BTB – October now marks the month in Bali that is destined to become known around the world for one of South-East Asia’s greatest literary events. The Ubud writers & readers festival has all the trimmings of a world-class writers festival and is well on its way to becoming an equivalent of a FLIP – the celebrated Brazilian Literary Festival, in our own sumptuous backyard.
This year, the Ubud writers & readers festival promises to charm you once more with four days of literary excitement in one of the world’s most magical settings. Sit back and enjoy inspiring discussions, conversations, readings and lunches overlooking a never-ending view of rice fields and coconut trees with readers and writers from all corners of the globe.
The theme Desa-Kala-Patra:Time-Place-Identity will address the ties that bind us to place, ancestry and identity in modern times. Selected from the 2005 festival, these are the issues that writers from all over the world repeatedly discussed. Desa-Kala-Patra is part of a basic life principle for the Balinese people.
This year, the Ubud writers& readers festival will bring a more diverse group of authors to our shores as we celebrate writers from Asia and beyond. In an effort to embrace our Pacific neighbours, we will be including a line-up from Fiji to New Zealand, presenting dynamic poets and performers from this part of the world.
Award-winning Sri Lankan writers will share their stories alongside Indonesian and Australian writers in a cross-cultural cocktail of unforgettable exchanges. This year we are also proud to showcase the brave new voices of Iran, with a line-up of dynamic women writers who are breaking grounds by dealing with social issues and cultural identity. And once again, Indian writers will steal the show with their stylish sarees and charm, in a series of vibrant discussions about love, life, food and literature.
Of course, some old favourites will return, due to popular demand, but there will be plenty of new faces brimming with new ideas and enthusiasm for our theme. Days of discussion will drift into nights of dazzling, and often hilarious entertainment as we offer you the best of Balinese hospitality. Literary lunches in Ubud’s elegant hotels will, once again, run alongside a stimulating series of how-to workshops.
