FROM THE FOUNDER

I think it’s pretty obvious now that somewhere deep in my heart, I’m a writer because I enjoy books or any kind of reading materials so much. Plus, it’s also the easiest project to do. But am I a good writer? ⎯ that’s up for debate.

The story behind the idea for this project is fairly simple. It’s a combination of having a lot of free time and the idea behind writing, finishing, and publishing my second book. To write and what more properly publish can take a lot of time and effort. The writing part was one thing, but it’s a bit easier because it’s within my control, but publishing can be quite a hassle. There are a lot of unforeseen or out-of-my-control aspects ⎯ finding a publisher that’s willing to take a gamble against a nobody and publish my book was probably the reason that’s at the core of it. Oh yeah, I’ve had a lot of free time available. It was sometime after May 2018. The organization that I work for had just won a General Election and we were basically in hiatus mode. The management was busy planning the next course of direction for the organization, so we had quite free time on our hands.

So I had this idea to do some quick, fun side-projects that can both involve writing and design. Hence, a zine. Four series of them to be exact and only one that I had to do some writing on. The other two were a photo series and the last one was, well, a notebook. It was a fun project because I had full control of the creative part. Plus, everything was made by hand except for the printing. Every material was sourced on my own, arranged, cut, and bound. Zine Kechik Gila opened a booth at different three events ⎯ Pesta Kechil Rantai, Cyberjaya Zine & DIY Fest, and one that I can’t recall but it was an event for the youth that involves the Selangor State Government where the Raja Muda Selangor was a patron for the event.