Ubud Writers & Readers Festival: A Star-Studded Event

For the original article, click here: garuda magazine

October means authors for me these days. Until mid-October I cannot think of anything but the Ubud Writer & Readers Festival that orbits around this time and after it finishes I am already thinking about the following year's event. So I guess if you do your mathematics, it adds up to pretty well every month of the year. No wonder I am tired! Sigh! But the event has become a drug for me, an addictive substance of the literary kind that flows through my veins, day and night. I can't give it up.

Each festival brings new surprises and this year is no exception. Alongside leading names such as Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Vikas Swarup of Q&A meets Slumdog Millionaire fame, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Fatima Bhutto niece of the late Benazir Bhutto, Hari Kunzru, Lloyd Jones and Sonya Hartnett are a whole host of young, emerging artists who are no less inspiring or talented. Here are some of the best……

This year we are thrilled to have our first Italian artist appearing: the young charismatic playwright director and actor Marco Calvani. He has achieved great success in Europe and one of his more recent plays, Strong Hands, based on a sensational crime that fascinated and appalled the Italian nation and performed by Calvani himself, has been hailed as “….one of the most important works of our contemporary theatre today”. His work has been translated into many other languages and performed from Berlin to London and Barcelona to Warsaw. This year, an English translation of his latest work by Bing Taylor, The City Beneath (La Citta Sotto), was performed to packed houses in New York. The festival will be including a number of play readings at the Yoga Barn featuring a star-studded cast from Indonesia and Australia, including a reading from Marco's play, The City Beneath, with the enigmatic Marco directing the reading.

Marco is clearly someone to keep an eye on, which between you and me, isn't a difficult ask by any means! And if you would like an even more up close and personal experience of Marco, you can join his full day workshop during the festival that will take you on a whirlwind tour through the art of playwriting.

Another impressive voice in this year's line up is Jeet Thayil. Born in Kerala, Jeet Thayil is a performance poet, songwriter, musician and author of four books. He has been described as “a master of the knockout lyric punchline” and is considered somewhat of a literary rock star. He has performed at venues from India to the UK and with rock bands in NYC and the strength of his writing is his ability to balance musical cadence with the spoken voice, between lyric power and intellectual rigour.

Thayil's poetry takes us on a walk on the wild side between “the thick sweet amaze of heroin”, to the places “between the spirit and the flesh” or to the spaces “between thought and its correct articulation.” As journalist Stephen Atkinson states, “he narrates a trail to the heart of the post-colony, and all who listen will want to follow.”

Award-winning Turkish poet and former journalist and lawyer Bejan Matur joins us this year from the land of one of my favourite cusines! Bejan Matur was raised with the Kurdish language and “deals with the murmurs of lost words and the memory traces of places well distant from the epicentres of international publishing”. Her poetry has been described as speaking from “a loneliness one encounters when thinking in poetic time, outside modern experience; it intones a lament for what is lost, to the rhythm of a lost language. Her imagination has the colours of rural life in the Kurdish regions of south eastern Turkey.” She is not to be missed.

Pedro Angel Palou Garcia is another writer who will certainly add chilli-hot flavour and romance to the festival. Mexican-born, he is a man of many professions, many talents. As a former chef he will be adding culinary expertise to our Chefs of Prose and Poetry event at Casa Luna. He is also a former politician, soccer referee and television broadcaster. Who knows what he does in his spare time! He is guaranteed to charm and will offer festival goers ‘a tantalising window onto vast literary territories as yet inaccessible to readers outside the Spanish-speaking world.'

Melbourne-based Tom Cho is the author of the witty and rather irreverent fiction collection Look Who's Morphing. Considered one of the most wildly original books published in Australia this year, Look Who's Morphing explores the role of fantasy in creating identity by way of TV personalities and trashy cultural forms. Tom also has a penchant for Karaoke and will be starring on our special Karaoke for authors evening.

Winner of last year's National Poetry Slam in Australia, Omar Musa is set to explode on the stage at the annual Ubud Writers & Readers Festival slam at Casa Pasta, Dirty Duck's sister venue. This is one of the festivals most popular events where anything goes and anyone can join in.

Another emerging star to watch out for is Esha Tegar Putra from West Sumatra. His poetry, prose, essays and cultural articles have been published in many Indonesian newspapers and journals. Young and fearless, he is said to be one of the archipelago's hottest and most promising voices.

Hailing from Bali, the dynamic and charismatic Cok Sawitri is known through her poetry, short stories, plays and novels. Gender and spirituality issues are an ongoing theme in her work and she is one of Bali's most outspoken and creative forces. Cok Sawitri will join the line up of stars in this year's play readings.

And speaking of outspoken, don't miss Degung Santikarma, well-known Balinese human rights activist, journalist and slightly eccentric anthropologist in-conversation with Sam Cutler, former road manager of the Rolling Stones and Jerinx, drummer of Balinese punk rock band Superman Is Dead, at the Hard Rock Café in Kuta. Be prepared for a wildly entertaining night that delves into the mystique of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

But wait there's more. The festival this year will launch its new and exciting Borobudur program that will follow the Ubud event. Generously supported by PT. Taman Wisata Candi, a star-studded line up of award-wining authors and novelists will appear under the stars at Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist monument, in a night of magical readings and poetry performances. I can only imagine this addition to the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival will gather momentum and become one of Indonesia's must-see events.

Many of our international writers have been kindly funded by various embassies and funding bodies and without their support, the festival would not run. It's as simple as that. The support of Hivos, a Dutch cultural foundation, is helping make our dreams come true by providing much-needed funds to strengthen our Indonesian program and thus offering more potential to local writers. Bravo!

Another passionate supporter of our event is our beloved Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer and his lovely wife Elaine. It is their ongoing assistance and belief in our event that means so much to all of us. And we always welcome their vocal contributions too. Their combined singing and writing song prowess turns any gathering into an unforgettable occasion!

And maybe by the time you read this, the sixth Ubud Writers & Readers Festival will have drawn to a close and I will be lying by the sea under a fancy umbrella, sipping margaritas and lazily dreaming of the 2010 event.

Thanks, Stephen Atkinson, for your help!

Janet DeNeefe is the owner of Casa Luna and Indus restaurants, author of Fragrant Rice, and creator of the Ubud Readers & Writers Festival. She also runs the Casa Luna Cooking School.