News
Newsletter June 2011
in
International Program
Program News
In addition to being about literature, words and the ideas they convey, the Festival is about connection and this year’s theme Cultivating the Land Within gives writers and readers, presenters and our audiences the place to explore and acknowledge an inner life.
The act of writing becomes a cipher, a place where the reader, led by their imagination can be transported to another world, a place that is a “land within”.
What is also impressive about this year’s Festival is the range of writers and speakers who will make up the program. This year the Festival features writers from Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Denmark, Italy, France, Palestine, Hong Kong, Columbia, the Ukraine, Japan, Tunisia, Samoa, Germany, Malta, Cuba, the United Kingdom, Egypt, India, Africa, Tunisia, New Zealand, and Pakistan.
Crossing genres, one of the writers in this year’s Festival will be singer, songwriter and now prose writer Paul Kelly (AUS). Late last year Paul's long-awaited memoir How To Make Gravy was released, its genesis formed in a series of Spiegeltent concerts starting in 2004. From the little stories he told in between songs grew the book, and from the songs grew the accompanying 'The A To Z Recordings'.
We are also pleased to announce Indonesian travel writer and blogger, Trinity. Trinity is Indonesia’s leading travel writer. In 2005, she started a travel blog at naked-traveler.com and in less than two years the blog was already nominated as Finalist in Indonesia’s Best Blog Award. This led her to switch her corporate career to become full-time traveler and freelance travel writer. Her debut book The Naked Traveler was a compilation of stories from her adventures around the world. The book inspired many Indonesians, especially the young people, to travel - something that was rarely done at that time. Up to now, The Naked Traveler has been published in its third sequel and the book is Indonesia’s best-selling travel book to date. Trinity will be presenting a travel blogging workshop in the Festival.
With writers including fiction, prose, journalism, travel writing, food writing, poetry, young adult fiction, comedy, science fiction, adventure, crime, blogging, and music writers, the Early Bird tickets go on sale mid June following with the full program available in print and online from 29 August.
Indonesian Program
The Festival’s Curatorial Board has selected 15 Indonesian writers to be invited to the upcoming 2011 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. The writers are Arafat Nur (Aceh), Pinto Anugrah and Ragdi F Daye (Padang), Fitri Yani (Lampung), Budy Utamy (Riau), Saut Poltak Tambunan (Jakarta), Jaladara (Jawa Barat), Ida Ahdiah (Tangerang), Wahyu Arya (Banten), Satmoko Budi San toso (Yogyakarta), Sanie B Kuncoro (Solo), Rida Fitria(Lumajang), Sandy Firly (Banjarmasin), Irianto Ibrahim (Kendari) and Alan Malingi (West Nusa Tenggara).
The Curatorial Board, comprises Kurnia Effendy, Iyut Fitra, Dorothea Rosa Herliany, and Made Adnyana Ole, states that the selected writers have reflected the country’s diverse cultures and ethnicities as well as the richness of the nation’s literary realm.
The Festival’s committee is currently in the process of translating the selected works of those writers into English with assistances provided by seasoned translators and the Festival’s ardent supporters, such as Pam Allen, Sue Piper, Toni Pollard and Tom Hunter.
Besides those emerging writers, the Festival will also invited three established Indonesian authors, Putu Wijaya, Sindhunata and Andrea Hirata.
Children Program
Co-author Debi Evans will be at Ubud Writers Festival on Wednesday 5th October and you can find out all about this exciting fantasy adventure series as well as ask Debi questions.
Angus Munro seems an ordinary eleven-year-old boy with only one passion in life; DRAGONS!
During the summer holidays Angus finds a library book that sparks his imagination he discovers a secret message within it that leaves him excited beyond belief; Dragons are real, they are still alive and they are hiding amongst us!
Through the message, Angus is invited to join The Secret Society of Dragon Protectors. Uncovering a secret that has been kept for over a thousand years he is soon flying through a magical adventure that will take him from a remote island in the Irish Sea to the shores of Loch Ness.
Soon Angus finds himself in a race to break the clues, uphold the oath of The Secret Society of Dragon Protectors and save the hidden dragons from a sinister stranger who is also on their trail.
