KUALA LUMPUR – The art book fair has slowly but surely grown into one of the most exciting festival circuits to get on board, expanding out from the West to Asia. Representing the fervent spirit of independent creation and innovation amidst an increasingly uniform world, there is a fierce passion that accompanies every regional variant of the fair, regardless of the city it’s held in, and one will undoubtedly encounter writing and art that ranges from the hyper intelligent, to the ultra cute, to the off kilter.

In Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur Art Book Fair (KLABF) emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its first edition taking place in 2021 at the Godown Arts Centre at Lorong Ampang. Humble but already ambitious in its beginnings, the fair has since grown to become an annual event for the independent publishing community to look forward to, both in the region and beyond, attracting visitors from Malaysia and beyond to get a rare glimpse of the local and international creative print scene gathered in a single location, and potentially discover a new favourite indie publisher, artbook maker or artist.

In its current 2023 edition, its third, the KLABF has grown immensely from its 2022 edition, which saw 59 exhibitors showcasing their work. This time around, a total of 112 exhibitors were present, with 60 of them from Malaysia and the remaining 52 exhibitors from the region and beyond, including China, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, The Netherlands and USA. The festival has also moved out of its former location at the Godown, and instead took over the Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH).

Naturally, the main draw of the fair would be the sheer excitement that comes with discovering new exhibitors. New favourites include illustrator ke.ai.de.ke, with her dreamy illustrations full of lush nature and women who partake in it, while also launching her new book Somewhere In The Kuala. Similarly, shuiwong’s unique art style also caught our eye, with her quiet but vibrant observations of KL people.

Vietnamese studio Lộn Xộn from Cần Thơ operates a risograph studio, and provides fascinating print work that depicts life in the Mekong, alongside a fabulous 2024 calendar to put at your work desk. Right beside them is the tongue-in-cheek Ugly Malaysiana, capturing little idiosyncrasies of the Malaysian landscape through their zine.

And of course, as Singaporeans, we also kept an eye out for our own homegrown publishers, including book publishers In Plain Words with their selection of observational essay collections and more, and our perennial favourite – food essay writers The Slow Press, who also launched the 6th volume of their eponymous magazine.

Speaking of which, KLABF also provided space and schedule for various book launches taking place throughout the weekend, not only giving the publishers a chance to market their products, but also explain the creative process behind it. For The Slow Press, their latest issue was themed ‘Best Before’ and collects creative food-related essays dealing with expiration and sell-by dates. Running through the origin and idea behind the essays and design, we were fascinated by the sheer variety of responses they received, as well as the difficulty of hand-pasting and designing pop-up stickers on the cover, making each copy unique.

KLABF has also partnered with stationery brand Mossery Malaysia to produce 44 unique 2024 planners, with each cover designed by an exhibitor at KLABF 2023, all of which were available to purchase and further personalise with your name or other prints. Other activities also included riso-print workshops, where one could fully customise your own print using risograph-printing techniques.

In addition to an extensive range of art books, zines, magazines and limited-run imprints, right onstage itself, visitors could also explore a special art installation, in collaboration with Cahaya Create, G.F. Smith, and RJ Paper, that showcases a spectrum of multicoloured paper clouds representing hope, nostalgia and anticipation for the future.

This year’s edition was so popular, it even extended beyond the building to tie up with the nearby refurbished Zhongshan Building, now an arts and research hub which hosted satellite events such as the “Buku Tarik” exhibition, a mini-library featuring a collection of zines for visitors to browse, and the open studio by Malaysian Design Archive. If anything, it’s a maze of a building to explore, with plenty of quirky shops and studios hidden among the levels, waiting to be found.

“We’ve come a long way since the first edition, which saw just 30 exhibitors – it’s almost doubled each year, with 112 exhibitors compared to the 59 in 2022! The art books and independent publishing community has always been present, and are very close-knit, and we just want to do our part to help contribute to its success,” says KLABF creative director Driv Loo, of LIE Design, who has been directing the fair since 2021.

“We were very happy with the number of applications when we opened up, and we’ve seen very healthy ticket sales this year as well. Hopefully, we can continue working with both our current partners and new ones as well in the years to come, and see it get even bigger, provided we can find a venue that can help provide the space to accommodate them all.”

KLABF remains a humble affair, but its stature seems to only be growing in popularity year on year. Soon, even this new venue will no longer be big enough to hold both the exhibitors and visitors, and one hopes that the organising team continues to find success in securing strong venue sponsorship and partnerships that would allow the fair to expand even further and remain a mainstay in the busy event schedule for everyone to pen down in their calendars (perhaps a gorgeous risograph printed one or organiser one might even procure from the fair). There’s so much going on in its own beautiful chaos, and if you ever find yourself available oer the weekend of KLABF, do yourself a favour and make plans to head down, and surprise yourself with what you find.

KL Art Book Fair 2023 runs from 8th to 10th December 2023, at KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, 1, Jalan Maharajalela, Kampung Attap, 50150 Kuala Lumpur. Tickets available here and more information available here