[Spill The Ink!] South by Southeast

Spill the Ink! explores memory, power and the future of storytelling in Malaysia. Featuring the launch of new regional literary magazine Yellow, the republication of one of the earliest Malay novels, a poetry collection rooted in myth and feminine power, and a conversation on how digital platforms are reshaping reading culture — this is what literature looks like when it refuses to stand still.

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Spill the Ink! meneroka ingatan, kuasa dan masa depan penceritaan di Malaysia. Acara ini menampilkan pelancaran majalah sastera serantau terbaharu, Yellow; penerbitan semula salah sebuah novel Melayu terawal; pelancaran kumpulan puisi yang meraikan mitos dan keramat keperempuanan; perbincangan tentang bagaimana platform digital membentuk semula budaya membaca. Semua ini mempamerkan sastera sebagai suatu medium yang tidak tertunduk.

South by Southeast / Dari Selatan Untuk Asia Tenggara

The launch of a new literary magazine, Yellow

From the founder of The Diplomat and Mekong Review comes a new magazine that promises to break new ground in Southeast Asian literary culture.

Modelled on internationally successful magazines Granta and Paris Review, Yellow is dedicated to bringing the best and most exciting writing from the region. It features fiction, nonfiction and poetry from award-winning as well as emerging writers from Southeast Asia and beyond.

Published twice yearly, each issue will focus on a topic or theme. The theme of the premier edition is ‘Parents’. Twelve regional writers with amazing stories about their parents and what they mean to them.

Yellow aims to contribute to strengthening the creative writing culture of the region as well as pushing back on the negative stereotypes of Southeast Asia that have been in currency for far too long.

Minh Bui Jones is the founder and editor of Yellow and the publisher of Bui Jones. Previously he was the founding editor of The Diplomat, an international magazine on Asian current affairs, and Mekong Review, a quarterly magazine on Asian literature. Bui Jones has been a journalist, editor and publisher for more than 30 years. He has worked for Melbourne University Press, Asia Times Online, the Sydney Morning Herald and SBS-TV. He has served as a judge for the ASEAN Fiction Prize and the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing.

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Pelancaran majalah sastera terbaharu, Yellow.

Pengasas The Diplomat dan Mekong Review kini mempersembahkan sebuah majalah baharu yang dijangka membuka lembaran baharu dalam dunia sastera Asia Tenggara.

Mengikut acuan majalah antarabangsa tersohor seperti Granta dan Paris Review, Yellow menjanjikan karya-karya terbaik dan mengasyikkan dari rantau ini. Majalah tersebut menampilkan karya fiksyen, bukan fiksyen dan puisi daripada penulis mapan serta penulis muda dari Asia Tenggara dan sekitarnya.

Majalah ini akan diterbitkan dua kali setahun dengan menampilkan fokus topik atau tema yang berlainan setiap isu. Tema edisi julung kalinya ialah tentang “Ibu bapa.” Dua belas penulis serantau menyumbang karya yang menyentuh soal ibu bapa dan pandangan mereka tentang topik tersebut.

Yellow berhasrat untuk mengeratkan budaya penulisan kreatif rantau ini, pada masa yang sama menolak stereotaip negatif sekitar Asia Tenggara yang telah berlarutan terlalu lama.

Minh Bui Jones ialah pengasas dan editor bagi Yellow serta penerbit bagi Bui Jones. Beliau pernah berkhidmat sebagai editor untuk The Diplomat, sebuah majalah antarabangsa tentang hal ehwal semasa Asia Tenggara dan Mekong Review, sebuah majalah sastera Asia yang diterbit secara suku tahunan. Bui Jones merupakan seorang wartawan, editor dan penerbit yang mempunyai pengalaman lebih daripada 30 tahun. Beliau juga pernah berkhidmat di Melbourne University Press, Asia Times Online, Sydney Morning Herald dan SBS-TV. Bui Jones pernah menjadi juri bagi anugerah Hadiah Fiksyen ASEAN dan Hadiah Moore bagi penulisan tentang hak kemanusiaan.

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Speaker/Penceramah: Minh Bui Jones

Moderator/Moderator: Pauline Fan

Language/Bahasa: English/Bahasa Inggeris

Date & Time/ Tarikh & Masa: 9 May 2026, 4.00pm - 5.30pm

Duration/Tempoh: 1.5 hours/jam

Venue/Tempat: Mayor’s Courtyard

Session Curators/Kurator Sesi: Pauline Fan (PUSAKA), Amir Muhammad and Mahi Ramakrishnan (PEN Malaysia), Rahmah Pauzi (IMAN Publication)

Don’t miss out on our other exciting programmes! / Jangan lepaskan program lain kami! ✨ 

Explore three additional Literary Conversations & Book Launches happening throughout the festival. / Ada 3 lagi Sesi Perbualan Sastera & Pelancaran Buku.

Discover more and secure your spots here / Ketahui lebih lanjut di sini:

👉 Dari BookTok ke Kedai Buku: Bagaimana Pembaca Menemui Cerita & Sastera? @ 10:00am - 11:30am

👉 Goddesses, Demons and She Heroes @ 12:00pm - 1:30pm 

👉 Hidup Yang Derhaka @ 2:30pm - 4:00pm