Hours of Imagination

Editors
Susie Mathew Ain
Christine Ling

Cover & illustrations
Eleena Bakrie

Production
Christine Ling

Printer
Lee Ming Press, Kuching

This project was initiated by our high school teacher, Miss Susie Mathew Ain in 2010. She came into class one day and said, “What if we were to compile all our amazing short stories into a book?” and I was hooked. 

My best friend (Eleena Bakrie) and I immediately jumped on board and started gathering whatever stories and poems our fellow students wrote. We organised and held competitions for some of the entries, and slowly moved the stories that used to end up in our school magazine (which we were also involved with) into stories and poems for this book.

While Eleena handled all the art, I managed everything written. My role was in retyping whatever handwritten piece we received, and then editing itfor mistakes or continuity errors, sometimes even going back and forth with its author (and Miss Susie). I then formatted the stories and poems, and organised where each of them would go within the book, spending hours upon hours reading and rereading. Eleena and I were involved with its production from start to finish, accompanying Miss Susie to the printing press to ensure the quality of its release. We finally published our labour of love towards the end of 2011, after two gruelling but rewarding years.

We printed 500 copies and sold every one of them for RM10 each over the course of the next two years, with all the profits going back to the school and its English Society.