Few literary occasions in the world have endured more calamities than the Ubud Festival of Writers and Readers.
On October 27, it returns to leafy downtown Bali for the nineteenth time, with 4 days of e-book releases, movie premieres, long table dinners, panel discussions, workshops, musical and cultural performances.
Born from the ashes of the 2002 Bali bombings to attract foreign tourists to the island, the festival got off to a smart start in 2004 before terrorists bombed the island just days before the current festival in 2005, reducing attendance.
In 2015, the festival’s permit was almost revoked by a proposed consultation on the bloodbath of suspected communists in Indonesia in the 1960s. And in 2017, Bali’s Mount Agung volcano erupted five times before the festival, disrupting the island’s air.
All this drama added to its appeal and made the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival the largest festival of words and concepts in Southeast Asia.
Over the years, it has attracted writers, artists, activists, and philosophers such as Xanana Gusmao, East Timor’s first president, Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen, and cult novelist Irvine Welsh.
In 2019, it was named one of the five most sensible literary festivals in the world by the British newspaper The Telegraph.
The party deserved to have ended the coronavirus pandemic, when Indonesia closed its borders and Bali’s tourism industry collapsed. But the festival’s organizers and buyers refused to let it go and organized an online edition in 2020 that attracted 30,000 attendees from around the world.
Last year, in November, when the Covid-19 scene in Indonesia began to improve, a hybrid festival was held, partly online but with a few occasions on the ground. But with the borders still closed, attendance is low.
This year, the festival returns to Ubud, known as the center of Bali’s classical culture for its many ancient sites and art museums, with a program organized by over a hundred writers, thinkers, and artists from Indonesia and around the world.
Co-founder Janet De Neefe tells us what festival-goers can expect this year.
What was it like to bring the festival into the pandemic?
“I think it’s amazing that we could succeed, even if the occasions were more commonly online. It was really very exciting to make plans in such a different landscape. For the two years, we had fantastic writers and the advantage was that we didn’t have to ‘I don’t have to pay for your plane tickets and hotels’.
You have been organizing this festival for 19 years as a volunteer. Where do you get the energy?
“Well, it’s addictive. But I had problems this year because my daughter was recently named Miss Universe Indonesia and now I have 3 months to fully prepare her for the Miss Universe pageant. Micromanaging it is a festival in itself. “
What is the attendance this year?Are you going to attract another 15,000 people a day as you did before the pandemic?
“No. La ticket sales are still 30% lower than in 2019. But that’s okay, because we’re not the big places this year and we’re scaling things down to get back to the sense of intimacy we had in the first two years. when the festival wasn’t too busy.
“I think we’ll all enjoy it before next year’s festival, when it’s fully ready. “
Most people stop in Bali to eat, drink and party and laugh in the sun. Why are they coming to a festival of tasteless e-books?
“If you need to drink, we have cool craft beer, homemade local spirits and a consultation with jewel-coloured cocktails at Boliche, the hidden bar lit with Ubud lamps.
“If you need food, we have a huge nightly street food market, literary lunches, long table dinners meant to inspire verbal exchange, and an adorable afternoon tea consultation with homemade macaroni.
“If you need to pay attention to music and dance, we’re going to have live music and tons of local bands. Nerdy? I don’t think so. “
What part of the festival do you have ahead of you for this year?
“Our theme this year is Uniting Humanity, and we didn’t need to get too political, we couldn’t forget about the war in Ukraine because it’s a global humanitarian issue. So we figured out how to engage Ukraine, and proposed with the concept of a night of Ukrainian poetry and music.
“We fly over two Ukrainian poets now living in Warsaw, a Ukrainian pop singer, a Ukrainian opera singer and a foreign pianist from Iran. In addition to this, there will be a Ukrainian chef who will prepare snacks.
“I’m usually so busy at festivals that I can’t dedicate myself to attending any specific session, but there’s no way I’m going to miss this one. “
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This article was first published in the South China Morning Post.