Ubud Writers & Readers Festival

To celebrate the birthday of female Indonesian heroine, Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879-1904), who fought for gender equality and the right to education for all, our #UWRF22 Highlight Session will bring you a panel discussion on Women in Fiction.

Women throughout history, and even now, face discrimination in the literary world. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, writing as a profession was primarily considered unsuitable for women. Many women wrote under male pseudonyms, such as George Eliot, whose real name was Mary Ann Evans. Today, the number of women publishing fiction in the Western world has increased. This poses many questions, such as: do women still have to deal with social barriers in writing careers? What about women of colour pursuing writing careers? Do they face unique challenges because of their race?

Listen to journalist Annika Blau, Indonesian author Ramayda Akmal, novelist Diana Reid, and author Kirstin Chen discuss these issues and questions.

It is no secret that politicians wield disinformation as a political tool, to drive people apart and control them. For example, the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar was partly incited by Facebook posts. There were even conspiracy theorists who denied that the COVID-19 pandemic existed, which led to people disregarding masks, among other things. Online disinformation seems to influence peoples' public and private views on a range of issues, from politics, public health, the environment, and religion. Join Indonesian-Australian journalist, Tito Ambyo, The Conversation Indonesia Publisher and CEO, Prodita Sabarini, Lowy Institute Researcher, Lydia Khalil, and Human Rights Watch Indonesia Researcher. Andreas Harsono, tackle this issue comprehensively in conversation.

Enjoy another one of our #UWRF22 highlight episode sessions with one of the finest Southeast Asian correspondents and private diplomats of our time, Michael Vatikiotis. In a conversation moderated by Janet Steele, Vatikiotis will talk about his new book, Lives Between the Lines: A Journey In Search of the Lost Levant. It's a fascinating memoir, detailing the author’s Greek and Italian forebears who lived in Egypt and Palestine, respectively, that spans from the mid-1800s to the end of the Second World War in 1945—which has many echoes and lessons for today. The Middle East is understood today as a place of endless conflict. But back then, it was a bastion of tolerance and pluralism. This book highlights how European colonial projects shattered that peaceful coexistence once and for all. -- Nikmatilah suguhan highlight episode #UWRF22 terbaru kami bersama salah satu koresponden Asia Tenggara dan juru runding terbaik pada saat ini, Michael Vatikiotis. Dalam percakapan yang dipandu oleh Janet Steele, Vatikiotis akan berbicara mengenai buku terbarunya, Lives Between the Lines: A Journey in Search of the Lost Levant. Sebuah memoir yang menarik, mengisahkan kakek-nenek dan orangtua si penulis, keturunan Yunani dan Italia, yang tinggal di Mesir dan Palestina, sejak pertengahan abad ke-19 hingga akhir Perang Dunia Kedua di 1945 – kisah yang masih membawa resonansi dan pelajaran untuk masa kini. Saat ini, wilayah Timur Tengah dipersepsikan sebagai wilayah konflik tak berkesudahan. Namun pada saat itu, wilayah ini pernah menjadi benteng toleransi dan pluralisme. Buku ini menekankan tentang peranan proyek kolonial Eropa dalam menghancurkan perdamaian tersebut. Listen to the full episode of #UWRF22 on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or watch them on YouTube: https://bit.ly/UWRF22HighlightsPlaylist Stay in touch with us! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ubudwritersfest/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ubudwritersfest Twitter: https://twitter.com/ubudwritersfest TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ubudwritersfest Visit our website: https://www.ubudwritersfestival.com Join our newsletter: https://www.ubudwritersfestival.com/subscribe/

Today, Indonesia celebrates its National Film Day.  On March 30, 1950, legendary Indonesian filmmaker Usmar Ismail directed the country’s first full-length feature film produced by a national company. To mark this special occasion, this week’s #UWRF22 Highlight Session will bring you our Main Program discussion called “From Book to Screen”.

Adapting a book into screen can be a delicate process. Authors might take too much control in the process, and fans might be disappointed by the screen adaptation’s end result. Listen to US-based Singaporean novelist, Kirstin Chen, as well as Indonesian writer, Ahmad Fuadi, and film director, Kamila Andini, as they discuss this issue with interviewer Julia Winterflood. Both Chen and Fuadi have had their books adapted into a TV series and a film respectively, whilst Andini has directed a screen adaptation of a novel.

Listen to the full episode of #UWRF22 on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or watch them on YouTube: https://bit.ly/UWRF22HighlightsPlaylist Stay in touch with us! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ubudwritersfest/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ubudwritersfest Twitter: https://twitter.com/ubudwritersfest TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ubudwritersfest Visit our website: https://www.ubudwritersfestival.com Join our newsletter: https://www.ubudwritersfestival.com/subscribe/

In this week’s #UWRF22 Highlight Sessions episode, indulge yourself in an emotional journey alongside three international female poets who share their stories about their creative lives with a celebrated Balinese poet. In the conversation is the female Balinese poet, Kadek Sonia Piscayanti, with Venilla Rajaguru from India, Afra Atiq from the United Arab Emirates, and Bejan Matur from Turkey. They explore the power of emotions, as well as how they’ve transmuted their personal life’s pains and pleasures into creativity.

UWRF 2022 is back, as we replay highlight sessions from the festival.

Speculative fiction immerses us in a vision of the world that could become true from a plethora of latent possibilities. Speculative fiction uses storytelling as a tool to educate and influence people's perspectives by creating a world that expands on contemporary society. Renowned authors Laura Jean McKay, Norman Erikson Pasaribu and Sequoia Nagamatsu will speak to the power of speculative fiction to pose the question: what if?

Tune in to the latest episode of #UWRF22Highlights here;

YouTube: bit.ly/YouTubeSpeculativeFiction

Spotify: bit.ly/SpotifySpeculativeFiction

Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/ApplePodcastsSpeculativeFiction

Web: bit.ly/UWRF22FestivalHighlights

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Episode dari pemutaran kembali sesi #UWRF22 minggu ini berfokus pada eksplorasi fiksi.

Fiksi spekulatif mencelupkan diri kita sebagai pembaca ke dalam dunia yang tampak nyata dan berdasarkan kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang terpendam. Fiksi spekulatif menggunakan kemampuan bercerita sebagai alat untuk mengedukasi dan mempengaruhi perspektif manusia dengan membangun dunia yang berkembang dengan masyarakat yang kontemporer. Penulis ternama Laura Jean McKay, bersama Norman Erikson Pasaribu dan Sequoia Nagamatsu memperbincangkan kekuatan dari fiksi spekulatif yang memunculkan sebuah pertanyaan tunggal: bagaimana jika?

Dengarkan dan tonton episode terbaru dari #UWRF22Highlights di;

YouTube: bit.ly/YouTubeSpeculativeFiction

Spotify: bit.ly/SpotifySpeculativeFiction

Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/ApplePodcastsSpeculativeFiction

Web: bit.ly/UWRF22FestivalHighlights

This week’s #UWRF22Highlights episode seeks to mark International Women’s Day by featuring a discussion on Women Representation in Cinema and Popular Culture. You can listen to Indonesia’s two prominent female film directors, Nia Dinata and Kamila Andini, as well as female Indonesian visual artist, curator, and craftswoman, Ika Vantiani, as they talk about their creative evolution and challenges they face regarding sexism and censorship in the local film and popular culture scene. Renowned Indonesian music journalist, Meita Kasim, moderates the discussion in this episode.

The 21st of February is International #MotherLanguageDay! To celebrate the power of mother languages, we are presenting another #UWRF22 highlight session. This time, featuring Irish Novelist, Audrey Magee, who's 'The Colony' novel got shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022. As well as the celebrated Indonesian Writer, Saut Poltak Tambunan, and Indonesian Writer and Translator, and selected Festival Emerging Writer, Putu Juli Sastrawan.

Language connects us to our land, our ancestors, and helps preserve our cultural heritage. Language protection is needed for diversity, not only culturally, but for the protection of biological diversity. Recent studies have revealed that cultural and language diversity is linked with biological diversity. The need for language diversity also relates to access and distribution of scientific knowledge. Currently, one-third of global scientific knowledge is available only in languages other than English, and this needs to be addressed. In Indonesia for example, more than 700 languages are spoken, and it has been predicted that these will dwindle due to ongoing colonialism, rapid social change, and changes to intergenerational transmission patterns.

Watch this unmissable celebration of linguistic diversity as part of our #UWRF22Highlight series.

In this week’s #UWRF22 highlight episode, the Indonesian artist, Saras Dewi, and the Director of Museum MACAN, Aaron Seeto, come together to discuss the journey in tracing the development of contemporary art in Indonesia. Join the Social Affairs Editor, Jewel Topsfield, who is asking questions on how contemporary Indonesian art identifies in the midst of a cosmopolitan and cross-border art climate.

#UWRF2022 is back with our replay highlight sessions from the Festival!

Join music editor Lauren Ziegler for a special in-conversation with Meita Kasim, Sally Breen, and Gede Robi. It’ll be a powerful and accessible exploration about music, and its key role in social activism and human rights movements. In this special episode, the three guests share how music has influenced their lives, their passions, and fuelled their creative pursuits.

Meita Kasim recently published her debut novel, Out of Order, inspired by her own coming-of-age story featuring the 90s underground music scene in Jakarta. Sally Breen’s iconic novel, The Casuals, takes us on a ride through her pop-fuelled adolescence in the 1980s, and grunge era in the 1990s. The lead singer-songwriter and activist of Navicula, Gede Robi, uses music to spread environmental awareness and messages about the impact of urbanism.

Straight from #UWRF22—The third highlight episode features Australian author and columnist, Brigid Delaney, as well as American former foreign correspondent and travel writer, Eric Weiner. In this special meeting of minds, the duo discusses with Gill Westaway their latest works. They also share their perspectives in their eternal search for spirituality, cultural enlightenment, and bliss.

Recorded live during #UWRF22, the second episode of our Festival Highlights features an engaging conversation with Huda Fadlelmawla, Bandana Tewari, and Fariha Roisin. Listen to the extraordinary speakers share their unique perspectives with Eva Fernandes, on the wellness industry—which has become a multi-billion-dollar business that claims to improve our health, happiness, and longevity!

Our first #UWRF22Highlights episode features Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a scholar of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. She shares her incredible story of survival after being accused of espionage and sentenced to an Iranian jail for 804 days. A topical discussion given the current nationwide protests in Iran sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini — a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman detained by the morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. 

Since this incident, Iran has been gripped by a wave of mass protests amalgamated around a range of issues with the regime, with women and young people leading the movement, some being detained in the same prison that Moore-Gilbert was held in. In this program, Moore-Gilbert touches on her experience of surviving the Iranian prison system, with a message of hope for those who have been imprisoned. 

This is a session that should not be missed.