Our favourite Malaysia-inspired reads of 2025
Here’s a list of titles released this year that have either been written by Malaysians, or offer unique insights into Malaysia to help you in your book-hunting.
Yoko Tawada becomes 1st Japanese to receive Germany’s Nelly Sachs Prize for Person of Literature
Tawada writes professionally in both Japanese and German. The city of Dortmund praised her highly for being full of playfulness, trying out various methods and experimental…
Vietnam’s Lunar New Year on the frontline islands, told through a child’s gentle gaze
In "Tet in My Truong Sa Homeland," poet Lu Mai invites young readers into a tender Lunar New Year on the country’s distant islands, where childhood innocence, family warmth, and…
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Bookworms don’t sleep: The Library, BookXcess’s new 24-hour megastore opens in Malaysia’s Petaling Jaya
With two maze-like floors of towering shelves, nearly 1km of walkways, and quiet nooks for studying, working or simply settling in with a book, The Library offers an inviting…
Inside the secret Albatross file on Singapore’s Separation from Malaysia
Edited by Susan Sim, the book "The Albatross File: Inside Separation" is a 488-page volume co-published by Straits Times Press and the National Archives of Singapore. It was…
New book sheds light on Singapore’s secret negotiations for independence
Singapore's separation from Malaysia was a "bloodless coup" orchestrated by Dr Goh Keng Swee and Tun Abdul Razak in 25 days, detailed in a new book, "The Albatross File."
What Bangladesh’s forgotten trees tell us about nature’s fragility
Swedish-American designer Jacob Thomas' new book is a vast, accessible field guide titled "Plants of Bangladesh," a beginner-friendly plant guide that helps ordinary people…
From fragmented memories of shame, Korea-born adoptee author weaves a home in language
'This story is not only for Korean adoptees in Switzerland. It is for anyone who has been rejected, anyone who has been shamed,' says Laure Mi Hyun Croset, a writer who was born…
No need to buy: Tiny hybrid store in Singapore’s Chinatown rewriting bookshop experience
The shop opened in April, and for $8, visitors get a cup of coffee and can leaf through books in a corner furnished with a small leather lounge chair, stools for children, and a…