GEORGE TOWN, Aug 31 —
“I am boarding a flight too early,
wild-eyed, ravenous, tummy thunder,
but the good news is Penang,
will hug me in the end,
and there’s a festival on the other end
of this Sunday
my typewriter and I both need food
we both need to get off the ground
and find true north,”
These were the words penned by Liyana Dizzy of Gerai Puisi Segera, from the words “Penang, festival, food”, with her trusty typewriter at China House yesterday during the All Things Malaysian (ATM) event that wrapped up a whole month of arts and cultural events in George Town Festival (GTF).
ATM, held from 4pm to 11pm yesterday, saw the connecting roads of Beach Street, Victoria Street, Armenian Street, Soo Hong Lane and Ah Quee Street closed for performances and rows of stalls offering food, beverages and dessert along with books and comic books.
Over at Soo Hong Lane, the row of stalls curated by MMOxGTF offered an array of comic books by Maple Comics with artists Mimi Mashud and AdiFitri Ahmad present to autograph comics bought by festival-goers.
This was the stall where Mimi’s travelogue comics, “Kuala Terengganu in 7 Days” and “Beijing in 5 Days”, as well as AdiFitri’s “Taubat Si Tanggang” were displayed for sale amongst other comics by Maple Comics.
Next to the comic books was a table simply spread with brown-paper wrapped books with only phrases written on the front by Anis Suhaila’s “My Date Is A Book”.
Some of these phrases “For a fan of Jane Austen” or “Very mysterious” described the book while some are phrases extracted from the book.
The idea behind this is for buyers to pick a book based on the phrase instead of the cover of the book. The idea of a date with a book proved to be a hit.
“We sold out all the 80 books we brought and had to wrap a new batch,” said Anis.
For food to fill the stomachs and snacks, there were stalls offering homemade hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese and nachos.
There were also the interesting concoctions of passionfruit and ginger, cucumber and raspberry, lavender honey alongside chocolate and salted caramel flavours of artisanal gelato at the next stall by Cielo Dolci.
Coffee lovers had a chance to try out cold drip coffee by Three Little Birds and the smooth, frothy coffee concoction by Nitro Kopi truck that promises a smooth cup of coffee like Guinness Stout but without the alcohol.
Over at Ah Quee Street, where the food street is, there were also plenty of other food available such as Mexican tacos, nyonya kuih, traditional Indian dessert, bak chang (glutinous rice dumplings), soy milk and coconut ice cream.
For entertainment, the public got to experience what it was like to be a victim of human trafficking at the SK!N performance, by TerryandTheCuz, inside a container along Beach Street while there were also a line-up of dance and music performances at two main stages — one at Armenian Street and another at Beach Street.
Talented guitarist Az Samad wowed the packed audiences at The Canteen later in the evening with his skilled finger-style guitar peppered with humorous anecdotes of the pieces he played.
For those artistically inclined, the night was also the last showcase of the MYdesign Exhibition, where local designers showcased their specially crafted fashion items, accessories and furniture.
A total 18 talented sketchers and artists from KL Sketch Nation made their rounds all around the inner city and created instant sketches of the city which were then displayed at 162, Victoria Street and they later joined forces with Singapore’s Band of Doodlers to create a combined piece on the adventures of Skippy the cat at China House.
The night of excitement ended with a musical showcase by Planet Eupe with Liyana taking to the stage to read poetry and music by featured acts such as James Boyle, Daniel C, Fazz Band, White Percussion Unit and Salammusik.
The annual GTF started on Aug 1 and ends today.
