April 30, 2026
KUALA LUMPUR – Liu Su Di, a Chinese novel set in Ipoh that has sold more than 350,000 copies in China and drawn Chinese readers to visit the city, has won the 2025/2026 National Library Book Award in the Adult Chinese Fiction category.
Written by journalist-turned-author Lim Pow Leng under her pen name Li Zishu, the Malaysian edition has gone into seven reprints since its publication in 2020.
As Lim was absent from the ceremony, Chen Lin Loong, editor-in-chief of Got One Publisher Sdn Bhd, received the award on her behalf from Deputy National Unity Minister R Yuneswaran.
Lim and her publisher each received a cash prize of RM3,500.
The award was presented at the 2026 Northern Regional National Unity Week held at the Indera Mulia Indoor Stadium in Ipoh on Thursday.
The Ipoh-born writer is a former reporter with the Sin Chew Daily Ipoh bureau.
Held once every five years, the award is organized by the Ministry of National Unity.
A panel of university professors from across Malaysia selects winners from titles nominated by publishers nationwide.
Eligible works must have been published between 2020 and 2024, and only one top prize is awarded in each language category, making competition keenly contested.
Liu Su Di’s win in the Adult Chinese Fiction category reflects the high regard in which the novel is held for its literary merit and overall achievement.
Its appeal has extended well beyond the printed page.
In recent years, readers from Malaysia and China have traveled to Ipoh with the book in hand, retracing its footsteps and visiting the locations it depicts—among them the Kinta flats, Perak Chinese Primary School, Tua Pek Kong Temple on Dato Panglima Kinta Road, the noodles at Hung Tho Restaurant, and the moonlight hor fun at Teck Kee Fried Noodles.
Readers have been sharing their visits on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
The novel is now being adapted into a Chinese television series and a film director has secured the rights from Lim to adapt it for the big screen.