UBUD WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL GETS UNDERWAY NEXT WEEK

7 - 11 October 2009

Friends Newsletter

The festival team is getting used to my laughing out loud several times a day in the festival office. And when I’m not laughing I can be heard saying ...yummm and... oh my goodness... as I drool and marvel over the special events that we will be holding in 2009.

This year we are bigger and better than ever with a starry line-up that has the island buzzing. From comedy to the culinary, from rock’n’roll to the tinkling of cocktails, there are so many glitzy and groovy gatherings that I can hardly sleep thinking about them. And the literary arena grows as we spread our wings, heading south and across the seas.

The drum roll opens with a glam event at Sarong, the hippest restaurant on the island, with a night that will dazzle Seminyak. "Slum it at Sarong" features Vikas Swarup, pic left, of Q&A and Slumdog Millionaire fame, in conversation with the charismatic Asitha Amereskere, Sri Lankan film-maker and author.

Appearing alongside Vikas is the wickedly funny and unashamedly outrageous Dany Laferriere, author of the stories behind the movie Heading South, who will share his x-rated views on island life, love and lust; writer, word-poet and prankster Tom Cho will present his sharp-witted skits and Jeet Thayil, Indian guitar-strumming performance-poet will sing gritty tunes brimming with punchy prose.

The talented Will Meyrick, Sarongs dishy chef, is flicking through his recipes as we speak to present you with a menu of culinary genius. So be prepared for one of the island’s coolest events that takes the S out of style and slots it snugly into Sarong: celebrating the spoken-word in Seminyak.Writers Rock Hard at the Hard Rock Café, Kuta, brings together four unconventional and wildly entertaining talents.

Enter Sam Cutler former road manager of the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead, Jerinx, the drummer of acclaimed Balinese punk rock band Superman is Dead, Felix from Cat Empire and Degung Santikarma, irreverent anthropologist, activist and journalist. Rocking hard is an understatement when these three electric forces appear on stage, so be prepared for a night that offers more "satisfaction" than you could wish for.

After the closing party, the festival crosses the Bali Strait to East Java and Borobudur, one of the world’s largest Buddhist monuments, with a night of readings and performances under the stars. Ten of our acclaimed authors will appear alongside our Indonesian performers in what promises to be one of the festival’s most exciting new events.

One of the festival’s most compelling lunchtime events will take place over lunch in the breathtaking Chedi Club restaurant, overlooking picture perfect rice fields, on Sunday 11 October at 12.30. Join Desi Anwar, one of Indonesia’s most respected journlists, TV anchor, writer and founder of online magazine The Daily Avocado, in conversation with the extraordinary and charismatic Fatima Bhutto. Fatima, whose father Murtaza Bhutto was killed by police in 1996 while her aunt Benazir was President, says of life in Pakistan "If anything Pakistani people are survivors, they have the most resilient spirit I've ever seen. When it gets violent we keep going, just more carefully."

Be spellbound at this rare opportunity to hear Fatima talk about her poetry, journalism and activism, and her new book on the history of one of the most famous and turbulent political families in the world.In honour of our host country the festival will highlight Indonesian food and writers in a leisurely literary lunch at the elegant Maya Resort and Spa.

Indonesia at Home spotlights some of Indonesia’s most celebrated and somewhat contraversial literary voices. Join NH Dini, who broke all the rules, Laksmi Pamuntjak one of the archipelagos hottest and dare we say, most beautiful talents, the outspoken and irreverent Dede Oetomo and emerging star Nurhady Simimorok. From literature to lemongrass, from storytelling to smoked duck, the Maya Resort and Spa will startle you with a feast of favourites from Fragrant Rice presented by Janet DeNeefe.