By Sofia Nasir
SHAH ALAM, Dec 5 — Inisiatif Buku Darul Ehsan (IBDE) will be publishing three new books this month.
Its sales and marketing manager Ainunl Muaiyanah Muhammad Sulaiman said the books are Apa Itu Tasawuf by Martin Lings, Perang Dunia Kedua (AJ Taylor) and Sejarah Selangor (JM Gullick).
“Sejarah Selangor (History of Selangor) is the most intriguing book because Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari worked on it and it will be published with the consent of His Royal Highness Sultan of Selangor.
“The book, which is a translation of ‘History of Selangor’, describes the history of several locations in Selangor and becomes a reference to many parties,” she said.
Apart from that, Ainunl said the Apa Itu Tasawuf book is also expected to garner attention as the author was a teacher to the country’s famous scholar, Syed Muhammad al Naquib Ali al-Attas.
She said Martin Lings is the author of ‘Muhammad’, which was published in 2020 and became a best-selling piece with over 20,000 copies.
“IBDE will continue to publish the best translated books, particularly for book enthusiasts,” she said.
The state government issues a grant to IBDE to publish translated books of various genres including history, philosophy and religion, with some of the original manuscripts being thousands of years old.
Ainunl Muaiyanah said that IBDE offers more than 60 titles at the Selangor International Book Fair (SIBF) 2022, which started on December 1.
“IBDE receives more than 500 visitors every day and we expect more visitors next week, especially when the school holidays start,” she said.
She added that a visitor who refused to be known had spent nearly RM1,000 at the IBDE booth yesterday.
“Initially, the humble man just stopped by at our booth, but later he became interested in books published by IBDE. We were shocked by the amount he spent on books, but we believe he was truly an avid fan of high-quality translated books,” she told SelangorKini.
Books published by IBDE are available at the SIBF 2022, which is held at the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) Convention Centre until December 11, from 10am to 10pm.
There are 295 exhibition booths open involving 13 international participants, including China, Singapore and Indonesia.
