Siti Zainon Ismail

Biography

The future poet spent her childhood in Kota Bharu, in the state of Kelantan, where she learned to paint on cloth in the batik technique. She began primary school in Setapak, in Kuala Lumpur (1956–1957), then from 1957 to 1961 attended Sekolah Rendah Langgar in Kota Bharu. She finished Aminuddin Baki secondary school in Kuala Lumpur in 1967. Her drawing teacher was Idris Haji Salam; in the mid-1960s she joined the literary association Angkatan Penulis Semenanjung. From 1970 to 1973 she studied painting at the Indonesian Fine Arts Academy (ASRI) in Yogyakarta. Indonesia remained an important place for her: she later exhibited and read her poetry there repeatedly between 1983 and 1998. After returning to Malaysia, Siti Zainon worked at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (1974–1976). She gave drawing lessons to children, first at Taman Budaya and then at the Pasar Seni market in Kuala Lumpur. From 1976 she taught at the National University of Malaysia. There she received a master’s degree in literature in 1980, and in 1992 she defended her doctoral dissertation at the University of Malaya. In 2005–2007 she was a professor at the National University, and later became a consultant to the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture.

Her books fall into three groups. The first is poetry, often with her own sketches: “Nyanyian malam” (Night Songs, 1976), “Bunga-bunga bulan” (Flowers of the Moon, 1992), “Langit di tangan” (The Sky in the Hands, 1995), “Taman-taman Kejadian” (Gardens of Creation, 1996). The second is short stories: “Seri Padma” (The Lotus, 1984), “Bunga putik putih” (The Flower with a White Pistil, 1991), “Attar dari Lembah Mawar” (Attar from the Valley of Roses, 1988). The third is scholarship: “Busana Melayu Johor” (Malay Dress of Johor, 1997), “Tekstil tenunan Melayu” (Malay Woven Textiles, 1997), “Rekabentuk Kraftangan Melayu Tradisi” (The Design of Traditional Malay Handicrafts, 1986). That is why it is hard to assign her to a single profession: a book on weaving stands beside a collection of poems, and I think it reflects a single interest in how object, word and drawing are connected in the Malay tradition.

Her best-known work of prose is the novel “Pulau Renik Ungu” (The Island of the Purple Crocus, 1995). It mixes historical novel, travel writing, detective story and love story. The heroine, Zaidah, a Malaysian university lecturer, travels the world for her doctoral research and tries to find out what her father did during the war in Borneo. The book is partly autobiographical. Her poems were translated into English by Harry Aveling as “The Moon is a Candle”.

She read her poetry and showed her paintings in the Philippines (1976), India (1985), Berlin (1985, 2000), Korea (1986), Thailand (1986, 1989, 1990), France (1986), England (1986, 1990, 1992), Singapore (1990, 1995), Australia (1993) and Russia (2003). In all she held 11 solo exhibitions and took part in 25 group shows.

The Malaysian Literary Prize for poetry was awarded to her six times: in 1975, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1985 and 1991. In 1989 she received the Southeast Asia Write Award, a regional literary prize, in 1996 the title of honorary professor of Universitas Jabal Ghafur in Indonesia, and in 2013 the Malaysian Grand Literary Prize. In 2019 she was named a National Laureate of Malaysia.