BOOK
SALLEH BEN JONED
- TRUTH, BEAUTY, AMOK AND BELONGING
Launched at the George Town Literary Festival, Kuala Lumpur's Cult Gallery and The University of Sydney
ABOUT THE BOOK
Salleh Ben Joned: Truth, Beauty, Amok and Belonging (Maya Press, 2023) shines a spotlight, for the first time, on the world view of one of Malaysia's beloved poets and public intellectuals (find out more about Salleh here).
In this 256-page book, Anna Salleh explores her late father's literary journey and legacy by combining a selection of his poems, prose and personal correspondence with stories about his relationships with others. The book also features over 170 images and a selection of work by younger generations inspired by Salleh Ben Joned.
WHERE TO GET THE BOOK
FOR AUSTRALIAN SALES (and all countries other than Malaysia), please contact me.
IN MALAYSIA YOU CAN PURCHASE THE BOOK AT THE FOLLOWING STORES:
Ilham Books
Also available through Lazada and YouBeli
Presentations association with the book include those with the National Gallery Singapore in 2021 and Addi Road Writers’ Festival in 2022. Stay tuned to Salleh Ben Joned's Facebook Page for news about further events and more.
For information please contact me.
MORE ABOUT SALLEH BEN JONED
Salleh Ben Joned has been described in many ways - from 'uncrowned poet laureate' to the 'bad boy' of Malaysian literature, with some detractors accusing him of being anti-Malay. But Salleh's work went beyond labels. He always had a strong sense of the absurd as he used his brutal honesty to challenge taboos on race, religion, language and identity, in the context of post-colonial nation-building. Leaning heavily on the power of satire, encouraged by a decade spent in Australia, Salleh prodded the comfortable posturing of powerful elites with playful humour. In both English and Malay, Salleh also celebrated the mystical, the sensual, the earthy beauty—and terror—of life itself. From Hobart to Kuala Lumpur, he pushed beyond conformist boundaries and paid the price. Salleh was an explorer of ideas, a critical thinker, an innovator of language, and was utterly in love with books and writing. When his brain fired with inspiration, he would make deep connections and reach with urgency for the nearest notebook—or paper napkin—to jot down thoughts for his next poem or essay. Salleh's love affair with words extended to the art of handwriting and calligraphy, and to dramatic performance—both as a poet and as an actor. He drew on all the streams of his being—from his village childhood to his deep knowledge of world literature—to express a Malay identity that was life-affirming, inclusive, sensual and fun. He rejected fake piety and materialism and saw God in both the sacred and the profane. While Salleh was most active from the 1970s to the 1990s, his work continues to ignite creativity and curiosity among generations of people today in Malaysia and beyond.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
"It’s a treasure for generations of Malaysians. The spirit and poetry of Salleh Ben Joned is life-giving."
- Sharon Chin, Artist
"Brilliant, utterly compelling... This is essential reading."
- Gareth Richards, Researcher, writer, editor and founder of Gerakbudaya Bookshop - Penang
“One of the most engrossing aspects that Anna uncovers for us is her father’s lifelong search for a home, belonging, and identity. Is there not a paradox, or even a supreme irony, when someone who was so against boundaries, rules, and regulations like Salleh wanted the constancy and centrality of home? Not at all. We recall that other questors and questioners like William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, and Chairil Anwar oscillated between rest and quest. To paraphrase what ‘freedom’ means.
The longing for home and belonging is endearingly human, and it gives Salleh’s writings, both his prose and poetry alike, an enduring relevance.”
“Anna does a brilliant job of combining journalistic conciseness and inherited literary elegance.”
Wong Soak Koon
Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 98, Part 2, No .239 December 2025, pp. 140-143 (Review)
Published by Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ras.2025.a979543
"I loved the book! It captured the life of Salleh Ben Joned in a remarkable way through the judicious use of poetry, prose and photography. The rich blend of anecdote, poems, snippets of verse in Malay and English and photographs of people, memorabilia and events gave the book a real life and character. Although I never got to know Salleh well I thought Anna Salleh captured the elements that resonated with my memory of him and created an authentic account of a man who was larger than life as a university tutor and student here in Hobart and a major influence on literary life in Malaysia. I think he would be immensely proud of his daughter’s capacity to capture a life that was well lived."
- Mike Frost, former University of Tasmania student, friend and admirer of Salleh
"... Sepucuk surat cinta seorang anak perempuan kepada ayahnya.
Ia juga surat cinta kita kepada salah seorang penulis Malaysia yang ulung — Salleh Ben Joned. Naskhah ini merupakan antara naskhah paling penting pernah diterbitkan dalam dekad ini bagi dunia perpuisian Malaysia. Penyajak muda wajib membaca Anna Salleh seiring karya Salleh Ben Joned."
- Jack Malik, Penyajak, Projek Rabak
“Meticulously compiled and written by his devoted daughter, Anna Salleh … not just an expert, but passionate about her subject.
- Ramli Ibrahim, Sutra Foundation
"Anna Salleh has whetted our appetite for this literary Jebat and great Malaysian Man of Letters… [and] has brought forth many hitherto hidden gems to his unique personae both as a writer and Malaysian."
- M. Bakri Musa, Essayist
"This book is beautifully put together and deeply moving. To read of Salleh's journey is very inspiring and the theme of Malaysia as home, and Malay as truer tongue is so timely for me. Only a few weeks ago, I unpacked my sarongs, which had been in storage for years. It will be my holy book, and my mataharistiwa as I navigate the future."
- Isaac Entry, Creative
"The book gives testament to... recalcitrance? Degil-ness? of love? of.. sweaty soil, thighs wrapped in sarong, sambal belacan, rantau abang janda baik batang berjuntai, realness the amok that sits just below the gut, not just of SBJ but his friends too, giants Usman Awang, Syed Alwi, Latiff Mohidin, Lat. There's a baton being passed..."
- Yee I-Lann, Artist
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION PODCAST ON SALLEH BEN JONED
Salleh Ben Joned: A Most Unlikely Malay
Salleh Ben Joned was a witty, fearless and charismatic poet and writer that some called the ‘bad boy of Malaysian literature’. He was an iconoclast: an incendiary critical with satirical with, a libertarian public intellectual known for challenging taboos about race, religion, sexuality and a whole lot more. By the time of his death in 2020 he had become a bit of underground 'legend' among a younger generation of artists and intellectuals.
In this two-part documentary series, aired just before Salleh passed away, his eldest daughter Anna takes us on a wild ride through the life and times of her infuriating yet utterly loveable father.
In Part 1 of 2 we hear about the influential decade the young Salleh spent in Australia where, among other things, he was a Colombo Plan scholar mentored by the controversial poet James McAuley at the University of Tasmania.
In Part 2 of 2 Anna charts her father’s return to Malaysia. Having blossomed into an ardent champion of free expression, how would he carve out a creative and intellectual life for himself in his increasingly conservative home country? And how would Anna navigate the extreme emotional highs and lows of her father’s journey?