BooksActually

BooksActually

Type	Bookstore
Founded	2005
Founders	Kenny Leck, Karen Wai
Headquarters	Singapore, Singapore
Owner	Kenny Leck
Website	http://www.booksactually.com/

BooksActually is an independent bookstore located in Singapore's Tiong Bahru district.

History and description

BooksActually was established by Kenny Leck and Karen Wai in 2005 on the second floor of a shophouse along Telok Ayer Street with capital pooled from savings and family. The bookstore subsequently moved to Ann Siang Hill in 2007, and opened a second outlet at Club Street in 2008. Due to an increase in rent, they closed up Ann Siang Hill and moved from Club Street to Yong Siak Street in Tiong Bahru in 2011.^[1] BooksActually regularly hosts literary events including book launches and poetry readings, acoustic sessions, and mini exhibitions. In 2011, the bookstore organised the exhibition An Ode to Penguin held at The Arts House, that showcased over 1,000 Penguin Books from their private collection.^[2]

BooksActually is a regular organiser of pop-up stores at various retail locations around Singapore, such as Orchard Cineleisure, TANGS PlayLab, New Majestic Hotel, HOUSE @ Dempsey, and most recently Millenia Walk. It hosted the Monocle Seasonal Shop in Shop in 2013,^[3] and is the organiser of the annual Singapore Art Book Fair in Gillman Barracks.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

For three years, The Straits Times listed Kenny Leck, co-founder of BooksActually, as one of the top 20 Most Powerful People in the Arts in Singapore.^[9]

Math Paper Press

BooksActually runs a boutique publishing house, Math Paper Press, focusing on developing new literary voices in Singapore, and has published more than 90 titles since its inception in 2011.^[10][11] Math Paper Press also distributes books from independent presses like Giramondo (Australia) and design firms like Hjgher and Anonymous Pte Ltd, and recently expanded into publishing comics and graphic novels.^[12]

It has published award-winning authors such as Alvin Pang, Alfian Sa'at and Cyril Wong. In the 2016 Singapore Literature Prize shortlist, the press placed four of the six titles for the English Poetry category.^[13] The press co-won the 2014 Singapore Literature Prize in English Poetry for Joshua Ip's "sonnets from the singlish".^[14] Subsequently, the 2016 Singapore Literature Prize in English Poetry was shared between Cyril Wong's "The Lover's Inventory" and Desmond Kon's "I Didn't Know Mani Was A Conceptualist", both Math Paper Press titles.

It recently placed automated book vending machines at the National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Visitors Centre and Goodman Arts Centre as an alternative means of book distribution.^[15]

External links

• Official website

References

1. "BooksActually – A Local Bookstore That Thrives In A Digital World". Tech in Asia.
2. "The king of the book geeks - Read - Mobile - The Malay Mail Online". themalaymailonline.com.
3. "Monocle Opens Pop-up Store at Books Actually - BLOUIN ARTINFO". Artinfo.
4. Obscured. "Driving the Artistic Experience". obscured.sg.
5. DestinAsian Media Group. "First Annual Singapore Art Book Fair". DestinAsian.
6. "Singapore Art Book Fair returns to Gillman Barracks in November". Singapore.
7. "Singapore Art Book Fair Returns Next Month". TODAYonline.
8. "Singapore Art Book Fair 2014". Notabilia.
9. "Power players: 2013's Top 20 movers and shakers". The Straits Times.
10. "Math Paper Press". booksactually.com.
11. "How BooksActually Actually Makes Books". OpenBrief.
12. "BooksActually goes into comics". TODAYonline.
13. NBDCS. "Singapore Literature Prize | Awards | NBDCS". bookcouncil.sg. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
14. "S'pore Literature Prize 2014 winners announced". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
15. "Vending machines that sell books – the perfect solution for people too busy to visit a book shop?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-06-10.