Book Launch of The Principal Girl: Feminist Tales from Asia
- Full Circle
- Mar 17, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: May 24, 2019
by Muhammad Hidayat Fahmi
PETALING JAYA – The book launch for The Principal Girl: Feminist Tales from Asia was held at Gerakbudaya near University of Malaya on 17th March 2019 from around 3:00pm to 5:00pm. Among those who came was Ms. Zainah Anwar, Executive Director of Musawah project, who came to officiate the book launch on the day.
The event was also attended by both of the book’s editors, Dr. Sharifah Aishah Osman and Ms. Tutu Dutta, along with several authors who came to read some of the excerpts from their short stories. The book launch accommodated around 70 guests who crowded the launching room, ranging from different ages.
The event started with the welcoming speech and introduction to the book by the editors before it was launched by Ms. Zainah Anwar who stated her full support towards the launching of the book. She mentioned that, “Change will never come in a silver platter. Thus, such compilations of feminist tales are necessary to enlighten the community.”
The Principal Girl: Feminist Tales of Asia is a compilation of 18 feminist tales featuring stories of “bold, bright, and heroic” women characters from all over Asia which share the same emphasis on female empowerment. The book itself compiled classic tales from long ago with contemporary stories, and reimagined them to centre on the female characters, reshaping it out of the male-centric story scope.
Dr. Sharifah Aishah Osman, Senior Lecturer at the Department of English, University of Malaya, remarked that the project started in 2016 with the fund approved by the university. Both she and Ms. Tutu Dutta initially aimed to produce a book that can inspire and engage with young adults by showcasing empowering narratives which revolve around women from the present and past.
In Ms. Tutu Dutta’s speech in introducing the book, she explained how the book was meant to fight the common sexist stereotype that often claim of a woman’s success being linked to having a man by her side. Different from the other tales that always exploit folklores to empower men in the way that they portray women’s weaknesses, The Principal Girl: Feminist Tales of Asia rationalised these misconceptions by giving more female agencies to its women characters.
Among the authors who came was Dr. Shalini Nadaswaran, also a Senior Lecturer at the English Department, University of Malaya, who read some of the excerpts from her short story, An Epic Misunderstanding, during the excerpts reading session. Her tale tells about the reality of a woman’s life who was tricked into marriage by her own family and how the character fled out of her abusive marriage and independently raised her daughter without the need of a man beside her.
In the dialogue session, Dr. Sharifah Aishah Osman addressed how the book intended not to censor the reality of patriarchy. The contents are meant not to be filtered out but of course, they are not meant to be too violent and provocative in any sense as well. “It is a collection of a Patriarchy Deconstruction in tales, not a man-eating collection”, she remarked.
It is definitely a piece worth spending money for with the reimagined versions of diverse classic tales such as Hang Li Po, Princess of Mount Ledang, and Cik Siti Wan Kemboja, in a (feminist) way never told before. The book can be found in various bookshops namely Gerakbudaya, MPH and many more with the price of only RM28.
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