The Alternative Book Fest comes to Ipoh; Sheikh Zayed Book Award winners announced

The Alternative Book Fest debuts in Ipoh, Perak

It’s about time and it’s a long time coming. The Ipoh Alternative Book Fest 2025 will be held in the capital city of the Malaysian state Perak from 3 May to 4 May 2025, jointly organised by literary collectives Projek Rabak, Projek Rebel and Moody Café.

If you follow our story on Lumut Creative Festival (Story Of Books, 10 February 2025), Projek Rebel was at the event to organise a zine workshop, as well as a poetry session credited with keeping the mood alive. It’d be wonderful to see them again.

The Ipoh Alternative Book Fest 2025 is jointly organised by literary collectives Projek Rabak, Projek Rebel and Moody Café.

The event will showcase 26 authors, poets and artists, and 16 publishers and cultural organisations from the private and public sectors. Story Of Books is one of the 16 publishers.

On the first day, our creative director Zarina Holmes and author Salina Christmas will discuss their books, The Keeper Of My Kin and A Request For Betrayal for the talk “Monsters as metaphors: A discussion on grotesque creatures as a device in storytelling.”

Independent and established publishers and organisations sit side by side at IABF 2025.

Saturday, 3 May 2025

Saturday, 3 May 2025 event will also include: a zine workshop by the Kinta Zine Club; a discussion of the lyrics of interdisciplinary artist Zulhezan; a talk by Buku Liar (Wild Books); a listening party to Joni Mustaf as part of the panel by Mohd Jayzuan, Mohd Najmi Jamaluddin and Mohd Hazriq (coordinated by Ku Syafiq); a performance and talk by SEFA, and an all-female panel on Fazleena Hishamuddin’s Seksi Ovari (Sexy Ovary) by Natasha Aziz, Wan Syafiqah and Qurratil ‘Ain.

Sunday, 4 May 2025

Sunday, 4 May 2025 event will see: poet Jack Malik talking about his works and conducting a beginner’s writing workshop; a talk by Bridgitte Rozario on “The Writing Challenges Faced by Teens”, together with Vinoshini Pregalathan, Nuur Qistina and Aisyah Al-Jamal; a talk by indie bookshop BilekBuku; a panel by Dano Chow and Lee Hao Jie on the PEN Malaysia’s anthology Objects of desire: 10 Malaysian Chinese Short Stories In Translation; a celebration of 60 years of Shahnon Ahmad’s literary works, read by Johan Radzi and Kasvini Muniandi; a discussion on Syed Ahmad Fathi’s Demokrasisme about the challenges of democracy, and finally, poetry recitations by Jack Malik, Riduan Abdullah, Ashikin M, Natasha Aziz, Wan Syafiqah, Afifah Gentayang, Lovise Vee and Karmaa.

The event will showcase 26 authors, poets and artists, as well as 16 publishers and cultural organisations from the private and public sectors.

About the talk by Story Of Books

Talk: “Monsters as metaphor. A discussion on grotesque creatures as a device in storytelling.”
Moderator: Zarina Holmes
Author: Salina Christmas
Event: Ipoh Alternative Book Fest
Venue: Moody Café, 15, Jalan Raja Musa Aziz, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Perak
Date & time: Saturday 3 May, 12 pm-1 pm

Monsters have been used as metaphors and symbols since the beginning of time. In folklore and myths, they function as both protective and destructive characters. Salina Christmas, author and anthropologist, talks about the monsters she creates to broach complex topics such as the transmission of generational identity and trauma.

The Keeper Of My Kin and A Request For Betrayal uses monsters as a metaphor to facilitate discussion on complex issues such as the transmission of generational identity and trauma.

Related news

Hoda Barakat, Latifa Labsir amongst winners of Sheikh Zayed Book Award

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award has announced the winners of its 19th edition across eight award categories, including the prestigious Cultural Personality of the Year category.

Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami has been recognised as the Cultural Personality of the Year for the Award’s 19th Edition. This is a well-deserved accolade given his standing in the literary world, and his influence on Asian literature, including a significant following in the Arab world, where his novels are available in Arabic translation.

The winning book in the Literature category, Hind, or The Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Hoda Barakat (Dar al Adab, 2024) is an intimate and deeply moving portrait of a heroine who suffers from acromegaly, a rare disorder that alters her physical appearance and profoundly impacts her sense of self.

The Phantom of Sabiba by Latifa Labsir (Markaz Kitab, 2024), the winning book in the Children’s Literature category, is a compassionate novel which aims to foster a greater understanding of autism across all age groups, with a particular focus on children and younger readers.

The winning book in the Arab Culture in Other Languages category, Arab Literature in Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries by Prof. Andrew Peacock (Brill, 2024), is a study of the history and dissemination of Arabic language and culture in Southeast Asia, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

*Arab Literature in Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries* by Prof. Andrew Peacock (Brill, 2024)

The winning book in the Translation category is Orosius (Pisa University Press, 2024), an English translation by Italian scholar Marco di Branco of Kitāb Hurūshiyūsh, the Arabic version of Paulus Orosius’s Seven Books of Histories Against the Pagans.

*Orosius* by Italian scholar Marco di Branco (Pisa University Press, 2024).

The winning book in the Editing of Arabic Manuscripts category is News of Women by Rasheed Alkhayoun (King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, 2024), a study of a manuscript attributed to Usama ibn Munqidh (1100–1188 AD) which is of one of the few surviving texts in the field of akhbār al-nisā (women’s news).

The winning book in the Contribution to the Development of Nations category, The Right to Strive: Perspectives on Muslim Women’s Rights by Prof. Dr. Mohamed Bashari (Nahdet Misr Publishing, 2024) is a scholarly exploration of women’s right to work through the lens of Islamic jurisprudence.

*The Right to Strive: Perspectives on Muslim Women’s Rights* by Prof. Dr. Mohamed Bashari (Nahdet Misr Publishing, 2024).

The winning book in the Literary and Art Criticism category is Food and Language: Cultural Excavations in Arabic Heritage by Dr. Said Laouadi (Afrique Orient, 2023). This academic study explores the relationship between food, speech and writing throughout Arab cultural history, focusing in particular on food as a rich metaphorical and linguistic device, shaping both literary expression and cultural identity.

*Food and Language: Cultural Excavations in Arabic Heritage* by Dr. Said Laouadi (Afrique Orient, 2023).

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award was organised by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre under the auspices of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi. The 19th edition received over 4,000 submissions from 75 countries. Notably, this year welcomed first-time entries from five new nations—Albania, Bolivia, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mali – further underscoring the global influence and prestige of the award. The winners of the 19th edition of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award will be recognised at an Award Ceremony taking place during the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair on 28 April 2025.