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Posts Tagged ‘book on Malay life’

book on Singapore's kampungs

The road to publishing my book has been a fulfilling journey.

There is the often quoted African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.”

I think it may also be quite true to say that it takes a village to self-publish a book. I have had so much help along the way to the publication of “Kampung Memories, A Life Journey, Revisited”, a book that is very important to me, that I will try to thank as many people as I can.

I would like to thank:

  • Authors who have shared their experiences. Throughout the whole journey, I read many blog posts and books where self-published authors share their experiences and insight. This was valuable information for me, and I, in turn, would be happy to share with anyone whatever I have learnt.
  • My family and friends who have helped and supported me in countless ways.
  • Everyone who came to the book launch and the reading/discussion events.
  • Everyone who has read my book, or any part of it. The reward and wish of every writer is that his work is read and shared. Feedback is also much appreciated. At one of the readings, a guest thanked me for writing the book as he grew up in the years after the kampungs (villages) were gone from Singapore’s landscape, and he has little idea of life in that time.
  • Everyone who helped me with practical advice on marketing, especially Isrizal and Sharifah, an aspect which was a rather steep learning curve for me.
  • Ibrahim of Wardah Books and Dan of Select Books for their belief in, and support of independent or indie writers.
book kampung memories

The author, Sharifah (left) after signing a book at the launch. We are dressed in baju kurung, the traditional Malay costume.

select books author sharifah

Meet the author session at Select Books. Click on pic for more photos.

Links to:

Post in a heritage Singapore blog

Radio interview on “Kampung Memories”

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kampung garden

In the tropics, the coconut tree has often been called “king of the trees”. The tree, known in Malay as pokok kelapa, not only provides shade, but also has different uses at different stages of its growth.

People of the tropics know that the juice of the young coconut makes a refreshing drink. It also has a medicinal use. When given to a child afflicted with chicken pox, it is  believed to lessen the ‘heatiness’ of the body.

When the coconut ripens, the flesh is grated, mixed with water, and squeezed to obtain its milk called santan in Malay. Santan is to the Malay cook what soy sauce is to his Chinese counterpart.  It is a base for cooking different types of curries and gravies, as well as for desserts, usually sweetened with palm sugar.

After the coconut gratings were squuezed for santan, we fed them to the family hens.

- excepted from my book Kampung Memories, a semi-memoir of childhood memories and Malay culture.

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