Tunku Halim

Tunku Halim bin Tunku Abdullah (born 1964) is a Malaysian novelist, short story, non-fiction writer and lawyer.

Fiction writing The award-winning author's fiction primarily falls within the dark fantasy, and horror genre. His novel Vermillion Eye was a study text at the National University of Singapore. By delving into Malay myth, legends and folklore his writing is regarded as "World Gothic". His novel, Last Breath, is seen as taking a step away from the genre into "a mixture of character drama, satire, alternate history and magic realism". His latest novel, A Malaysian Restaurant in London, is more conventional, being a paranormal love story. He has since written The Midnight Children, a trilogy for middle-grade readers.

He is a recipient of the Fellowship of Australian Writers' short story prize and a three-time winner of Malaysia's Popular-Star Readers' Choice Awards (2015-2017).

Non-fiction writing The author's recent works focus on Malaysian history for children. This includes History of Malaysia, A Children's Encyclopedia and A Children's History of Malaysia. His translated work Sejarah Malaysia - Ensiklopeida Kanak-kanak won the National Book Award (Anugerah Buku Negara) in 2017.

Education Tunku Halim went to school at St John's in Kuala Lumpur and later at Cheltenham College in the UK. He qualified as a barrister in the United Kingdom after having obtained his law degree He has been called to the bar in the High Court of Malaya and as a solicitor in New South Wales. He holds a Master of Science degree in Shipping, Trade and Finance (Distinction) from the City University Business School in London.

Career

He practised corporate and conveyancing law at Shearn Delamore in Kuala Lumpur before working for Merit Management Sdn Bhd, the property developer responsible for Tiara Damansara in section 17, Petaling Jaya. He later moved to Sydney and took up a position as Legal Counsel to Oracle Corporation Australia. After a decade in Sydney, he relocated to Hobart, Tasmania where he self-published his encyclopedia. He currently lives in Malaysia. His mid-career retrospective collection of short stories entitled Horror Stories sold 32,000 copies became "the best-selling Malaysian English fiction books of all time". The 25th anniversary edition of his second novel, Vermillion Eye, was recently published.