Chia Chen Eng is a children’s literature enthusiast. Bing Bo, Taro Gomi and Cao Wenxuan are her favourite authors. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University Putra Malaysia and a Master of Linguistics from the University of Malaya. Currently she is a PhD candidate at the University Tunku Abdul Rahman. Chen Eng joined the Malaya Press group in 1999 and is now editorial manager for one of its subsidiaries—Big Tree Publications. She is mostly involved in editorial planning and is also conducting research on the history of Malaysian Chinese textbooks.
Chen Eng has attends numerous book fairs to buy and sell rights on behalf of her company. In 2018, she took part in Beijing International Book Fair, Bologna Book Fair, Taipei International Book Fair, Kuala Lumpur Trade & Copyright Centre and Seoul Business Book Fair.
She is a columnist for a local newspaper, and won several literary awards for prose and short fiction in both Malaysia and Singapore. She has also served as jury in school poetry readings.
Big Tree Publications Snd Bhd is a subsidiary of The Malaya Press Sdn. Bhd. Malaya Press was established in 1959 and its core business focuses on educational publishing for Chinese primary and secondary schools. It currently employs 70 people, among which more than 30 belong to the editorial and production departments.
The Malaya Press has been providing contents for the Malaysian Ministry of Education: Approximately 100 of their textbooks are currently in use in 1,300 Chinese primary schools around the country. The Malaya Press boasts a backlist of over 1,000 other titles that range from pre-school books to activity books, workbooks, exam guides, test papers and subject references. The company also produces wall charts, picture cards and flash cards, audiovisual contents and other teaching aids to complement classroom learning.
Malaya Press’ marketing team is actively connected to the Chinese primary school network all around Malaysia. With 300 retail accounts, it covers more than 70% of the market. In 2009, Malaya Press established Big Tree Publications Sdn Bhd—an imprint specialising in teenage and children reading materials—which producing a wide array of books for children from different age, including graphic books, comics, bridge books and novels in order to enhance the reading culture in our country.
The company has developed ongoing co-publishing programmes with China and Taiwan. To date, about 100 titles have been published, mostly school library titles and teacher reference material.
Visit www.malayapress.com for more information.
