Kuala Lumpur (05/02/2018) —In entering the 6th day, the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair 2018 held at Putra World Trade Center (PWTC) looked deserted because today is a working day, even though the transaction book sales are still high.

Today, Indonesia as the 2018 KLIBF Guest Country presents young poet, Aan Mansyur. Aan Mansyur is a familiar name in Malaysia, especially in the literary market. With the talkshow “Celebrating Literature with Aan Mansyur”, the poet who was read by Rangga in the AADC2 film recounts the development of the world of Indonesian literature which has increased in terms of titles, writers and interests of publishers who want to publish literary works, especially poetry. “Teenagers are now starting to read poetry, where was it first? Publishers were skeptical about publishing poetry, not anymore. There used to be no type of work “writer” on the identity card, but now there is and it is quite encouraging, “said Aan.

Aan also stated that there was a market imbalance between Indonesian and Malaysian literary books. Indonesian books easily enter the Malaysian market, but not vice versa. The causes are several, such as the reluctance of the Indonesian people to read Malaysian books, understanding that Malaysia only has Malay books, and the main one is language. “Even though we are all cognates and the language in our country has many words in common, but it turns out that to read Malaysian books, I need to read the Dictionary of the Malaysian Language by the Language Council,” Aan said. This is what makes Malaysian books not widely circulated in the Indonesian market according to Aan.

In addition to discussing the circulation of books, Aan also told how to maintain relations with the publisher and the importance of book fairs. Indonesia has the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI) and the National Book Committee (KBN). These two organizations help publishers, writers, and creative workers to appear at several book exhibitions, both domestically and abroad, such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, Bologna Book Fair, Beijing International Book Fair, London Book Fair, and especially Kuala Lumpur International This book fair.
“My book will soon be published from the author’s residency program when sent to Poland. Hopefully the book can also be published in Malaysia, “Aan said with a smile. Aan is the recipient of a program for writers, namely the Indonesian Writers Residency, which is given by KBN. This program provides an opportunity for writers to learn and develop their potential in countries in the world. When returning the author was required to write a book and Aan was the only writer who chose Poland as the destination country for study.

KLIBF runs from April 27 to May 6 2018 at Putra World Trade Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This year Indonesia is present as a guest country together with Saudi Arabia and the guest country of Kedah. This presence is fully supported by the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud), and the Republic of Indonesia Embassy (KBRI) in Kuala Lumpur. KLIBF is also filled with the Kuala Lumpur Trade and Copyright Center (KLTCC), Writers’ Conference and Malaysia’s Digital Lifestyle Exhibition.

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