13/06/2026
This deserves a post.
In 2023, Ungu Pen had a booth for the very first time at KLIBF. As a first time exhibitor, we were excited, nervous and wondering who would come by our booth tucked in a quiet international hall with mostly academic publishers. Then, these two ladies came (pic 2, 3 and 4, KLIBF2023).
As I let them take their time to browse through our books, I later chatted with them. One of them was a student studying children's literature in Germany and the other, her supportive friend. We had a lot to talk about children's lit and she left with 3 of our books.
Fast forward to AFCC this year, I met a lady who told me she had visited my booth in 2023. I couldn't recall as I had met so many people then. But when she mentioned that she had studied children's literature, it jolted my memory---and I had to dig up the photos. Oh what a small world!
She had also done a residency at the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany where I had the pleasure of meeting Lucia Obi, a language specialist at IYL at the Frankfurt Book Fairs. They were all at AFCC. (Pic 5, AFCC2026)
That student is now Dr Alya, a lecturer in English and Children's literature at UPSI, Perak. And she was our very first visitor and very first customer at KLIBf 2023.
Alya, as she would prefer I call her came by our booth at KLIBF this year on the last day near packing time. She has more money now to buy more children's books (😄 compared to 2023) but we also gave her some of our books to be donated to UPSI library. (Pic 1 & 6, KLIBF2026)
What a marvellous journey for both of us this has been! 💜💜💜
