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Kota Tua to host ASEAN Literary Festival in August
The fourth ASEAN Literary Festival (ALF) is set to be held in Kota Tua in West Jakarta on Aug. 3-6.
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This year's ASEAN Literary Festival, themed Beyond Imagination, is special as it will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN. (Shutterstock/-)
The fourth ASEAN Literary Festival (ALF) is set in Kota Tua in West Jakarta on Aug. 3-6.
This year's event, themed Beyond Imagination, is special as it will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN.
Among those slated to participate at the festival are writers, intellectuals, artists and scholars from 10 ASEAN countries, as well as participants from more than 20 countries across the globe.
The festival's co-founder and program director Okky Madasari says that ALF has highlighted culture and literature as an important part of ASEAN's existence, "Especially since it has been declared a community," she said.
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"Being a community means exploring each other's culture, including literature products and books from each country member," Okky said as quoted by Antara news agency. "This is the important role of ALF. Only culture and literature can genuinely tie us together. Focusing on only economics and politics would make the ASEAN community mere rhetoric and illusion."
Okky also asserted the importance of the festival as a place to introduce literary accomplishments and products of ASEAN writers to a global audience.
Supported by the Culture and Education Ministry and Foreign Ministry, the festival is scheduled to host a series of events, including discussions, art performances, culinary demos and a book exhibition. (kes)
