My father’s passion was reading. Our favorite weekend activity as a family was to visit the newsstand to buy magazines.
My father’s short stories will be republished soon by Fixi Retro.
I’m lucky to come from a family that loved books and writing.
My grandfather loved poetry and owned a small second hand bookshop in Singapore. My late father Hamzah Hussin, helped him in the shop as a young boy, and he grew up to become a figure in the Malay literary world.
My father became a journalist and writer, penning and publishing short stories and novels. He then joined Cathay Keris Organisation, one of the pioneer studios that produced Malay films, as a scriptwriter/ public relations officer. He later went to live in Malaysia to continue to contribute to the film industry and also to teach at FINAS Film Academy.
He was always generous with his knowledge, and I knew that he cherished the opportunity to teach, and the interaction with the students and their ideas.
Most of the Malay films of his era are still widely viewed, and thus my father’s screenplays are still intact. However, some of his literary works are not so readily available.
The good news is that Amir Muhammad, Malaysia’s well-known author, filmmaker and publisher, has located three of my father’s published short stories and has compiled them into a book. Amir and his company Fixi Retro will launch the book on November 21 at Ilham’s Gallery in Kuala Lumpur.
I feel very grateful and pleased to share my father’s work with more people, and I’m sure he would be too.
If you’re in Malaysia or Singapore, I would like to invite you to the launch. Amir will also talk about Malay movies in the 60s at the event. More details on the event and the venue are at this page.
Building Bridges 