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Bernice Chauly

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Bernice Chauly
Portrait by Daniel Adams, 2016
Portrait by Daniel Adams, 2016
BornGeorge Town, Penang
OccupationWriter, poet, educator, actor, photographer and filmmaker
NationalityMalaysian
Notable awardsHonorary Fellow in Writing, The International Writing Program (IWP) University of Iowa, USA
2014

Winner, Reader's Choice Awards, Non-Fiction Category for Growing Up With Ghosts
2012
Winner of Samsung's Ultra Honour Award
2006
Neu Woman Achievers Award
2005

Winner of the 'Literary Festival Award' at London Book Fair
2018
Website
bernicechauly.com

Bernice Chauly[1] (born 1968, Georgetown, Penang) is Malaysian writer,[2][3][4] poet,[5][6] educator, festival director, actor, photographer and filmmaker.[7]

Biography

[edit]

Born to a Chindian teacher couple, she read Education and English Literature at the University of Winnipeg, Canada as a government scholar.[citation needed]

She is the author of seven books, which include poetry and prose; going there and coming back (1997), The Book of Sins (2008), Lost in KL (2008), the acclaimed memoir Growing Up With Ghosts (2011) which won in the Popular Readers’ Choice Awards 2012 in the Non-Fiction Category, Onkalo (2013),[8][9] her third collection of poems which Nobel laureate J.M Coetzee has said is "direct, honest and powerful", Once We Were There (2017) published by Epigram Books,[10][11] Incantations/Incarcerations (2019) published by Gerakbudaya.[12][13]

In 1998, she began organising literary events in Kuala Lumpur and in 2005, founded Readings, the longest-running live literary platform in Kuala Lumpur. In 2011, she was Festival Director for the Writers Unlimited Tour Kuala Lumpur/Makassar and is the Festival Director of the George Town Literary Festival in Penang (2011 – 2018),[14] the only international literature festival in Malaysia. The festival was awarded The Literary Festival Award at the London Book Fair (2019). The award judges stated that "the GTLF stands outs a vibrant, diverse and brave festival that engages with a wide community of voices, speaking to the world from a complex region." She was also the co-curator of at Read My World International Literature Festival Amsterdam (2015). In 2018, Chauly formed PEN Malaysia and was nominated as Director in 2019. PEN Malaysia aims to uphold freedoms of speech and expression in Malaysia and to conduct key events to foster literacy and the love of literature amongst its multicultural society. [15]

She was a resident at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program in 2014[16][17][18][19] and is the Founder and Director of the KL Writers Workshop. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. For over 20 years, she worked extensively in the creative industries and won multiple awards for her work and her contribution to the arts in Malaysia.[20]

Bibliography

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  • (2019) Incantations/Incarcerations (Poetry). Gerakbudaya. 2019. ISBN 9789670311418.
  • (2017) Once We Were There (Novel). Epigram Books. 2017. ISBN 9789814785167.
  • (2013) Onkalo (Poetry). Math Paper Press. 2013. ISBN 978-9810776725.
  • (2011) Growing Up With Ghosts (Memoir). Matahari Books. 2011. ISBN 978-9834484583.
  • (2008) Lost in KL (Short Stories). Oxygen. 2018. ISBN 9789834403959.
  • (2008) The Book of Sins (Poetry). Mulut Mata. 2008. ISBN 978-9834381004.
  • (1997) Going There and Coming Back (Poetry). Rhino Press. 1997. ISBN 978-9839476088.

References

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  1. ^ "Bernice Chauly Official Website".
  2. ^ "The New Gods (a novel excerpt) by Bernice Chauly". Archived from the original on 8 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Writers Unlimited,Bernice Chauly Profile".
  4. ^ "Writer in Residence Programme 2012,Bernice Chauly as WIR in Amsterdam".
  5. ^ "Poetry International Web". 27 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Sans tire 2 de Bernice Chauly". 26 June 2015.
  7. ^ ""Writing a Life Back into the World" by Bernice Chauly". 27 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Onkalo by Bernice Chauly reviewed by Jennifer Mackenzie". 8 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Onkalo by Bernice Chauly". 12 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Once We Were There". Epigram Books. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  11. ^ "[Review] "A Story of Many Faces: Bernice Chauly's Once We Were There" by Maheen Haider". Cha. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Incantations / Incarcerations". Gerakbudaya. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  13. ^ Mei, Kok Su (13 December 2019). "Bernice Chauly, Incantations / Incarcerations". Southeast Asian Review of English. 56 (2): 175–177. doi:10.22452/sare.vol56no2.16. ISSN 0127-046X.
  14. ^ "George Town Literary Festival Official Website".
  15. ^ "Malaysian Centre". November 2019.
  16. ^ "On the Map 2014: Bernice Chauly Malaysia".
  17. ^ "Library of Congress to Host International Writing Program Showcase Nov. 6". Library of Congress.
  18. ^ "An Evening with the University of Iowa International Writing Program".
  19. ^ "Prairie Lights Reading:Sabah Sanhouri, Bernice Chauly & Beatrice Smigasiewicz". Archived from the original on 8 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  20. ^ "The Near and the Far: new stories from the Asia-Pacific, Edited by David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short".