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Bernice Chauly is a writer, poet and educator. For over 20 years, she has worked extensively in the creative industries as a writer, teacher, photographer, actor and filmmaker and has won multiple awards for her work and her contribution to the arts in Malaysia.
In 1998, she began organizing literary events, and in 2005, founded Readings, the longest-running live literary platform in Kuala Lumpur. In 2011, she was Festival Director for the Writers Unlimited Tour Kuala Lumpur/Makassar and is the Festival Director of the George Town Literary Festival in Penang, the only state-funded literary festival in Malaysia.
She is the author of five books, which include poetry and prose: going there and coming back (1997), The Book of Sins (2008), Lost in KL (2008), Growing Up With Ghosts (2011) which won in the Readers’ Choice Awards 2012 and Onkalo (2013).
Bibliography
Poetry
going there and coming back, poems and prose, Rhino Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1997
The book of sins, Mulut Mata, Kuala Lumpur, 2008
Onkalo, Math Paper Press, Singapore, 2013
Prose
Lost in KL, Oxygen Press, Kuala Lumpur, 2008
Growing up with ghosts, Matahari Books, Kuala Lumpur, 2011
Theater
Interview With A Prostitute, performed at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur, 1994
3Lives, performed at the 8th Asian Monodrama Festival Kuala Lumpur and at Actor’s Studio, Kuala Lumpur, directed by Krishen Jit, 1998
31 Candles, directed by Zahim Albakri, 2004
Film
Child’s Play, short film 1994
Bakun Or the Dam?, documentary on the native population in Sarawak, Borneo, on the building of the controversial Bakun Dam, 1996
Semangat Insan – Masters of tradition, six-part documentary series on Malaysian folk art and ritualistic traditions, 1998-2000
Creatures for HerStory, a collective short film project on women and sexuality in Malaysia, 2010
Photography (solo exhibitions)
A personal journey through Italy, The Photographer’s Gallery, solo exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, 2004
Face to face – Confronting the humanity of refugees in Malaysia, solo exhibition in collaboration with UNHCR Malaysia, 2005
Solo exhibition, launched by H.R.H Raja Nazrin Azlan Shah, Crown Prince of Perak, KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre), 2005
in:sights:out, solo exhibition, Reka Art Space, Kuala Lumpur, 2006
In search of Muslim youth, solo exhibition, commissioned by the Goethe-Insitut Malaysia and the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation, UKM, 2011
Links
Profile with excerpts of writing on the International Writing Program (University of Iowa) website
Video from the Worlds Literature Festival
