Ruhaini Matdarin | |
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Native name | روح عيني مت دارين |
Born | Ruhaini Matdarin March 16, 1981 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia |
Occupation | Freelance auditor, short-story, poetry and novel writer |
Language | Malay |
Nationality | Malaysian |
Citizenship | Malaysia |
Alma mater | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
Years active | since 2005 |
Notable awards | Hadiah Sastera Perdana 2017/2018, Sabah Literature Prize (2006/2007, 2008/2009, 2010/2011, 2012/2013, 2014/2015, 2016/2017); Literary Prize of the Utusan Group (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014); Winner of the best book competition of the Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books, National Union of Writers of Malaysia and “Berita Harian” (2014). |
Ruhaini Matdarin (born 16. 3. 1981, Kota Kinabalu) is a Malaysian writer from Sabah.
She is Kadazan by nationality. The eldest of three children in the family. In 2003, she graduated from the Faculty of Finance Management of the University of Science of Malaysia in Penang. She used to work as an auditor in a number of companies. Since 2016, she has become a freelancer in order to have free time for writing and run her business. Life member of the Writers' Union of Malaysia.[1]
She began writing as a student of Sabah College in 2000. She promptly burst into the world of literature. Debuting in 2007 with the novel “The Self-Right Girl”, she published over 30 books during the next ten years, including novels and collections of short stories, as well as literary processed Sabah fairy tales.[2] At the same time, many of her works were awarded prestigious awards, including the Sabah Literary Award which she got many times.[3] It seems that the virtue of her books is in her capability to describe what is happening nowadays in Malaysia with humor, and sometimes with undisguised satire, resorting to the paradox as an artistic mean, changing the usual perception of life. She emerged as an important name in the transition era literature in Malaysia and one of the best novelist in Malaysia. Some of her short stories are translated into Russian by Victor A. Pogadaev.[4]