Navigating Past and Future Worlds

Jennifer Mackenzie is an Australian poet and reviewer who focuses on writing from and about the Asian region. Since the publication of Borobudur by Transit Lounge in 2009, which was also republished by The Lontar Foundation in 2012, she has presented her work at numerous conferences and festivals, most recently at the Mathrubhumi Festival of Literary Arts in Trivandrum. She has received several awards, including the Marten Bequest Poetry Scholarship and the Felix Meyer Traveling Scholarship from the University of Melbourne. Her most recent book, a homage to the Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, is Navigable Ink, published through Transit Lounge in 2020. Jennifer's appearance at UWRF is made possible through the support of the Australia Council and Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT).

Jennifer Mackenzie adalah penyair dan pengulas sastra berkebangsaan Australia yang mengkhususkan diri untuk menulis dari dan tentang wilayah Asia. Sejak diterbitkannya Borobudur oleh Transit Lounge pada 2009, yang diterbitkan ulang oleh Yayasan Lontar pada 2012, ia telah menampilkan karyanya di berbagai konferensi dan festival, yang terbaru adalah Mathrubhumi Festival of Literary Arts di Trivandrum. Ia telah menerima berbagai penghargaan, termasuk the Marten Bequest Poetry Scholarship dan the Felix Meyer Traveling Scholarship dari the University of Melbourne. Buku terbarunya, sebuah penghormatan bagi penulis Indonesia Pramoedya Ananta Toer, adalah Navigable Ink, diterbitkan oleh Transit Lounge pada 2020. Kehadiran Jennifer di UWRF dimungkinkan berkat dukungan oleh the Australia Council and Asia Pacific Writers & Translators (APWT). 

Sudeep Sen, a prominent figure in contemporary poetry and a leading voice in global literature, is widely celebrated. He is recognized as 'one of the finest English-language poets in the international literary scene' by BBC Radio and acknowledged for his fascination with the possibilities of language by Scotland on Sunday. Sen, originally from India, has garnered praise for his remarkable contributions, and his significant impact on poetry earned him the Pleiades Honour at the Struga Poetry Festival. His literary works, translated into over 25 languages, have graced prominent publications and reached audiences through platforms like BBC, PBS, CNN IBN, NDTV, AIR, and Doordarshan. His collections of prose include Postcards from Bangladesh in 2002, which won the UPL Excellence Award, BodyText: Dramatic Monologues in Motion in 2009, and EroText in 2016, the winner of the Global Literary Festival Award for Literary Excellence. Sen's diverse roles include serving as the editorial director at AARK ARTS, editor of Atlas, and holding a writer-in-residence fellowship at the Nirox Foundation in South Africa. Recognizing his immense contributions, the Government of India has honored him with a senior fellowship for 'outstanding persons in the field of culture/literature.' He is also distinguished as the first Asian to deliver the Derek Walcott Lecture and participate in the Nobel Laureate Festival.

Sudeep Sen adalah seorang sosok terkenal di bidang puisi kontemporer dan seorang suara terdepan dalam sastra global yang sangat dirayakan. Ia dikenal sebagai ‘salah satut penyair berbahasa Inggris terbaik di kancah sastra mancanegara’ oleh BBC Radio dan mendapatkan pengakuan dari Scotland on Sunday untuk ketertarikannya terhadap berbagai kemungkinan yang dapat dicapai dengan penggunaan bahasa. Sen, aslinya orang India, telah mendapatkan pujian atas sumbangsihnya yang menonjol terhadap dunia sastra dan dampaknya yang signifikan terhadap puisi telah membuatnya diganjar Pleiades Honour di the Struga Poetry Festival. Karya-karya sastranya, diterjemahkan ke lebih dari 25 bahasa, telah menghiasi penerbitan ternama dan menjangkau pembaca melalui bermacam platform seperti BBC, PBS, CNN IBN, NDTV, AIR, dan Doordarshan. Kumpulan prosanya termasuk Postcards from Bangladesh di 2002, yang memenangkan UPL Excellence Award, BodyText: Dramatic Monologues in Motion di 2009, dan EroText di 2016, pemenang Global Literary Festival Award for Literary Excellence. Menyadari betapa besar sumbangsihnya, Pemerintah India telah memberinya penghargaan persekutuan senior bagi ‘sosok-sosok menonjol di bidang budaya/sastra’. Ia juga mendapat kehormatan sebagai orang Asia pertama yang menyampaikan pidato Derek Walcott Lecture, dan turut serta dalam Nobel Laureate Festival.