COMMENT | A few days ago, I watched a 13-year-old girl emcee a book launch at Tropicana Gardens Mall, Petaling Jaya. Full of confidence, Keerthanaa Surendran stood in front of a crowd consisting of some 100 people and introduced a book she wrote with 19 other young writers.

The book titled “Secret & Lies” was produced under The Junior Writers Programme and is the brainchild of editor Brigitte Rozario. Every year since 2018, Brigitte has been providing Malaysian youngsters with the tools and knowledge to write stories, empowering them throughout the seven months of the programme.

During the launch, I was impressed to watch the young writers introduce their book and the programme, conduct interviews among themselves, take part in the reading session and ultimately manage the Q&A session. Beyond a doubt, the writing programme has enriched them with many valuable skills.

Similarly, last month I attended a music concert initiated by a group of teenagers at Drum Asia, Kuala Lumpur...