A location that comes up multiple times in Home Groan is the Penang Botanical Gardens and its nearby hiking trails. We start with a sketch-in-progress by Chew Yuin-Y, based on Mandy Chee's essay, Of Sweat and Dirt for Ais Kacang: Ruminations About Growing Up and Setting Down Roots in Penang. We follow this with Elaine Lee Yew Mei's musings on how she used to spend her time in the gardens. Musings from the Land of Penang One Better Lah (Excerpt); Elaine Lee Yew MeiOccasionally, my parents would take us to the Youth Park or Botanical Gardens. I especially loved going to Youth Park because of the cascading waterfalls we could swim in. The presence of other children playing and having a good time made the experience even merrier. There was also a small wading pool in Youth Park that was a big hit among the children. Some parents would accompany their young children in the wading pool. We would also bring along our rollerblades to skate inside the skating rink. I remember skating at breakneck speed and showing off my skating skills to an imaginary audience. As I performed my stunts, the audience in my head would cheer loudly followed by thundering applause. The Botanical Gardens offered different forms of pleasures. It had a waterfall with a long flowing stream that we would enter to try to catch the small fishes. We had to tread carefully as it was filled with sharp, slippery rocks. The numerous cuts I sustained was never a determent factor to repeatedly re-enter the stream. There was also a place in the gardens with very steep and high slopes. My sisters and I discovered the joy of laying down on the grass and rolling down those garden slopes. As we made our descent from the top of the hill to the bottom of it, we would be squealing with delight before coming to a screeching halt. Though we would feel pretty nauseated (rolling down the slopes really messes your equilibrium) we would make that climb up the hill again to repeat the same process. There was also a little white stage with iron beams set up for live performances in the Botanical Gardens. I would often get on it and pretend I was giving a live concert in front of a captivated audience. Looking back, I wonder what was running through the minds of those watching me! The only thing I did not like about the Botanical Gardens was the monkeys. They terrified me. The monkeys would move around the gardens in a very intimidating and threatening manner. It was customary of them to patrol the gardens in a group. I was especially terrified of the alpha males that would stare at you with a penetrating gaze so menacing that it felt akin to a hole being bored into your head. I spent my evenings cycling around the neighbourhood and playing with friends either in their houses or in the playground. Some of the games that all the children loved playing were kalitoay and ‘mata and chad’ (police and thieves). There would also be the high jump competition using ropes made out of rubber bands to see who could jump the highest. We would often be out playing till the late evening—our cue to go back home was the sound of Azan Maghrib coming from the Penang State Mosque. Like what you read? Want to read the whole story? Click on the button below to get a copy of the anthology!
When people think about Penang, they tend to remember its UNESCO Heritage Sites, those streets of George Town that are filled with blasts from the past. Walking in that area of Penang, with various street art and trendy cafés, you can truly breathe in the multicultural miasma that comes to life. In this anthology, you will doubtless be able to experience this for yourselves, even if it’s just through the words of others. But what of Penang’s natural heritage? For all that Penang has gone through rapid urbanisation, it still harbours a lot of natural charms. Even on highways, you can see the green of trees or the sparkling blue of the sea. The beach is never too far away and you can always find a green space hiding amidst the glass and steel of modern architecture. While NutMag has never explicitly stated that stories must be set in Penang, this year’s anthology is different. With its theme being Home Groan, the Penang-ness of this year’s NutMag is turned up extra high. This time, I took more care in thinking about my story’s setting. Penang is small, especially when you think exclusively about the island. I’ve heard enough times the joke about how you can never get lost driving here, unless you hit the bridge – because that’s when you know you’ve truly messed up. But humans are creatures of habit, tending to roam more where we are used to. I’m such a creature. Even driving in George Town, that heritage area that’s so popular, I need to have Google Maps open so I don’t end up going around in circles. How was I going to write something new if I only knew those small circles I was used to? In the end, as I find myself doing with my writing of late, I dredged up memories and lessons I learned while studying Environmental Biology in USM. During our first year, all us Bio kids had to live for 5 days in the jungle. We didn’t sleep on the floor or anything – there was food prepared, electricity, plumbing, and even Wi-Fi – but it was definitely a wholly new experience. Every morning, we would leave our base and head to some new ecosystem to learn and explore and discover. It was physically and mentally exhausting (we had homework), but I would give so much to go back to that week of being so close to nature. This isn’t what my story is about. Ash to Ashes is set in Penang National Park, the same ulu place I lived in for 5 days, and there are USM Bio kids involved. That’s about where the similarities end. The smallest National Park in the world Here, I want to share a bit more about the smallest national park in the world. First of all, entrance is free, so you can and should go visit. Hiking there isn’t particularly difficult, but you can spend hours there depending on how far in you want to go. You will see a river, beaches, and, if you keep your eyes open, a myriad of wildlife. The best part? Penang has no land leeches, which I learned to hate during my other fieldtrips. Be sure to bring mosquito repellent, though. If you’re not up for the walk, you can always go on a boat cruise. In the park, you will find yourself overwhelmed by all the things you can do. There is a canopy walkway that stretches 210 meters, just 15 minutes from the entrance. You can go fishing, or just sit on the beach and try to spot some otters. I’ve been lucky enough to do the latter two; wasn’t too successful with the fishing though. The beaches are perfect for a picnic and a swim. There aren’t too many tourists there, unlike at Batu Ferringhi. You can visit the Turtle Conservation Centre at Pantai Kerachut, one of the few places where green turles and olive ridley turtles still land in Penang. Otherwise, you can observe the natural wonder of a meromictic lake, with its upper layer of fresh water and lower layer of sea water. You don’t have to pay the cost of flying to Australia to see the other one. If you find yourself not wanting to leave at the end of the day, you can camp at one of the two campsites ready there. Although this is just a brief overview of the charms of Penang National Park, I hope that I’ve at least piqued your interest in it. If I haven’t, perhaps this excerpt of my story can do better. Ash to Ashes (Excerpt); Celine WuThe sound of laughter breaks the silence of the morning and sends more than a couple of birds into flight. From my perch on a high branch of a tree, I look around for the source of the disturbance. There, along the paved trail, is a large group of young adult humans, walking and sweating and chatting. Entranced by them, I descend from my vantage point and approach the group. Abah and Mama always told me to stay away from the treeline, ever wary of that long strip cleared of trees and other growing things. I never understood that edict and still do not. The humans cannot see us, after all. What is there to fear, then? Still, I try to be an obedient child and keep from that area—staying at least 15 metres away at all times, in fact. But twice a year, when the students trek in and out of Penang’s National Park, I can’t help but go against that rule. I follow them from the safety of the shadows cast by the forest’s canopy. I have to slow my pace to keep abreast of them. The uneven earth below my feet, veined through with tree roots and obscured by leaf litter, is more familiar to me than the back of my hand. The students have more trouble, even if they are walking on pavement. The trail is old, with cracks where grasses sprout and tiny pools collect brownish water. The humans avoid these, which confuses me even though I have observed it for years. Are those features not also part of the path? Do they not give the trail its character? I giggle at their foolishness. The humans revel in the sudden breeze rifling through the leaves overhead. The group climbs up moss-covered stone steps, cross damp wooden bridges that bring the tops of their heads high enough that low-hanging branches caress them. They wade across a narrow and shallow brook, compressing the golden sand beneath their feet. The students complain about and swat at mosquitoes that seek them out and alight on any patch of skin bared to the air. It takes almost half an hour from when I joined their troupe for them to reach their destination. That’s longer than usual, I think. I watch as the tired students’ eyes brighten when they see the building nestled not far from the beach. Some rush towards a rope swing, ignoring their teacher’s call to go to the pier and help unload their luggage. I have spirited myself up the tree where the swing is secured. Many of the students are on the beach now. Only a few of them make their way to the pier. A plump girl exits the trail, breathing heavily, her T-shirt soaked through. The teacher following behind her asks if she is okay. My features twist into a sympathetic grimace. Ah, so this pack has someone slowing them down. It is strange that the girl doesn’t have friends asking after her as well. “Lia!” My ponderings are cut off by the shock of being called. “You better go home now before I tell your parents!” I can’t meet the eyes of the langur mother chiding me. She is right. I shouldn’t be here at all. And she’s taking a risk herself to warn me. “Yes, Makcik. I’m going right now!” Under the watchful gaze of Makcik Langur, I don’t dare to dither. But at the same time, I desperately want to stay, even for just a bit longer, to observe the humans in their fun. Want to read the whole story? Click on the button below to get a copy of the anthology!
It's day 7 of our funding period, and as of 1:30pm we're just shy of 20%!
1785 / 9000 (19.83%)
We'd like to raise a shout for our Super Home Groan Supporters, who have donated RM100 or more (or in some cases, donated their author earnings to support the funding!). Here they are in no particular order:
SUPER HOME GROAN SUPPORTERS
Anne Lim
Joelle Saint-Arnoult Ong Lin Lin Krishnaveni K.K. Panikker Eksentrika Darren Teh Julya Oui Winston Lim Charles Chiam
These awesome people will be acknowledged in the book, so if you'd like your name in our acknowledgements page as well, you can still do that by funding us at the Super Home Groan Supporter category!
p/s if you're a book reviewer and would like a digital ARC, do email us so we can hook you up with a copy!
As a child, there were only two things I recall doing on Sundays. The first was tagging along with my aunt when she went to church for Sunday service. She would drop me off at Sunday School. The second I came home from church, mama would have prepared my lunch and settled me down to eat. Right after, I would be changed and we would take an afternoon walk. A scorching afternoon walk to another home five streets away from our rented home. This home was open for exclusive members on Sundays. It was an unassuming two-storey terrace house, with a car parked at the porch and curtains drawn. No one would know there was a party going on inside. A mahjong party. The cracking sounds of mahjong tiles would go on for hours. While mama gambled her way to get a few ringgit in her hand-sewn cloth purse, I was left to entertain myself. The host didn’t like that mama brought me over every time they gambled. I am not sure if it was the kind of exposure parents would encourage for their child, but I spent most of my time singing the songs and acting out the scenes from The Sound of Music, unaware of the activity that was going on. It was a gamble for me too. If she won, I’d get ice cream on our way back home. If not, well, what a waste of my time. Find out more about Rachel's work here. Want to read the whole story? Click on the button below to get a copy of the anthology!
We're starting our Home Groan teasers with our city itself, George Town. Here's a quick sketch-in-progress from X.Z., based on Wilson Khor W.H.'s poem, Walking Along the Streets. Read on below for a short teaser from Anis Rozalina Ramli's story, The Pickpocket. The PickPocket (excerpt); Anis Rozalina RamliMacalister Road on a Sunday morning was the perfect spot. Big crowd, plenty of distractions, lots of tourists. The scent of musty old books reached my nostrils and its familiarity made me smile. Many of the old Indian Muslim vendors here were my friends. When I was small, they welcomed me into their shops and allowed me to choose a title from their towering stacks of second-hand books. I’d sit quietly in a corner to read page after page, escaping to worlds of fantasy, romance, and dreams, where life always seemed to be much better. But today, I wasn’t here for the books. Today, I was here to work. It was almost the end of the month, and Tok Pah had her grocery list ready. It wasn’t a long list since it’s just the two of us living in Lorong Maqbul for many years now—and for many years more, I was sure. At the very top, in big bold letters, she’d written tembakau. I grinned to myself thinking of her weakness for it. She never could part with her tobacco, or her snuffbox containing the many ingredients and implements needed to satisfy her betel chewing habit. It was almost therapeutic for her, this preparation of a quid of betel. As the dust and chaos of the day settled into the approaching quiet of the night, she would sit cross-legged on the floor, drag her snuffbox closer, and begin the important ceremony. From her betel box, a wooden container with elaborate carvings, she would pick a betel leaf, smear a smidge of lime paste on it, then scatter strands of aromatic tobacco, a tiny piece of clove, and slivers of betel nut. Folded into a small leaf parcel, in they would go into the long, cylindrical brass mortar, to be crushed before she balled them up and lodged them on the inside of her cheek for hours. As the hours wore on, her lips would be rouged and swollen as though she’d been kissed roughly and loved it. “Who have you been kissing ah, Tok Pah? Is it Tok Ali?” I enjoyed teasing her about her other love interest, our neighbour three doors down, the widower. And she’d blush all pink and grin widely, baring her red-stained teeth. Sometimes I wondered what life would be like if there was a man in our lives. How that would change the routine of our twosome existence. Tok Pah had lost her only child—my father—twenty years ago, and her husband five years later. My long-missing mother was something of a taboo topic in our household and was never openly discussed. For many years, it had been just my grandmother and me keeping each other company. Lately, the house felt far too quiet for just the two of us. But no, I couldn’t bear to let Tok Pah suffer withdrawal symptoms. Her snuffbox needed to be fully replenished every month, or I’d have to suffer living with a sulky old woman for weeks. That, and the fact that she was my only living relative and there was no one else left to fuss over. I shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket and wriggled my fingers. They were itching to wrap themselves around some foreign bills today. Like what you read? Want to read the whole story? Click on the button below to get a copy of the anthology!
MYWriters Penang is proud to announce our line up for the year! Fiction
Anis Rozalina Ramli The Pickpocket Anna Tan Regrets Celine Wu Ash to Ashes Krishnaveni K.K.Panikker Janaki's Journey Rachel Yeoh Mama & Me Tan Jie Ying The Colour of Glass Wan Phing Lim The Goddess and the Sea Winston Lim Spice of Life Creative Non-Fiction Elaine Lee Yew Mei Musings from the land of Penang one better lah Kang Chung Yee MY Writers Penang’s 5th anniversary anthology Lucille Dass Plaintive groans aplenty on the home-front Mandy Chee Of Sweat and Dirt for Ice Kacang - Ruminations About Growing Up and Setting Down Roots in Penang Orange Ong Home Groan article submission 2020 Sukanya Dhanarajan The Mysterious Attraction of Penang Vanessa Woodruff Reflections Poetry Chee Siew Hoong My Grandfather's Garden Dan Lee An Ode to a Former Prince NightShade Home Red Beanie Ah Wang Cafe Wilson Khor Woo Han Walking along the Streets Yee Heng Yeh Scene at Sungai Burung Estuary Yong-Yu Huang saturday morning bak kut teh Writing workshops? In this pandemic?
A good question. But why not? We've been planning these workshops since the end of 2019... and our funding just came through, so we decided to go ahead and hold them. How will we know it's safe? We're keeping the classes small and keeping our distance! In line with MKN's social distancing guidelines, we picked out a larger, more airy workshop space (instead of the lovely cosy one we originally wanted) and capped our participants at 14 persons. We're also keeping an eye out on the numbers and current situation, so we'll provide regular updates and figure out alternative solutions if the status in Penang continues to worsen. (Fingers crossed--we made it to Green status for more than a hundred days before... we can do it again!) Currently, you'll have to wear a mask (boo), sit at distanced tables (aww), and keep sanitising your hands (yikes) but other than that, we'll run as usual. Besides, it's a writing workshop. You're supposed to sit down and write and ignore other people where possible anyway. Wait... ignore people during a workshop? How does that work? Our teaching/workshop session runs from 10am to noon. This is the "interactive" part of the programme, where our fine Chevening alumni will impart knowledge and get socially-distanced discussions going. We then break for a catered lunch (each in their little sanitised packets) before starting our writing sessions. ...Which means you can ignore everyone in the room and isolate yourself to your table for the afternoon while you write. Or you can schedule a one-on-one with one of the available programme mentors and/or the instructor. We'll end the day with a quick recap before letting you go home. What if I can't attend all 6 sessions? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO US?! I mean, sure, go ahead, register for individual sessions, but we'll be prioritising our slots for those who can make it for the whole series. Okay, so I can attend all the workshops but I'm not sure about this retreat thing. A retreat is just a way for you to set aside time to sit down and write. Because you're taking this writing thing seriously, aren't you? You've already set aside 8 weeks for this, so why not just see it through to the end! What we'll do there is help you set your writing goals for the weekend, hold critique sessions, and generally push you to finish the stories you've been working on. We'd really like for you to stay with us for the whole weekend, but we also understand that some of you might have worries with this whole pandemic going on. So we've decided to let you decide if you want to be a day participant, so you don't have to risk sharing a room with someone you've only known for two months. Think of it as going to work. You go to the office to get things done, you attend this retreat to get your writing done. The retreat is only open for full-time participants (i.e. you're attending the whole workshop series), so you won't have the option to apply for it separately if you're only taking one or two sessions. Do I need to be like super good in writing to attend this course? Why do you need a writing sample? No. The point of this course is to help beginning writers figure out how this writing and publishing thing works. We just want a writing sample so we can pair you with a programme mentor who understands your styles/themes/genre/etc as well match you with other participants who are at similar stages in their writing. Or it could also help us tailor some of the sessions to address common mistakes we see in the samples. Why are you doing this? The workshops? Or the attendance thing? We really believe that Malaysians, especially Penangites, have stories to tell. This is why MYWriters Penang holds weekly write-ins and monthly critiques and publish the annual NutMag Zine. We want to provide YOU with a platform to share your stories. As much as writing is a solitary gig, no one improves in isolation. What we want is for you to get to know fellow writers at various stages of the journey so that you (we) can spur each other on in our writing endeavours. The best way to do that is by spending time together and sharing our work. And if you don't end up making friends, maybe you can just settle for being professional rival instead. That kinda works too. How much do I have to pay? Nothing. The Chevening Writers Series is fully sponsored by the Chevening Alumni Programme Fund. Even for the retreat? In a HOTEL? Well, yeah, they're covering the costs for that... but you'll have to buy your own meals during the retreat. Unless you can survive on cream crackers and milo. (Um. We may not have enough cream crackers and milo for 14 people for 3 days. So yeah, you'll have to bring some money to buy your own food.) Okay, okay, I'm sold. How do I find out more or apply? Click the find out more button below! (Or surf over to our Events page) What if I have more questions? Leave us a comment, or email us at [email protected]. We look forward to receiving your applications! We know what it's like to run out of time. COVID-19 has disrupted many of our plans and schedules, so since we're not going to be able to launch the anthology in October, we decided to extend the deadline by another month for two reasons:
Remember that we accept multiple submissions - so if you have more than one story or poem to send to us, hit that submit button multiple times! (Or upload them all in the same form - the form accepts up to 4 documents.)
One of the most common questions we've been fielding for Home Groan is, "but what exactly are we supposed to write?" followed by "what are you looking for, ah?" We understand that calls for submissions are sometimes vague. To clarify things for you, we've listed and answered some of the most basic FAQs to help you figure out your submission and the eligibility requirements. You can also read our previous volumes to see the kinds of pieces that we like. Must it be set in Penang?Yes! We don't really care if your Penang is current, or 50 years in the past, or even 50 years in the future. It could be an alternate Penang where orang bunian have taken children or Na Tuk Kong really resides along Karpal Singh Drive in the flesh or dragons have eaten all our MPs and now rule instead. It may even be a post-COVID19 Penang where you explore how future generations have adapted to survive with this new normal--or evolved mutant powers. Or it could just be normal Penang with normal people going about their normal lives. As long as we can ground it in one of our daerahs, we're happy! Can I write about my own life and family?Sure! Although our past editions lean more towards fiction and poetry, we've always left space for essays, or what we call "creative non-fiction"--and we'd like more of it! This includes interesting stories about the history of Penang, reflections of what it's like to live in Penang, and just the many ways that you interact with the state and its inhabitants in your everyday life. Tell us about your grandpa's secret second wife or the nyonya traditions your mother passed down to you. Just make it sound more like an exciting story and not a boring history book. PS Maybe change the names in your story if it's something that can get you (and us) in trouble. Can I swear? What about sex Scenes?Try not to. We try to keep NutMag as PG13 as possible, so we won't be too impressed by excessive swearing or explicit sex scenes. MYWriters Penang tries to encourage people of all ages to write--and as our first edition featured a fourteen year old writer, we'd like to keep it so that our younger writers can actually read their own anthology. PS We do like fluffy romances and we're okay with fading to black! PPS NutMag 4 might have one swear word. We struggled over that for quite a long time. Do I really have to groan?Must it be a story about growing up?No, not really. Home Groan is a play on the phrase home grown (which is what NutMag is) and groaning about our home (which is what Penangites like to do). It sets the overall theme of this anthology, but there are many ways you can interpret it creatively. As we said, "Give us your perspectives as natives or newcomers, reveal the hidden gems and the sordid truths, revel in the secret layers that tourists can’t see in a week’s stay." Which is all a really vague way to say that you don't need to write about growing up or about groaning. As long as we can relate and say "THIS IS SO PENANG!" you're fine. I left Penang already, can I still submit?Yes! We've always kept NutMag local--meaning those born and bred in Penang, and those who currently call Penang their home. At the same time, we also know many people who moved to Penang for university or work and spent years here before moving on, and therefore cannot fit either criteria. Since we have much more space in this year's anthology, we're extending the submissions to everyone who has once called Penang home. You'll just have to tell us your connection to the state and how that makes you an honorary Penangite. 5,000 words so long lah. what if I only write 1,000 words can?Can! 5,000 words is just the maximum. Stories below 1,000 words are a little harder to place, though, unless they're really, really good. A good target to aim for is between 2,500 to 4,000 words. My grammar not perfect ok or not?We love a good story written in Manglish--as long as we can understand it! Feel free to slip in common phrases that every Malaysian knows, pepper it with lahs and mehs. If it feels natural for you to say it that way, it's probably alright to write it that way too. This doesn't mean that you don't edit or proofread your work at all. We're very forgiving of imperfect grammar because English is usually our second or third language, but it would really help us like (and understand) your work better if you've done the work to make it the best that it can be. PS For examples, check out “Underneath Her Tudung” by Angeline Woon from Cyberpunk: Malaysia (Fixi Novo, 2015) or “Double blind” by Zen Cho from Love in Penang (Fixi Novo, 2013). Will I get paid?Yes. As we said in our submissions page, accepted entries will be paid up to RM200 for prose (i.e. fiction & creative non-fiction) and RM100 for poetry. Ok Ok, so what are you really looking for?We're looking for stories and poetry based in Penang and about Penang. This includes:
Check out our call for entry, submission rules, and other information on our submissions page for more information.
Let us know if you have any other questions! In keeping with time-tested elements of blogging, it appears that we need to have an initial "Hello, World" post!
What this post really is about is to say that we've done some housekeeping about the website and have put in all the snazzy new banners by Winnie Cheng at a good enough resolution that it looks great and a small enough size that it doesn't take a gazillion years to load. Hopefully. *squints at the tech* We've also (finally) gotten round to putting stuff into ebook (in this case, epub) format! We did release an ebook version of NutMag Volume 1 in 2016 but that disappeared along with Pronoun when that publishing platform closed. Then we dithered a little bit about where we should upload it and how and nothing got done, and then by the time we got round to doing things, some of the authors weren't replying emails... So what we've gone ahead and done is uploaded epub versions of NutMag Volume 1 and NutMag Volume 2: Coffee or Tea? containing only the pieces where the authors got back to us. 6 each in this case. You can download these from the respective pages for free. NutMag Volume 3: Island Living and NutMag Volume 4: Transitions can be purchased via Google Play at RM5 and RM6 respectively. Not including tax, because for some reason, it's taxable? We're still figuring that out, so for now, it shows at RM5.30 and RM6.36 until it sorts itself out. Anyhow, the latest thing we've done on this website is to create this blog, mostly for ad hoc posts that can't wait until our monthly newsletter comes around. We'll also be linking these posts in the newsletter (where relevant) so either way, you'll see it somehow. Which goes to say, that if you'd like regular reminders in your email about what we do here at MYWriters Penang, you can subscribe to our newsletter by filling up the form on our Contact Page. Until next time! |