University of Nottingham Malaysia

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Malachi Edwin Vethamani

Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

Malachi Edwin Vethamani (b. 8 July 1955) was born in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He had his early education at Methodist Boys' Primary School, Kuala Lumpur and continued at Methodist Boys' Secondary School, Kuala Lumpur. He did his Higher School Certificate at Vanto Academy, Petaling Jaya. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in English Literature, Diploma in Education (TESL), Master of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) from University of Malaya and a doctorate in Literature in English from the University of Nottingham, UK. Upon his retirement on 4th January, 2021, he was appointed Emeritus Professor by the university. He was Professor of Modern English Literature at the School of English, University of Nottingham from 2015 till his retirement. Prior to joining University of Nottingham, he was Professor and Founding Dean, School of Education, Taylor's University, (2011-2014), Professor and Founding Dean, School of Education, Languages and Communication , Wawasan Open University (2009-2011), and Associate Professor, Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia (1986-2009). He taught English Language at MARA Junior Science College, Pengkalan Chepa (1979-1982) and Jasin (1983-1986).

Expertise Summary

A Malaysian-born Indian poet, writer, editor, bibliographer, academic and critic. His areas of research include Malaysian Literature in English, New Literatures in English, Modern and Contemporary Literature, New Englishes, Malaysian English. His most recent publication is an edited volume of Malaysian poems, Malaysian Millennial Voices published in March 2021. He edited a volume of Malaysian short stories, Ronggeng-Ronggeng: Malaysian Short Stories which was published in 2020. He edited a volume of Malaysian poems entitled 'Malchin Testament: Malaysian Poems' (Maya Press, Kuala Lumpur: 2017) which covers a period of 60 years. In 2003, he edited a volume of poems for young adults entitled 'In-Sights: Malaysian Poems' (Maya Press, Kuala Lumpur). He published A Bibliography of Malaysian Literature in English (Maya Press, Kuala Lumpur) in 2015. This is the first bibliography to trace literary publications in English by Malaysians, from the 1950s to 2014.

As poet, he has published two volumes of poetry. His first collection Complicated Lives (Maya Press, Kuala Lumpur) was published in 2016 and his second volume of poems Life Happens was published in July 2017, (Maya Press). His first collection of short stories, Coitus Interruptus and Other Stories was published in January 2018. His stories have also been published in Queer Southeast Asia Literary Journal (2020), Creative Flight Literary Journal (2020), Business Mirror (2018), and Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts (2017). A theatrical adaptation of three of his stories from Coitus Interruptus and Other Stories were reworked as monologues and performed as 'Love Matters' by Playpen Performing Arts Trust in Mumbai in 2017 and 2018. His short story 'Best Man's Kiss was reworked into a short play for an event called 'Inqueerable' organized by Queer Ink in Mumbai on 8th September 2019 to celebrate the first anniversary of the Supreme Court of India overturning Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code which had made consensual homosexual sex illegal.

He has been conferred several awards and honours. He was bestowed the Special Excellence Award, Alumni Laureate Award 2020, by his alma mater, University of Nottingham and the Vice-Chancellor's Achievement Medal, University of Nottingham in 2019. In 2013, he won the Asian Education Leadership Award conferred by World Education Congress, Mumbai India and the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA) Special Award. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship (2000) and the Chevening Award, a three-year scholarship for doctoral studies at University of Nottingham (1993 to 1995). The Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA) has named an award, the MELTA-Malachi Edwin Creative Teacher Award in recognition of contributions made to English Language teaching. This Award is bestowed on three teachers during the annual MELTA International Conference.

Teaching Summary

I no longer teach full-time as I am retired. I occasionally give guest lectures.

Research Summary

My research interests are currently related to Malaysian Literature in English and Malaysian English.

Selected Publications

  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2017. Malchin Testament: Malaysian Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2017. Neighbours (6 poems) Anak Sastra. 27, 33-39
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2016. 'Complicated Lives'. Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2015. 'A Bibliography of Malaysian Literature in English'. Maya Press.

I'm the Founding Editor of this literary journal. The inaugural issue was published in December 2020.

Journal website address: Men Matters Online Journal.

  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI and LO TE-CHANG MIKE, eds., 2025. Hibiscus & Plum Blossoms: Contemporary Malaysian and Taiwanese Poems. A Bilingual translation edition Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2025. Contours of Him: Poems Hawakal Publishers Private Limited.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2024. Have I Got Something To Tell You: Stories by Malachi Edwin Vethamani Penguin Random House.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2024. Malaysian Places and Spaces: Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2024. My Palagaram and Your Kueh & Those Grand Womenfolk. In: MAY CHONG, JASON S GANESAN and WAN PHING LIM, eds., Tapau: The Best of Malaysian Food Writing 2000-2022 Malaysian Writers Society.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI and SHARON BAKAR, eds., 2023. A Chance Encounter at Sungai Chiling and Other Stories Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2023. The Gift of Silence. In: ANITHA DEVI PILLAI, ed., The Best Asian Short Stories Kitaab.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2023. The Claiming Game. In: DARYL LIM WEI JIE, ed., The Second Link: An Anthology of Malaysian & Singaporean Writing Marshall Cavendish.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2022. Love and Loss: Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2022. Rambutan Kisses: Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2022. The Seven O'Clock Tree: Poetry for Young Malaysian Readers Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2022. The Year of the Rat and Other Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2022. 3 Poems. In: The Best Asian Poetry 2021-22 Kitaab.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2022. The Desired One. In: The Big Book of Malaysian Horror Stories Fixi Novo.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2021. Malaysian Millennial Voices: Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2021. The Best Asian Short Stories 2021 Kitaab.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2020. Ronggeng-Ronggeng: Malaysian Short Stories Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2020. Lockdown Afternoon Rain (Poem) Creative Flight: An International Half-Yearly Open Access Journal. 1(1), 1-2
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2020. Lockdown Afternoon Rain. In: Unmasked: Reflections on Virus-time Heliconia Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2018. Coitus Interruptus and Other Stories First Edition. Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2017. Malchin Testament: Malaysian Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2017. Neighbours (6 poems) Anak Sastra. 27, 33-39
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2016. 'Complicated Lives'. Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2016. Loss SARE: South EastAsian Review of English. 53(1), 24-29
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2015. 'Mother Poems' An International Journal of Asian Literatures, Cultures and Englishes. 9(2), 265-273
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2015. 'A Bibliography of Malaysian Literature in English'. Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2014. ' 5 Poems'. In: GHULAM SARWAR YOUSUF, ed., Asian Centre Anthology of Malaysian Poetry in English. Partridge. 171-175
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2011. Teacher Education in Malaysia: Preparing and Training of English Language Teacher Educators The Journal of asia TEFL. 8(4), 85-110
  • CHEE SENG TEH and MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2010. Images of Masculinity in Selected English Literary Texts from Malaysia and Japan. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Linguistics, Literature and Culture. 287 -289
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2009. Selections of Asian Literature: Course Materials for LHl 221/05 Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2007. Developments in Teaching of Literature in English Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI and RAJANDARAN PERUMAL, eds., 2007. Teaching English in Malaysia Sasbadi Press, Malaysia.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2007. The Ebb and Flow of English Language Education in Malaysia. In: MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI and RAJANDARAN PERUMAL, eds., Teaching English in Malaysia Sasbadi Press, Malaysia. 1-10
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2006. K.S. Maniam: An Emerging Malaysian Writer of Young Adult Literary Texts?. In: WEI KEONG TOO, ed., Engaging Young Adult Readers through Young Adult Literature Sasbadi Press. 21-33
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2005. Towards a Literary Tradition: Malaysian Literature in English. In: GANAKUMARAN SUBRAMANIAM, ISMAZNIZAM J. AZYZE and SHAHIZAH ISMAIL HAMDAN, eds., Nationhood in Literature: Expressions of Realities Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. 1-20
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2004. Changing Tides: Teaching Literature in English in Malaysian Secondary Schools. In: MAYA KHEMLANI DAVID, ed., Teaching of English in Second and Foreign Language Settings: Focus on Malaysia Peter Lang.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, ed., 2003. In-Sights: Malaysian Poems Maya Press.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2002. Reading Malaysia through Minority Eyes. In: ROSLI TALIF and MOHAMMAD A. QUAYUM, eds., Diverse Voices 2: Selected Readings in Literature Department of English, Universiti Putra Malaysia. 69-85
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 2002. Language Choice and Language Variety in Characters' Utterances in the Novels of Lloyd Fernando and K.S. Maniam. In: MAYA KHEMLANI DAVID, ed., Methodological and Analytical Issues in Language Maintenance and Language Shifts Studies Peter Lang. 135-155
  • JOHN MCRAE and MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 1999. Now Read On: A Course in Multicultural Reading Routledge.
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 1996. Common Ground: Incorporating New Literatures in English. In: RONALD CARTER and JOHN MCRAE, eds., Language, Literature and the Learner: Creative Classroom Practice Longman. 204-216
  • MALACHI EDWIN VETHAMANI, 1994. Review of Shirley Lim's 'Nationalism and Literature'. In: C.Y. LOH and IKE ONG, eds., The Pen is Mightier than the Sword Skoob Books Publishing Ltd. 297-302

School of Humanities

University of Nottingham Malaysia
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