By Tania Jayatilaka, Tatler
Mar 04, 2024
Source: Tatler
There’s nothing quite like a good work of fiction to transport you to imaginary worlds vastly different from the familiarity of your own surroundings. But in the past decade or so, numerous Malaysian authors have come to the forefront, proving that Malaysian stories and experiences have a place in the cultural zeitgeist both locally and abroad.… Read more
Interview by Wasafiri, School of English and Drama Queen Mary, University of London
July 2, 2020
Source: wasafiri.org
Bernice Chauly is a Malaysian novelist, poet, educator and former director of the George Town Literary Festival. She has published seven books of 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), Onkalo (2013), her debut novel Once We Were There (2017) and most recently, her fourth poetry collection, Incantations/Incarcerations (2019).… Read more
Here is an interview with author Bernice Chauly, taken from a BBC World Service programme called The Cultural Frontline
In Bernice’s book, Once We Were There— which won the Penang Monthly Book Prize 2017 — the Reformasi political movement of the 1990s was used as a backdrop to the story of a reporter navigating the underbelly of Kuala Lumpur.… Read more
Bernice Chauly’s ‘Once We Were There’ wins 2nd prize in the Fiction Category at the 2018 Readers Choice Awards.
Bernice Chauly’s ‘Once We Were There’ wins the Penang Monthly Book Prize for November 2017. The book was awarded in the ‘Excellence in Fiction’ category.
New novel depicts the hedonism and idealism of Reformasi-era Kuala Lumpur
By Marco Ferrarese for the Nikkei Asian Review
Published 26 October, 2017
Source: https://s.nikkei.com/2F5hbef
Author Bernice Chauly reads from her new novel “Once We Were There” in Singapore on June 29.… Read more
Race, religion, politics, corruption, sex – nothing is off limits for Bernice Chauly in Once We Were There, a daring page-turner, framed by events of Reformasi movement, about a mother in Kuala Lumpur caught up in rapid social change
By Salil Tripathi for the South China Morning Post
4.5/5 stars
Source: scmp.com… Read more
(From left to right: The three different covers of Bernice Chauly’s novel, Once We Were There, for Singapore, Malaysia and the UK.)
Synopsis:
Journalist Delonix Regia chances upon the cultured and irresistible Omar amidst the upheaval of the Reformasi movement in Kuala Lumpur.… Read more
“On the Map” is a series of interviews with writers while they are in Iowa City participating in the International Writing Program’s fall residency. The series is produced by the IWP at the University of Iowa and is made possible by a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S.… Read more
Bernice Chauly gives a provocation on identity, inheritance and bloodlines as part of Worlds Literature Festival, Norwich, July 2014.
Worlds is the UK’s premier international literary Salon, hosted by the National Centre for Writing in Norwich, England’s UNESCO City of Literature.… Read more