitness 24/7; The Star's Mind Our English editor, Kee Thuan Chye, will talk about Common English Errors; and there’s the intriguingly entitled Blind Fold Reading.

May 28: Story-telling sessions and colouring contests for the kids; Sony puts up its Show Time; Dr Kong Voon Sin shares his Zest for Life; and author Zhang Su Li shares from her travel book, A Backpack & A Bit of Luck.

May 29: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad makes an appearance to sign his books; Jeff Keow, author of Think Out of the Block with SUDOKU, makes an appearance and there's a Sudoku fun time session; also, a session on how to make your children high achievers as well as story-telling sessions.

May 30: This is Healthy Living Day with exercise demonstrations as well as cooking demonstrations by celebrity authors/chefs like The Star's Cook's Nook columnist Amy Beh as well as Florence Tan and Su Chan (of Su Chan restaurant fame); Pauline Yong makes sure your money remains healthy too by sharing from her I Love Stocks; and for the children, there'll be a fun session with the mascot from Kuntum, The Star's children's magazine.

May 31: Manoj Kaimal shares from her yoga book, Celebration of Asanas; Dr Yeoh Phee Liang shares important info about Cataract & Refractive Surgery – all you want to and should know.

June 1: Detoxification the Way to Go says author Patricia Loh; popular authors Norzalina Nordin and Damya Hanna make appearances to sign books; Carol Yip shares from Charting Your Retirement Plan; and Jacinta Chan shows you How to Benefit From the Current Market Scenario Using Technical Analysis.

Source: The Star Online