BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

READING a lot is essential to every writer, and should be done at every oppportunity they can get, said the Brunei Southeast Asian Writers Award (SEA Write Award) recipient Hj Mohd Yusuf Hj Mohd Daud.

 Commonly known as Yusuf M D, Hj Mohd Yusuf received the annual SEA Write Award for his work entitled “Aku Tak Mahu Sekolah” (I Don’t Want To Go To School) poem collection published by the Language and Literature Bureau in 2012.

 “To students who want to become a writer, the first thing you need to do is to always read. When you have the time you read, because reading is like going to university. There is a saying ‘a book is a moving university’ because a book is written by a knowledgeable individual,” he said at the Brunei International Airport.

 He shared that he was happy to receive the award, but he was also surprised as he never intended to win awards or money.

 Yusuf M D has been writing since the 1950s and had his first collection of poems published in 1990 entitled “Burung Perutusan”, according to a statement by the Language and Literature Bureau (DBP).

Yusuf M D’s winning collection of poems was nominated due to its use of his own experience through means of a “storytelling” technique and the use of simple words that is easy to understand.

According to DBP, which is responsible for nominating the winner of the award from Brunei, the SEA Write Award is an annual award given out since 1979 as a recognition to poets and writers of the ASEAN region.

Yusuf M D was awarded on December 15th by the Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana of Thailand as a representative of the Crown Prince Maha Vajralongkorn in Bangkok, Thailand.

The award is given annually to one writer from Brunei, Phillipine, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with a total of 29 writers awarded from Brunei since the Sultanate joined in 1986.

 The Brunei Times