Budding Literary Community in Nature: A Saturday Morning with Kuala Lumpur Reads

One step into the grounds of Perdana Botanical Gardens, Kuala Lumpur felt like a step into Narnia in spring, with luscious greens stretched across miles, swaying to the gentle morning breeze. The soft morning glow bounced off their leaves, adding a magical touch to the Kuala Lumpur Reads’ Saturday meet-up. By the time we arrived at 8.30 a.m., there were already several people leaning against the trees, reading their books in silence. We tracked our way across the crowds with caution, trying to reduce the noise and disruption caused along the way. In the end, we settled around a moss-less tree, where we would spend the next hours reading in silence like the surrounding participants, equipped with light snacks that we brought for the session. 

It was as though the whole park was enchanted by a reading spell–participants present at the scene, together with others who came later, were engaged in their reading for two hours, switching positions from time to time. This mode of event continued until a middle-aged man in an army green shirt sneaked quietly amongst the participants to take some pictures. You can imagine him as an elf collecting valuable coins, but in this case, capturing proof of the existence of Kuala Lumpur Reads community in pictures. This quest took him about half an hour just to capture the whole area of people from all walks of life. Even the four of us representing Charisma Movement were captured! 

Soon, we observed a crowd forming at a close distance. Out of curiosity, we went together in that direction to see what was happening.

Lo and behold, stacks of books came into view, lined in a row on a picnic mat and placed in front of a stump of stone. Crowds of people started handing out books to the man who carefully and gently placed them on top of one another, forming multiple stacks. On the stump of stone, two custom made wooden chops and an ink board were placed to allow anyone to make a stamp for the morning’s event, a visual proof in ink that it happened and that one is now part of the community. According to the co-founders, the chop was made by a foreigner who travels around the world making custom stamps, and she just happened to be part of Kuala Lumpur Reads to create the chop for them!

After all the books were collected and no responses were made to the sweating man’s shouts of “No more books? No more books?”, everyone gathered behind the collection of reading materials, and the co-founders took a picture to commemorate the day. 

If you look at their Instagram profile, you will be surprised to see how fast the movement is growing, with the crowd size increasing and the stack of books miniaturising with each new group photo on their feed posts. 

As both the co-founders looked exhausted from all the work, we were hesitant about whether to approach them for a quick interview, but in the end we decided to give it a shot. Both of them prefer to remain anonymous because to them, Kuala Lumpur Reads is a community movement by the community, for the community, so the community itself should be put at the forefront instead of both of them in the spotlight. Hence, we respected their choice and had a quick chat with them without any formal interviews. 

During our chat, they mentioned that this movement started in India and is quite widespread at places like Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru, specifically in Cubbon Park. They were able to participate in the movement and decided to bring this beneficial event back to the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur Reads didn’t gain much traction at first. It wasn’t until a few media outlets started sharing their stories and a TikTok went viral that Kuala Lumpur Reads became known, with the co-founders’ efforts acknowledged. More people started coming to the Saturday meet-ups because of the reel, and the picture-taking session went from 5 minutes to 30 minutes–sometimes even more than that.

This movement is not just happening in Kuala Lumpur, but other parts of Malaysia as well, with more readers deciding to build a reading community in their area. Introverts like us will find such an event, where like-minded individuals gather without conversing with one another in a peaceful and calm location like the park, to be ideal for a Saturday morning. 

If you're a reader on the lookout for a silent reading initiative focused solely on reading, look for or start a reading community in your area, and follow Kuala Lumpur Reads page to read their guidelines.

For the four of us from Charisma Movement, we certainly enjoyed our time there and are eager to return in the near future!

By,

Phi Yi Xian,

Journalist, Charisma Movement 24/25.

About Author

Phi is an electrical engineering student passionate about sustainability, innovation, and volunteering to drive impactful environmental and community initiatives.