Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Podcast

Muhammad Ade Putra is a young poet who is actively reflecting on locality in his poems, and Eki Saputra describes environmental issues and marginalized people through his short stories. Together with well-known Indonesian authors, Warih Wisatsana and Darmawati Majid, they will discuss how literature can record social, cultural, and ecological issues in works full of empathy.

Spice has a large influence on Indonesian history. Starting from the Banda and Maluku regions, trade routes in the past have crossed various regions and pushed transit cities into cultural points. Behind the narrative of colonial expansion, there are stories of cultural crosses. Listen to the conversation between Hilmar Farid and Janet DeNeefe about the role of spice in today’s society.

Join us as Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2021 begins with a warm welcome from our Founder and Director, Janet DeNeefe, and two inspiring keynote speeches. This year, the Festival invites you to explore self-reflection, cultural introspection, and human rights: examining who we are, what unites and divides us, and what drives our actions.

As an island that relies heavily on tourism, the COVID-19 crisis has led to Bali’s most challenging period in recent memory. Our panelists have spent decades in Indonesia’s tourism industry and contributed greatly to its development. They’ll reflect on how the global halt in travel has impacted on the island’s future, and how lessons from the past can be used to tackle the current climate. Featuring Stanley Joseph Allison, Janice Mantjika, Warwick Purser, and Edward Speirs.

Pelatih somatik dan instruktur bela diri, Made Janur Yasa, menemukan cara yang praktis dan efektif untuk mendorong warga mengelola sampahnya. Bagaimana? Dengan menukarnya dengan beras sumbangan. Seperti inilah terobosan pengelolaan sampah – di tingkat desa. Dengarkan Made Janur Yasa mengenai inisiatif menarik yang juga membantu kebutuhan masyarakat Bali selama pandemi. Menampilkan I Made Janur Yasa dan Vanesa Martida.

In Sea People, Christina Thompson explores the fascinating story of Polynesia’s ancient voyagers, as well as the sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists, and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years. Listen in to experience a masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation. Featuring Christina Thompson and Simon Winchester.

Man of Contradictions, the first English-language biography of Jokowi, argues that the president embodies the fundamental contradictions of modern Indonesia. He is caught between democracy and authoritarianism, openness and protectionism, Islam and pluralism. Join Ben Bland to find out why he believes Jokowi’s incredible story shows what is possible in Indonesia – and shows the limits. Featuring Ben Bland and Febriana Firdaus.

Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from an Indigenous perspective. His new book Sand Talk provides a template for living. It’s about how lines, symbols, and shapes can help us make sense of the world. It’s about how we learn, and how we remember. Join him to learn about Indigenous thinking, and how it can save the world. Featuring Tyson Yunkaporta and Rosemarie Milsom.

Edwidge Danticat’s latest book of short stories, Everything Inside, is set in Port-au-Prince, Miami, and beyond. It reflects on community, family, and love, and how people come to terms with death, of both their loved ones and their own. Edwidge will discuss her work, her life, Haiti, America, and immigrant stories. Featuring Edwidge Danticat and Cynthia Dewi Oka.

Independent investigative journalist, Febriana Firdaus, is a regular contributor to The Guardian, covering topics from COVID-19 to the Black Lives Matter movement in West Papua. Her works have appeared in Time Magazine, Al Jazeera, Financial Times, among others. She writes about social injustice, Indigenous communities, and stories of women across Indonesia. Join her for an incisive conversation about Indonesia’s fraught media landscape. Featuring Febriana Firdaus and Janet Steele.

“My stories come from a very unconscious place. I don’t premeditate them, I don’t know what’s going to happen in them.” There’s no one like Etgar Keret. His stories take place at the crossroads of the fantastical, searing, and hilarious. His characters grapple with parenthood and family, war and games, marijuana and cake, memory and love. Join Etgar Keret in an interview that promises to be anything but ordinary. Featuring Etgar Keret and Eve Tedja.

Join James Oseland to hear about his travels in search of the world’s best restaurants, street food stalls, and home cooks. James is the author and editor of World Food, a book series launching this November with World Food: Mexico City. He was a judge on all five seasons of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters and the editor-in-chief of Saveur. His cookbook Cradle of Flavor, about Indonesian food, won a James Beard award.

The Guardian called Intan Paramaditha’s debut novel The Wandering an “ingenious choose-your-own-adventure challenge, [which is] at least five books in one.” Originally published in Indonesian as Gentayangan and translated into English by Stephen J. Epstein, The Wandering has received multiple awards. Join Intan for a raw and insightful conversation about travel, identity, and why we are “haunted by the road not taken.”

Faster! Better! More! Productivity and personal achievement are dominant cultural values in 2018, but do we have to buy in? Our panel asks you to put down your phone, put away your planner, and stop to consider the sweetness of going slow. Featuring Christine Bader, Jill Stark, Kamin Mohammadi, Tishani Doshi, and Kirstie Melville.

Iconic literary figure Sutardji once turned Indonesia’s time-worn poetry traditions upside down after proclaiming the liberation of words from their shackles of socially-enforced meanings. In an age of Twitwars and viral memes, Sutardji discussed the significance of poetry and question whether words can still enjoy their freedom. Featuring Sutardji Calzoum Bachri and Debra Yatim.

Exile, statelessness, displacement… these experiences have created stories of immense loss, but also of great resilience and insight into human grace and dignity. Join writers from Turkey, Tibet and China to consider the nature and impact of exile. Featuring Diana Greentree, Çiler İlhan, Tenzin Choegyal and Anastasia Lin.

Indonesia, 1998. With the fall of Suharto’s 32-year autocratic regime following years of political turmoil and violence, the ‘Reformation Era’ was ushered in. Heaped upon it were promises of freedom, prosperity, and a corruption-free society. Three thinkers weigh in on what has - and hasn’t - changed since. Featuring Putu Fajar Arcana, Saras Dewi, Haidar Bagir, I Wayan Juniarta.

Forget blackboards and musty textbooks, strap in for a super-charged history lesson where we consider how (and why) literature can keep us from repeating the mistakes of history. Featuring Juan Pablo Villalobos, E. Rokajat Asura, Arnold Zable, Jill Dawson, Jeni Caffin.

It’s often remarked that Balinese women are among the hardest working in the world. A patriarchal society and a seemingly endless cycle of temple rituals and communal obligations have imposed both heavy burdens and expectations on Balinese women. Join these leading Balinese authors and a literary researcher as they discuss the roles Balinese women writers play in empowering their sisters. Featuring Ketut Yuliarsa, I Nyoman Darma Putra, Cokorda Sawitri and Oka Rusmini.

In 2011, investigative journalist Suki Kim went undercover in North Korea. Posing as a missionary and a teacher, she taught English to the 19-year-old sons of North Korea’s ruling class. Hear her share her remarkable story with Michael Vatikiotis. Featuring Suki Kim and Michael Vatikiotis.

“Sink it” became a national catchphrase after Indonesia’s maverick (now former) Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries fulfilled her threat to sink any foreign boats found illegally fishing in Indonesian waters. In 2017 she ordered the sinking of around 87 illegal boats. Ibu Susi reflected on her fight to protect the country’s millions of fishers and vast marine resources. Featuring Susi Pudjiastuti and Rebecca Henschke.

Should we extend our compassion to all beings? Join extraodinary activists and authors for a conversation on compassion for the natural world, the next moves in sustainability, and how to bring conservation to both common man and common ground. Featuring Tom Owen Edmunds, Panut Hadisiswoyo, Bayu Wirayudha, Emmanuela Shinta.

Did that Minion just say terima kasih? French-Indonesian animated film director and voice actor Pierre Coffin is the man behind the little yellow characters from the Despicable Me franchise, emblazoned on everything from children’s clothing to public minibuses across the country. Join Pierre for behind-the-scenes stories from a fascinating career in film. Featuring Pierre Coffin and Rizqi R Mosmarth.

No religion has received as many headlines or as much misunderstanding in recent years as Islam. Our panelists study the faith in its many manifestations, from everyday lives in Indonesia and Malaysia to the extreme edge of violent terrorism. Come beyond the front page for a thoughtful take on this prismatic theology. Featuring Sidney Jones, Dina Zaman, Haidar Bagir, and Janet Steele.

Hear from one of the most promising Indonesian authors of this decade: Eka Kurniawan has earned international recognition with his critically-acclaimed works – most notably Beauty is a Wound and Man Tiger – translated into numerous languages. In this session, Eka speaks to Desi Anwar about his latest writing, discuss the challenges of being a recognizably big name, and give his thoughts on the next literary surprises Indonesia has in store for global audiences. Featuring Eka Kurniawan and Desi Anwar.

With Wild Swans, Jung Chang illuminated the lives of three generations of women in China. Former rocket factory worker Lijia Zhang’s Lotus, inspired by her grandmother’s experiences, tells the story of a young sex worker striving for a better life in modern Shenzen. They come together to discuss the lives of women in their shared homeland, and the power of stories passed down. Featuring Jung Chang and Rosemary Sayer.

Facebook, Twitter and Pokemon Go! – Indonesia is addicted to the screen. Listen in as these best-selling authors and an indie publisher talk the trials and tribulations of bringing literature to public attention in the screen-obsessed world. Featuring Dewi Lestari, Triyanto Triwikromo, Elizabeth Pisani and Michael Vatikiotis.

Award-winning author and journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race sparked a new and frank conversation about systemic racism. From eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, she took the UWRF stage to consider the current moment in anti-racist activism. Featuring Reni Eddo-Lodge in conversation with Feby Indirani.

Each year UWRF puts a call out to emerging writers across the archipelago: send us your stories. In 2019, we received 1,253 submissions, the highest number since the Emerging Writers program’s inception in 2008. The works of five talented wordsmiths were selected for publication in our annual Bilingual Anthology. Hear about their journeys to UWRF, and hopes for their creative futures. Featuring Ketut Yuliarsa, Lita Lestianti, Nurillah Achmad, Ilhamdi Putra, Heru Sang Amurwabumi, and Chandra Bientang.

Around 9 million Indonesians live and work overseas, along with countless descendants of Indonesian migrants. Our panel of orang Indonesia living in diaspora recounted their personal experiences of what it means to be Indonesian elsewhere. Featuring Ketut Yuliarsa, Cynthia Dewi Oka, Michelle Tanmizi, Innosanto Nagara, and Laksmi Pamuntjak.

Indonesian comic superheroes have long been in the stranglehold of foreign character translations. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe is creating demand for local superheroes, along with Gundala, a recent film based on the character created by Hasmi in 1969. Join our panel of graphic gurus and serial storytellers as they sketched reasons why now is the time for homegrown heroes to shine. Featuring Marlowe Bandem, I Putu Supartika, Rizqi R. Mosmarth, and Rizka Raisa Ramli.

The dust has far from settled on #MeToo, “a movement that represents probably the greatest and most conspicuous collaboration of women since the suffragettes”, according to Sam George-Allen. With the viral hashtag in regular rotation in more than 85 nations and aftershocks still rippling around the world, feminists from Indonesia, Australia, Pakistan, and Turkey convened to discuss life after #MeToo. Featuring Joan Arakkal, Eliza Vitri Handayani, Nazli Karabiyikoglu, Sam George-Allen and Sanam Maher.

Poppy tears, opium, heroin, fentanyl: poppy latex is a commodity without rival. Acclaimed cultural historian Lucy Inglis took us on an epic journey from ancient Mesopotamia to modern America and Afghanistan with tales of addiction, trade, crime, sex, war, literature, medicine and, above all, money, as she charted the evolution of the milk of paradise. Featuring Lucy Inglis and Kate Evans.

Andreas Harsono has covered Indonesia for Human Rights Watch since 2008. His new book Race, Islam and Power: Ethnic and Religious Violence in Post-Suharto Indonesia is the result of his 15-year project to document how race and religion have become increasingly prevalent in the nation’s politics. Join him in conversation with long-term Indonesian media expert, Janet Steele. Featuring Janet Steele and Andreas Harsono.

“We’re fractured nations because we’re not reading or translating each other,” said Malaysian author Bernice Chauly during the UWRF17 panel on the 50th anniversary of ASEAN. Join our group of experts as they compared their experiences of cultural diplomacy, and invited us to consider how the arts can break down barriers and connect people across languages, cultures and politics. Featuring Yusi Avianto Pareanom, Gary Quinlan, Michael Vatikiotis, Janet Steele, and Ashwini Devare.

The domestic, the interior and the personal have traditionally been relegated to the realm of women’s writing, which in recent years has been dismissed as too small to attract significant readership, critical acclaim and writing awards. Our panelists looked beyond the censure and spoke out in praise of the domestic. Featuring Astrid Edwards, Fanny J. Poyk, Megan K. Stack, Fiona Wright, and Archana Pidathala.

“In this day and age recipes are abundant… I love that I can learn a little bit more, whether it’s political, philosophical, historical, or personal.” For Yotam Ottolenghi, food is always a gateway to bigger conversations. This is a rare chance to hear from one of Britain’s most-loved food writers, in conversation with longtime food journalist and explorer, Joanna Savill. Featuring Joanna Savill and Yotam Ottolenghi

Speculative fiction has lurked in the shadows of the literary scene for years while realism hogged the limelight. Now, as the natural and political spheres crumble around us, speculative fiction’s dystopian worlds don’t seem so different from our own. In this timely conversation, our panelists ask whether we’re now at the point where all contemporary fiction is in fact speculative fiction. Featuring Astrid Edwards, Michelle Tanmizi, Krissy Kneen, Pitchaya Sudbanthad, and Claire G. Coleman.

Born into a Shia Muslim family that migrated to the US after fleeing the Iranian Revolution, Reza Aslan converted to Christianity as a teen and then returned to Islam. He is now a religious scholar, bestselling author, broadcaster and commentator. He shares his insights into aspects of global faiths both human and divine. Featuring Reza Aslan and Terence Ward.

The way we consume stories is rapidly changing, and the popularity of graphic novels, memoirs and other types of visual storytelling for adult audiences proves images can capture enthralling narratives. Join these skilled sketchers from around the world as they discuss the joys and challenges of transforming words into poignant pictures. Featuring Samuel Indratma, Dr Darryl Whetter, Citra Marina, Mira Jacob and Peter van Dongen.

From gentle mockery to caustic sarcasm, there’s a victim at the butt of most good laughs. Must comedy be cruel to work, and does that mean comedians have a free pass when it comes to how they treat others? We’ve convened a round table of comedic writers and performers to dissect whether good comedy and good karma are mutually exclusive. Featuring Maeve Marsden, Lindsay Wong, Rhik Samadder, and James Roque.

Memoirs are no longer seen as the self-indulgent domain of those at the end of long and accomplished lives: millennials around the world are writing fresh and compelling stories, tackling everything from the legal system to life in the shadow of Tiananmen Square to mental health. Our panelists compare their experiences of putting their lives on the page. Featuring Karoline Kan, Krissy Kneen, Lindsay Wong, and Bri Lee.

It’s been 26 years since Irvine Welsh gave the world Trainspotting, the book deemed by Rebel Inc. “the best book ever written by man or woman” that went on to define a generation. Since then he’s written 11 more books, plus plays and adaptations. Give Born Slippy. NUXX a spin, then listen in as he reflects on a life spent with razor-sharp words. Featuring Irvine Welsh and Sam Cooney.

Crafting the perfect sentence in one’s mother tongue is hard enough, without the complications that working in a second language brings. But that hasn’t stopped this panel. Not content to create in just one language, they share accounts of their personal experiences of the joys and frustrations of becoming multilingual wordsmiths. Featuring Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, Jamie Marina Lau, Rodaan Al Galidi, and Tara June Winch.

Award-winning hip-hop artist Akala’s bestselling Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire is a searing polemic on race and class in the British Empire. With a life and outlook shaped by these elements, Akala takes us from the personal to the universal as he confronts the issues at the heart of the legacy of Britain’s racialized empire. Featuring Kirsti Melville and Akala.

Indonesia has 150 million internet users and 800,000 hoax-distributing websites, according to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. In a system swimming with fake news, what is the relationship between rising social media use and increasing religious conservatism? How is social media being manipulated for political gain? Join our panel as they unravel these weapons of mass distortion. Featuring Erin Cook, Stanley Widianto, Famega Syavira Putri, Nirwan Dewanto, and Andreas Harsono.

In a 2019 Entertainment Weekly interview, Amy Tan reflected on the 30 years since her groundbreaking novel The Joy Luck Club was published, commenting on the remarkable difference in Asian representation in literature and film. This panel weighs in on what has changed regarding the reach of and desire for Asia Pacific literatures, and asks what the future might hold. Featuring Kadek Sonia Piscayanti, Sally Breen, Richard Oh, and Melanie Mununggurr-Williams.

After a childhood in care, 17-year-old Norman Greenwood saw his birth certificate for the first time: his name was Lemn Sissay, he was British-Ethiopian, and his mother had never stopped trying to get him back. Celebrated writer, poet and performer Lemn shares a deeply personal account of neglect and determination, misfortune and hope, cruelty and triumph. Featuring Lemn Sissay and Kate Evans.

With a vast domestic market and burgeoning production power, Indonesia’s film industry has huge potential. In recent times, Indonesian films and industry professionals have enjoyed rising international prominence. Could Indonesian cinema be a form of soft power to expand the nation’s impact in regional and global cultural scenes? What does the future hold for homegrown films? Join our cinephiles to find out. Featuring Leila S. Chudori, Garin Nugroho, Richard Oh, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, and Rayya Makarim.