Faction Press

31/10/2024

Book time, fun time with on 26 & 27 Oct 🎉

Although we were only at the 10th on the 2nd and 3rd days, we met a TON of people who were curious about what we had to offer (Southeast Asian non-fiction! Wah!). Ourlearn more about 's Signals in the Noise, and 's Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves ✨ We felt so inspired by all these conversations about reading and storytelling in our region, and were really excited what's next for the press.

There's one reader we didn't get a snap of, but a big thank you to Gabriella who has been following us for awhile, came by to say hi, and bought a copy of Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves :) your support is very much appreciated!!

🚀 So what IS next for the press? Well our co-publication with – 's MALAYLAND – will officially belong to the world from 1 November! 🇲🇾 🌸🎉 Watch this space!

📸: Thank you to for some of these SABF photos of us out in the wild ✨

20/10/2024

Less than two weeks til MALAYLAND ✨⚡🇲🇾

With less than two weeks til the publication of 's Malayland (our co-publication with !), we thought it was fitting* to finally post about a discussion our publisher, Shu Wen, had with Dr Ann Ang, Dr Kathrina Daud and a group of students from 🇸🇬 and 🇧🇳 at NIE a couple of weeks ago!
(*As you can see, the primary picture above is that of everyone posing Infront of the cover art of Malayland; Shu Wen had proudly mentioned it to this small audience before it was officially announced soooo we had to keep this group picture on the DL for abit 🙃)

As part of a discussion for the module 'Literatures of Southeast Asia', Shu Wen got to talk about the differences between fiction and non-fiction, why Faction is focused on Southeast Asian non-fiction, what books she'd love to republish (if the copyright gods permit), and what kind of narrative/creative non-fiction she's interested in publishing in the latter half of the 2020s (how are we already reaching 2025?!)

A huge thank you to Dr Ang for this invitation to nerd out over books and publishing Southeast Asia!! It was really lovely to meet everyone and to spend a couple of hours in their company. (The next day, the entire group got to visit several bookshops the next day, including , and 🌞⚡aka truly a literary way to explore Singapore ✨)

28/09/2024

We're super pleased and grateful that has become our unofficial exclusive UK stockist!! Located in Brixton Village Market, Roundtable Books is an independent bookshop dedicated to curating inclusive stories for all readers 📚🔖

A Huge Thank You to of for introducing us to Roundtable Books, and for bringing three copies of 's Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves to the bookshop! The book is retailing at £12.99 ✨🌸🇵🇭⚡

(In fact, one copy was sold within days of the books' arrival at the shop so there are only two copies left 🥹 we hope that reader who bought the first copy enjoys Lio's stories!)

01/09/2024

Thank you Ex Libris Philippines for this profile on Lio Mangubat!

Author/podcaster/editor Lio Mangubat doesn’t make a habit of throwing things away, not old VHS tapes from his childhood, and certainly not the contents of his personal library.  There is…

01/09/2024

We had a blast yesterday celebrating the launch of Lio Mangubat's "Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves" at Everything's Fine bookshop in Makati City!!

(a longer appreciation post will be out soon)

adventure for the day — book launch and signing of Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves by Lio Mangubat, published by Faction Press. It was held at Everything’s Fine (which has the best selection of books in our opinion!)

Grab your copy while they still have stocks!

17/08/2024

📢 Calling all book & history lovers in Manila!! 📢

We're so excited to announce that we will (finally!) be launching 's Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves in Manila 🇵🇭🌞 at on Saturday (31 August)!!

Lio will be in conversation with the wonderful at 2-3pm and he'll be signing copies as well 🎉

We look forward to meeting our Manila-based readers :) Do swing by to hang out with us if you're in town then!

14/07/2024

We had such a fun time at the launch of 's"Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves" at yesterday!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who spent an hour with us talking about the moral importance of history, and why it is important for history narratives to be told and retold in different formats (podcasts! Essays!) for different generations. Lio's love for history could be felt throughout the room (infectious even!) ✨ We were heartened to meet readers in Singapore who asked very thoughtful questions about storytelling, the safeguards against sensationalism that Lio has when writing the scripts for his episodes for his wonderful history podcast (watch out for season 6 in the near future!! 📻), how Lio keeps local and international audiences in mind when writing, and how history is consumed in the Philippines.

It was also lovely for to meet , who was going to launch his book at Book Bar right after our launch 🌞

On to the next launch in Manila! 🇵🇭⚡

28/06/2024

Join podcaster and editor and Faction Press publisher Chye Shu Wen on Saturday (13 July 2024) at 2-3pm for a discussion of Mangubat's book, "Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946" 🇵🇭✨🗺️

Featuring 13 essays inspired by his podcast series , Mangubat spins tales of galleons, triads, fickle spirits, long-lost maps, and the secret history of otters. 🦦 Beyond revisiting days gone by, Mangubat also connects the threads of each story to the wider tapestry of world history — and how these can unspool even up to our current time.

🌞About the author🌞

is the creator of Philippine history podcast which features long-lost stories from the country's past under Spanish, British, American, and Japanese rule. He is currently editor in chief of publishing house Summit Books, and is based in Manila.

“Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves” is his first book with – an independent non-fiction micropress dedicated to bringing stories from Southeast Asia to the world 🌏🗺️

06/06/2024

We are very pleased to announce that "Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946" by has officially been published 🎉💫🇵🇭

In Singapore 🇸🇬, the book can be found at the at Ngee Ann City and !

In the Philippines 🇵🇭, we're working on getting the book stocked at indie bookshops such as and .tropiks (Hot Tropiks is also likely to be our main distributor for North America) by next month. Do follow this Instagram profile for the most up-to-date distribution news!

Last but not least, if you're looking to purchase a copy of the e-book version, it is now available on Kindle (US, UK), Apple Books, Google Play Store and Barnes and Noble ✨

27/05/2024

We're four days out from the publication of Lio Mangubat's "Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves" and we're thrilled with Asian Review of Books' review of the book:

"Mangubat links past and present, knows a good character when he sees one, and writes engagingly .... Short-story collections are often a prelude for something longer: perhaps Mangubat can be the one to write a Filipino history that resonates with a wider English-speaking public. 'Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves' is proof that there’s more than enough material."

https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/silk-silver-spices-slaves-lost-tales-from-the-philippine-colonial-period-1565-1946-by-lio-mangubat/

Pre-order your copy now:

Dive into lost tales from Philippine history with 'Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves'. Uncover hidden narratives that connect to the wider tapestry of world history.

13/05/2024

We're a tad late in celebrating World Book Day (Happy Belated World Book Day, everyone!), but we're so happy to hear that Liew Chin Tong I gifted Ooi Kee Beng's Signals in the Noise to Malaysia's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry on World Book Day (23 April)!

For customers/readers in Malaysia, the book is available at Gerakbudaya, Gerakbudaya Bookshop - Penang / Hikayat, Kinokuniya KLCC (Malaysia) and Shopee 🌞

For readers in Singapore, the book can be found at Neo Kinokuniya Singapore Main Store, Kinokuniya Singapore Webstore, Wardah Books and Book Bar.

You can also order directly from our webstore :) https://www.faction.press/product-page/penang-malaysia-ooi-kee-beng

11/05/2024

📣🪩 NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT 📣🪩

We are so pleased to reveal the cover art for our second publication, "Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946" by 🇵🇭 ⚓✨ it will be published by 31 May 2024!

Lio Mangubat is a writer, editor and brains behind a delightful independent history podcast called 📻 we first came across his podcast through 's last May, and a book idea was born.

One year on, the book has come to life! Select episodes of have inspired the book's 13 essays, which transverse across five centuries of Philippine colonial history. Lio spins tales of galleons, triads, fickle spirits, long-lost maps, and the secret history of otters. 🦦🗺️🐊

What we really love about all of Lio's essays is how they touch on histories of identity, belonging, community and nationhood – all of which are part of the wider tapestry of world history 🌏 We can't wait for you to read this passionate historian and masterful storyteller's essays 📣

We're working on getting this book stocked in a couple of bookshops in Singapore and the Philippines. You can also pre-order a copy of the book via the website (https://www.faction.press/product-page/silk-silver-spices-slaves-philippines-history), and we will also announce details on where you can get copies of the e-book in due course ⚡

Watch 👏🏼 this 👏🏼 space!!

📚 P.S: Please reach out via DMs or at [email protected] if you're interested in stocking and/or reviewing the book! 📚

07/02/2024

We are so pleased our author Ooi Kee Beng got to spend an hour with the BFM 89.9 Evening Edition/Inside Story crew to talk about his observations of Malaysian history, politics, culture, and where the country and it's people are headed 🇲🇾

Datuk Dr Ooi Kee Beng, executive director of the Penang Institute and author of "Signal in the Noise

30/12/2023

We had an amazing first year and we couldn't have done it without a little help from some friends (in the form of alot of sense checking and editorial help), and every single person who cheerled this micropress into existence (friends, family, booksellers across the region and other people we met at various media and publishing fairs — you know who you are!)

Happy New Year ✨🎊🎆 And watch this space for more Faction news (including details on our next publication in 2024)!

Our year in a two-minute summary (basically, a year of many firsts!).