The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival starts today, and runs through until November 1. The start
of the Festival has been marred by censorship. This year is the 50th
anniversary of communist repression and killings in Indonesia, in 1965. Ubud Writers &
Readers Festival had planned to mark the anniversary – but the authorities had
other ideas.
The organisers have been forced
to announce the cancellation of three panel sessions
dedicated to memorialising the purge, and an art exhibition and book launch, The Act of Living, will no longer be
taking place. In addition a film screening of
Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence
has also been cancelled, as well as two book launches, The Crocodile Hole and Bali
1964-1999. The organisers say: “This comes after increased scrutiny from
local authorities who have the power to revoke the Festival’s operating permit,
issued by the national police. The Festival has been involved in extensive
negotiations with local authorities, but ultimately was advised that should
certain sessions proceed, it would run the risk of the entire Festival being
cancelled.”
Janet DeNeefe is Founder & Director of the Festival. For her opinion on
these outrageous developments click here.
Over 60 writers, including previous attendees of the Festival, have signed a petition urging the
authorities to rescind their opposition to the cancelled events. Signatories
include Amitav Ghosh, Colin Thubron, Haideh Mogissi, Laksmi Pamuntjak, Lionel
Shriver, Michael Chabon, Mohsin Hamid, Sjón, Tariq Ali and Teju Cole. The
petition has been organised by the free speech advocacy group, PEN
International. To sign it, click here.
Beyond Ubud
This is a busy time in Asia Lit
land. In addition to the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival:
Asia Pacific Writers &Translators (APWT) has just wrapped up its annual conference, which was held in
Manila, and took as its theme Against the Grain, Dissidence, Dissonance and
Difference.
The Hong Kong InternationalLiterary Festival runs October 26 - November 8.
I will be posting an interview with Phillipa Milne, Programme Manager,
tomorrow.
The Singapore Writers Festival runs
October 30 – November 8. I will be posting
an interview with Yeow Kai Chai, Festival Director, on Friday.
