Robert Raymer
Named as one of the “50 Expats You Should Know” in Malaysia by Expatriate Lifestyle (January 2010), profiled in an upcoming edition of International Living, and featured on the talk show Kuppa Kopi (31 May 2010), Robert Raymer is an American writer and writing facilitator living in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Until recently, he has taught Creative Writing for 13 years in Malaysia (ten years at Universiti Sains Malaysia and three and a half years at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak).
His short stories and articles have been published nearly 500 times; they’ve appeared in The Literary Review, Thema, Descant, London Magazine, Off the Edge, Reader’s Digest and The Writer (his latest in their May 2010 issue). Lovers and Strangers Revisited (MPH 2008), a collection of 17 short stories set in Malaysia have been published 65 times in 10 countries, taught in several universities, and won the 2009 Popular-The Star Readers Choice Awards.
His most recent book, Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia (MPH 2009), is a collection of creative nonfiction about his experiences of living in Malaysia for over twenty years, including being an extra in three Hollywood films (Anna and the King, Paradise Road, Beyond Rangoon) and the French film, Indochine, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
One of his novels was a “short-listed finalist” in the 2009 Faulkner-Wisdom novel contest and another was “almost finalist” for their 2008 contest. He lives with his wife Jenny, (a Bidayuh from Sarawak) and their two children, Jason and Justin. He also has a son Zaini, featured in Tropical Affairs since he was a baby, but now studying in Kuala Lumpur.
His interviews and book reviews can be accessed from his website: http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com/
His blog on writing: http://borneoexpatwriter.blogspot.com/
His blog series on the short stories from Lovers and Strangers Revisited: http://thestorybehindthestoryoflsr.blogspot.com/
Books by Robert Raymer
Lovers and Strangers Revisited
Lovers and Strangers Revisited
Lovers and Strangers Revisited by MPH Publishing, us the winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Reader’s Choice Award. In this collection of 17 stories, Robert Raymer portrays the traditional in modernity, the unexpected in relationships both familiar and strange, the recurring theme of race even as contemporary Malaysia finds ways to understand its multicultural milieu.
In the title story, a selfish writer gets more than he bargained for when former lovers haunt him in more ways than one. In another story, a man’s loneliness turns into obsession when he shares a taxi ride with a Malay woman. A Clark Gable lookalike is a barrister wannabe with a shocking secret and gossipy neighbours reveal more about themselves than the man who commits suicide. Elsewhere, expats cross the border to Had Yai to experience a good bargain in the Thai flesh trade before going home to their wives in America.
In this republished edition of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, Raymer’s snapshots of scenes from various walks of life provide an insider-outsider view on love, family and culture, and urges a second look at ourselves in the mirror of self-awareness.
Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia
Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia
In Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat’s Life in Malaysia by MPH Publishing, Robert Raymer has had the pleasure of chasing after a mad woman who stuffed his letter down her blouse, being trapped by a monitor lizard inside his own house, and being frisked by three men wearing pincushions.
He’s had close encounters with several Emmy- and Oscar-winning directors and actresses, including Bruce Beresford, John Boorman, Glenn Close, Catherine Deneuve, and Jodie Foster. He’s been arm-twisted into playing Santa Claus, misled on a night hike, and stood up on Valentine’s Day! He’s held a live crocodile in his arms and survived two operations with two of his sons, who naturally got all the attention. He’s been an extra in five movie scenes, written four books, fathered three sons, taught at two universities, and has, on more than one occasion, been completely out of luck!
In Tropical Affairs, a collection of creative nonfiction, the author gives a lush, multi-layered rendition of the Malaysian way of life, colored and influenced by his own experiences living in Malaysia.
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Thanks for the write up!
You are welcome Robert. It is our pleasure to having your biography in our blog.