KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): From a rural childhood in Perak to sailing the world, and now living in France’s glamorous Côte d’Azur, artist and sculptor Michel Anthony tells of his Baedeker existence, which has brought with it equal measures of heartbreak and triumph.

Cutting an arresting figure with his big grin, mop of salt-and-pepper curls, small but trim build and signature cravat — “it’s the Milanese style,” he says — the Bruas-born boy is as friendly and open as they come.

“I have been a full-time artist here since 1991. Yes, I have lived away from home for so long but I love it here in Nice. The people are kind and very open to foreigners. But, as with all cities, you need to know how to navigate yourself. And that is something time — or rather, the wisdom that comes with age and experience — teaches you.”

Tash Aw takes a fresh approach to writing the Asian epic with a quartet of books that will follow his characters over time. The South introduces a family falling apart, like the crumbling farm they inherited. “I think in the modern day, we appreciate time and history in a much more fragmented, fractured, episodic way,” Aw says. “I wanted to write an epic that reflected this, which means breaking it down into four different novels, written at intervals, that allow the characters to be radically different from each book. I think that is the way we are.”

Also in this issue, Datuk Yong Yoon Li, managing director of Royal Selangor and fourth-generation member of the founding family, tells us what to expect from the preeminent pewter brand’s 140th anniversary celebrations that kick off this week.

Read more in Options of the Feb 17 issue of The Edge Malaysia weekly.

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