Feel like SEA Write is a little too out of your league? Thanks to the countless other badges of honour that acknowledge good writing available in our country, the prestigious SEA Write Award is not the only ticket to literary stardom. 7 Book Awards, an initiative that started between CP All Public Company Limited and the Ministry of Education, has been honouring outstanding literature since 2004. This year's awards ceremony will be taking place later this month.
Started with the hope to encourage writers to create quality works and to seek new talent, Suwit Kingkaew, senior vice-president of General Management at CP ALL, says: "Back in the day, we always asked why writers don't create quality work. They've answered that good literature is not something read by the masses and it discourages them to write that kind of stuff. I'm sure everyone has heard of the term nak kian sai haeng (dry-gutted writers) for a long time too. Lots of people who write good literature are not rich and must take up other jobs. This award was created to attract professional writers to create more work."
Prof Ruenruthai Sujjapun.
7 Book Awards is indeed an enticing competition, as it is inclusive to all sorts of content that can be made into books. Types of work that are accepted include poetry, fiction, graphic novels, short story compilations, literature for teens, documentaries and work specifically written by teens. The winner from each category takes the grand prize of 100,000 baht, but there are also runner-up prizes of 50,000 baht, 30,000 baht for the second runners-up and prizes ranging from 5,000-15,000 baht for young writers. Clearly, there are many targets to aim for, while prestigious bastions like the SEA Write award offers less chances.
This book award by 7-Eleven is slowly gaining more popularity each year, but noticeable spurts can be traced back to the SEA Write.
Prof Ruenruthai Sujjapun, one of the judges of the panel and also a lecturer at Ramkamhaeng University, says: "Whichever category is on in the SEA Write that year will also see more works from that category coming to all other book awards too."
Suwit Kingkaew.
As the judge responsible for reading the fiction works, Prof Ruenruthai Sujjapun noticed significant developments in the crime/mystery genres this year. "Not too many Thai writers have ever written in this genre, possibly because of the complicated details it entails," she says. "However, a lot of people have sent in this genre as of late, perhaps because of the influence of Korean and Japanese detective dramas and the available translated mystery novels." Most importantly, she adds: "What's extremely interesting is that writers have really done their homework too. They put in a lot of research and don't just imagine things anymore, which is a great development."
Another trend she notices is the a mixture of genres within one piece of work. "Now we're getting works that include cyber, horror and mystery or even history, time travel and romance across the borders. It's very contemporary and strongly differs from works in the past that stuck clearly to one genre only."
They say writers are travellers, ones who venture the world and capture moments of humanity in their writing. Although writing from the newer generation is largely inspired by second-hand experiences and Google, Ruenruthai comments how it still has its own merit. "Many new-gen writers are just imagining stuff alone. Still, there are well-imagined fantasy works that I have seen too.
"Online writers are advancing into these award spaces and make up to 50% of the works sent in. These are the people who are going to shape the future of publishing, because they already have their own fans prior to getting published. However, they may lack the skills writers from the previous generation may have had, due to not having editors and advisers that help them grow and develop."
As the Pan Wan Fah award, a stage that solely accepts political literature, already folded a few years ago, Ruenruthai anticipates that a flood of literature about politics will come in after a new election has taken place. "Lots of people are holding it in now and some have already written it, but have not launched it yet." Alongside politics, a common theme that continuously appears is nostalgia. "There are a group of writers who have lived through the changes of the times and yearn for an older way of life. They yearn for simplicity, peace and not having to compete all the time because the past is nothing like now."
Prof Kirti Bunchua.
More works we can look forward to in the future are documentaries. Just to be clear, this does not include educational textbooks and research theses. Up to 93 works have been sent into the documentary category this year, rendering it the one with the highest entries.
As a professor who used to teach philosophy at Chulalongkorn University, Prof Kirti Bunchua is one of the judges that predicts a future boom in the documentary category. "People of today spend so much time commuting and are stuck on sky trains for long rides," he observes. "They pass the time by reading, but a growing number want to actually learn something too while they do. They don't just want to read mindless romps so the popularity of documentaries is rising."
The growth of both readers and writers of documentaries is a great sign that a thirst for knowledge in our country does exist. However, it must be increasingly reader-friendly in order to attract the masses, according to Kirti. "From what I've noticed, people don't want just letters, they also want pictures. They don't like photographs either, but want graphics or cartoons. A lot of entries we have received have so many cartoons that we may have to start a new category for graphic documentaries. Cartoons and documentaries are definitely going to be a trend in the future."
With his own past of writing educational content for the comic strips by Tuay Toon, the professor has first-hand experience himself in the importance of language. "They wanted me to write with them a cartoon that would be educational, but using every day slang and cartoon language such as eiei [a sort of ironic laugh] and keke [tee hee], no one is going to read it if it is written in formal language. They don't care if the book isn't going to be approved by the Royal Society or not."
He adds: "Language is an instrument, not a law that forces everyone to use it in a certain way. Khun Phaen was initially written with gu and mueng— but today there's eiei and keke and we have to change with the times and accept it as the language of today."
Visit www.cpall.co.th for more information about the 7 Book Awards.
