2026年6月——新書上架

Named after Burma’s unofficial national dish of fish noodles, Mornings are for mohinga serves as a reorganised and enriched edition of Koh’s 2015 effort.

It is a meticulously researched body of work that has taken Koh 12 years to complete, taking him to all corners of Burma to meet the myriad ethnic contributing to the country’s spellbinding culinary landscape. This includes more well-known communities such as the Kayin, Mon, Shan, Rakhine and of course the predominant Bamar, as well as the Shan Ni, Lisu, Rawang, Kayah and various Chin folk.

Written like a travelogue with food at its foundation, Mornings are for Mohinga is divided according to the 16 regions comprising Burma, including Yangon. It is sumptuous and kaleidoscopic, as well as engaging and insightful. It is filled with information on traditional cooking techniques, lesser-known botanicals and fish that lie at the foundation of the local cuisines and, true to its title, recipes for not just one, but 4 kinds of mohinga. Beyond the culinary realm, the book also sheds light on the lives, culture and traditions of the myriad people who make this great land.

As with his previous 5 literary endeavours, this book is lavish with food and location photographs, all of which were executed by Koh, who also had a hand in the design and layout of the book.

“Lily loved exploring.
On her adventures, she loved collecting treasure
Like shiny pebbles, lost keys and homeless marbles.”

Lily loves to explore her neighbourhood, brimming with treasures waiting to be discovered and collected. From lost keys and homeless marbles to glittering feathers from golden birds, Lily keeps them safe in the pretty pockets that her grandmother, Popo sews for her. To Lily, they are precious — all infused with stories that make people happy. You see, Lily’s neighbourhood is magical, but only Lily can see it. She knows that the sleepy monitor lizard in the park is actually a fire-breathing dragon, and the red saga seeds lying on the ground are actually sparkling rubies scattered by the wind. She brings these treasures home and regales her family with their stories. But one day, Popo falls gravely ill and has to go to the hospital. Can Lily and her pockets full of treasure help make Popo well again?

A joyful celebration of a children’s boundless imagination and infectious optimism, Lily’s Magic Pockets casts a spotlight on the transformative power of stories and the love of family, particularly across generations. Linda Yew’s illustrations explode with exuberant colours, while lavish details capture Asian cultural elements and local biodiversity that will offer hours of delight and visual exploration for youngsters. Craft pages are included at the end of the book.

Ink Studies explores contemporary practices of calligraphy in China, situating them in both a precarious and dynamic position. While people are increasingly writing less due to digitization, calligraphy is experiencing a revival partly fueled by governmental directives that promote “creativity” as a powerful discourse contributing to economic development. This book unravels intertwined imaginations of contemporary calligraphy in five different visual cultural fields in China today: calligraphy education, water calligraphy in public parks, modern calligraphic art, digital calligraphy and calligraphic font design. The various visual representations of the calligraphic sign within these fields are approached as active agents, demanding various physical and moral behaviors from practitioners. While calligraphy and creativity are often pitted against each other, as the nature of calligraphy is sustained through a culture of copying, the book challenges the perception of calligraphy as a static art, arguing instead for its creative potential in both formal and grassroots contexts. 

"Vermeeren's volume is the long-awaited 'missing course' for understanding Chinese calligraphy beyond conventionalized narratives. Focusing on new forms of shufa practice in everyday lives of Chinese people, it offers rich and gratifying food for thought on creativity, modernity, and the value of art in cultural politics and broader human experiences."  -- Yu Li, Loyola Marymount University

Laura Vermeeren is Assistant Professor of Cultural Heritage and Cross-Media at the University of Amsterdam, with a background in Chinese studies and a focus on creativity, everyday practices, and visual culture.

The poetry of Wong Phui Nam (1935–2022) is foundational to Malaysian literature in English, and while his early work is often cited and quoted in this regard, this edited collection of his poetry and critical essays makes it clear that his lifelong trajectory as a poet and critic is of deep interest. In the Mirror by Wong Phui Nam is a critical exploration of Malaysia’s fractured post-colonial identity and literary landscapes.

The editors worked with Wong to prepare his latest works In the Mirror (2000–22) for publication. This volume combines these with his earlier achievements, starting with How the Hills are Distant (1960–64). An introduction by the editors links Wong’s work with contemporary poetry in the region. An afterword by Wong’s contemporary Edwin Thumboo completes a volume that will be treasured for its historical context-making, but more importantly for the literary rewards of Wong’s poetry, written in unblinking confrontation with the contradictions and difficulties of writing in English in the region.

“Wong Phui Nam is one of the giants of Malaysian writing in English, a pioneering poet whose early work captured the cultural desolation of the immediate post-independence years…. His poetry collections, especially those containing multi-part poems, deserve to be read and studied in their entirety.”
- Ann Ang, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

Wong Phui Nam (1935-2022) was a Malaysian poet. 

Brandon K. Liew is a writer and editor, and currently a researcher at the University of Melbourne.

Daryl Lim Wei Jie is a poet, editor, translator and literary critic. His poetry collection Anything but Human (2021) was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize.

In 2017, I started my research on the fate of granduncle Silvestr Nemec, a young Czech employed by the Bata Show Company in Singapore, who volunteered to fight the Japanese when they invaded the island during World War II. He went missing in 1942 and was involved in two historic events of the falls of Singapore: the battle of Pasir Panjang Ridge where the Malay Regiment made their last stands on Bukit Chandu and the Alexandra Hospital massacre.

Over time, my quest produced whole collection of stories that spanned a century and across continents, covering not just Silvestr’s life but also the Bata company in the Far East, other Czechoslovaks who lived in Singapore before and during World War II, as well as my own journey of discovery.

Not in my wildest dreams did I expect that my research would take my so far. On many occasions - such as when I was studying how Tomas Bata organised his business, or what other Batamen captured in their diaries, letters and articles about their works and life in Singapore in 1930s - I could vividly picture Silvestr in those contexts and situations.

My book about my granduncle Silvestr was first published in Czech in October 2020.

A tale of love, betrayal and the supernatural set in the heart of Singapore’s most vibrant district.

At sixteen, Zhong Su Lynn dreams of becoming an official ghost hunter. She has battled supernatural creatures, from pontianak to shuigui, but her unconventional methods frustrate her grandfather, the legendary Zhong Kui. When Su Lynn discovers that her grandfather is building an undead army to forge his own underworld, her world unravels. To complicate matters, she falls for a jiangshi he created. Now, Su Lynn must join forces with other ghost hunters to free the jiangshi, stop Zhong Kui and restore balance—all while torn between love and her sense of duty.

After many years abroad, Roz and Harun return to Malaysian Borneo for the funeral of their father Yusuf – and to reckon with their inheritance. A renowned palm-oil baron during Malaysia’s economic rise, Yusuf built the family’s immense wealth by destroying huge tracts of rainforest. What his children know is that he was also responsible for the violent disappearance of a man who stood in his way.

Harun has become a successful tech entrepreneur in Los Angeles, Roz is an artist struggling to stay afloat in Sydney. Now they want to return something their father stole from the forests of their homeland. In their quest for redemption they grapple with the legacy of power and corruption, dreamers and exiles, thugs and zealots. Most dangerous of all, they are haunted – by the ghosts of colonialism, the ghosts of family, the ghosts of language, and the ghosts of the forest itself.

A trailblazing journey across the globe, Fierceland weaves the past and the present into an emotionally powerful family saga that plays out at a mythical scale.