A page from Yusof Gajah’s whimsical book, Elephabet. The elephant-loving artist/ author will be at Silverfish Books to talk about his newest children’s book, Dill The Little Elephant.

IF you have children in your life, the place for them to be this coming weekend is the cosy premises of Silverfish Books, Kuala Lumpur. With the support of the indie bookstore, the Yusof Gajah Lingard Literary Agency and Oyez!Books for Children are organising a children’s book week there from this Saturday to the next (May 11 to 18) with all sorts of goodies for young minds.

Selected Malaysian children’s books will be available at special promotional prices throughout the week. And there will be storytelling and activity sessions for children on both Saturdays.

If you’re a grown-up with an interest in perhaps creating your own children’s book one day, you’ll definitely want to meet the children’s book writers and illustrators who will be making appearances.

Emila Yusof – a self-taught artist who is not only a children’s book author but also designs covers and makes artwork, knitwork and handicrafts – will be at Silverfish this Saturday (May 11). Among the books she has published is the lovely My Mother’s Garden (One Red Flower Press, 2010) as well as the Malay-language Kraf Bersama Kak Emila series with five titles (2010) that teach children various art forms and projects, such as origami, making greeting cards and recycling.

Emilia Yusof’s My Mother’s Garden.

The Saturday after (May 18), storyteller and publisher Linda Tan will share books by another storyteller, the award-winning Mama Tok, who has published two books, The Greedy Eagle and Nyam-Nyam Nyit.

Also on that day, artist, illustrator, author and publisher Yusof Gajah (who’s real name is Mohd Yusof Ismail) will talk about his new book, Dill The Little Elephant. Yusof, who is well-known for his elephant-inspired works, has held exhibitions around the world in addition to winning several prestigious awards for his picture book illustrations, including the 1997 Grand Prix award at the UN-organised Noma Concours for Children’s Picture Book Illustrations. Yusof also began to publish his own books, beginning with Elephabet and Mother & Child in 2009.

> Silverfish Books is located at No. 28-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, KL. For more information, call the store at 03-2284 4837, send an e-mail to info@silverfish.com or go to its website at silverfishbooks.com.

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