Singapore - Abdul Ghani Hamid, an award-winning writer, poet and artist, is giving away his massive and rare collection.
He is donating over 2,400 books, manuscripts and other personal artefacts on Malay literature and the arts in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
The collection includes items which date back to the 1920s.
These will go to the National Library Board (NLB) under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the two parties on Wednesday.
The NLB says the rich collection serves as "timeless pieces of historical information and literary heritage to Singapore" and this is important, given the country‘s rapid growth and changes.
Mr Abdul Ghani has contributed much to the Malay literary and arts scene for the past 50 years. And for him, "parting (with the collection) is such sweet sorrow".
It was difficult for the 74-year-old to give away his treasures, but he‘s happy that they can now be preserved and shared.
The public will soon have access to his collection, which will also be digitised and microfilmed.
The physical collection will be available to the public at an earlier date, while the organisation and digitisation of the collection will take about two years to complete.
The NLB and Mr Abdul Ghani will also work together to educate the public by displaying his original works at exhibitions and promoting his digitised images and texts for illustrations in publications.
The NLB is also collecting and archiving manuscripts as well as personal artefacts of over 80 Cultural Medallion winners in Singapore.
To date, Mr Abdul Ghani has written hundreds of poems, short stories, essays, newspaper articles and plays in both Malay and English.
He has published 20 books and over 20 anthologies with other writers.
He is a recipient of the Southeast Asia Write Award, which was conferred by Thailand in 1998. He also received the Singapore Cultural Medallion in 1999.
Mr Abdul Ghani is among the rare breed of poets who also excels in visual art. As a painter, he has taken part in more than 60 art exhibitions since 1950.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com (20 September 2007)
