Full program announced for Ubud 2024

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) has announced the full line-up for its 21st festival program, themed ‘Satyam Vada Dharmam Chara’ (‘Speak the Truth, Practice Kindness’), which will run on 23–27 October 2024 in Ubud, Indonesia.

Australian speakers at the festival include authors Marcia Langton, Siang Lu, Laura Jean McKay, Nam Le, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Emilie Zoey Baker, Pamela Allen, David Whish-Wilson, Romi Grossberg, Sara M Saleh, Omar Musa, Adolfo Aranjuez, among others.

Among other international guests are 2021 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa, British author Sathnam Sanghera, Irish author Claire Kilroy, UK author and historian William Dalrymple, UK sustainability travel editor Juliet Kinsman, Myanmar dissident writer and activist Ma Thida, Maltese journalist Paul Caruana Galizia, UK BookTuber Jack Edwards, and British writer on Chinese cuisine Fuchsia Dunlop.

Among local Indonesian speakers are Soesilo Toer, the brother of the late writer and activist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, as well as the authors Dee Lestari, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Wayan Jengki Sunarta, M Aan Mansyur and Ratih Kumala, and International Booker Prize–longlisted author and poet Norman Erikson Pasaribu.

UWRF founder and director Janet DeNeefe said: ‘At a time when global events can make us feel fractured and dissonant, this year’s festival compels us to pause and reflect on how words and ideas can shape public discourse, influence societal norms, and how writers can amplify the values of truth and kindness in a world that is increasingly going the other way.’

‘With less than two months to go, we invite readers and thinkers to delve into our program and choose a literary laneway to wander down. There is magic in every turn,’ added DeNeefe.

The full program is available on the festival website, while McKay will also be facilitating the writers’ retreat ‘On Fiction: Writing Stories’ on 20–23 October, in the lead-up to the festival.

Category: Local news