The Keeper Of My Kin debuts at Putrajaya library in Malaysia

The Constant Companion Tales series is coming home. The Keeper Of My Kin, the fantasy horror novel about war-torn Malaya, makes its debut at a government library at Putrajaya, Malaysia.

PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA – On 22 February 2024, Salina Christmas introduced her debut novel, The Keeper Of My Kin, to an audience of civil servants at Putrajaya, the administrative and judicial capital of Malaysia.

The book talk, Bicara Buku: The Keeper Of My Kin, was part of a knowledge-sharing programme organised by the Library of the Ministry of Civil Service for the civil servants working under the Ministry of Civil Service of Malaysia. The ministry operates under the office of the Prime Minister.

The author opened the talk with a reading from the second chapter of The Keeper Of My Kin, which is The Tiger-Man and His Constant Companion. The excerpt chosen was of the story of the boy soldier Yamashiro, a 15-year-old conscript who encounters a rampaging were-tiger during an incident in 1945.

At the talk, Christmas explained the processes behind the creation of a story, the author’s rationale in choosing fantasy, and the importance of horror in elucidating complex issues such as climate change. She also discussed with the audience the challenges faced by authors with regards to copyright and content creation in the context of AI and digital publishing.

At the end of the event, the author presented her novels The Keeper Of My Kin and A Request For Betrayal to the Putrajaya library. This marked her second donation to a library, the first recipient being the Fulham Library in West London, UK, where she printed her manuscripts.

Christmas was also gifted two Malay storybooks, Hikayat Malim Deman and Hikayat Awang Sulung Merah Muda, by one of the organisers of the event, Khairul Mahyuddin bin Areni, the head of the library and also the author of the fantasy novel Orakel Dewata (The Oracle of the Gods; see Goodreads, Shopee and Facebook).

The book talk coincided with the Kuala Lumpur Alternative Books Festival which took place between 22 and 25 February 2024.

Photographs courtesy of JPA and Studio GLUE.

About the horror series

About the Malaysian Ministry of Civil Service

Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) was first established in 1934 as a public service department under the British. Since Malaysia’s independence in 1957, the ministry has been driving reform and change within the public sector. To date, it employs around 5000 personnel. It sits under the Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The ministry is tasked with the development of strategy for the Malaysian public service, the sourcing of civil servants, the development of strategic alliances and networking, as well as governance and policy making within the said sector.
www.jpa.gov.my