Feed your soul with a month of literature

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 09/30/2009 1:17 PM  |  Features

Literature lovers, prepare to be overwhelmed, as next month several events will indulge you with the things you love most: Prose, poems and the people who write them.

October hasn't been officially declared as literary month, but it does bring together several events catering to those with a passion for the written word.

South Jakarta's Salihara Community opens the month with a discussion with UK-based author and journalist Hari Kunzru, presenting parts of his short stories and novel that earned him the British Book Award.

Named one of the British best young novelists by literary magazine Granta in 2003, Kunzru's work deals with multi-ethnicity and identity in a world that inherits traces of colonialism.

From Salihara, Kunzru will fly to Bali for a bigger feast: the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2009.

Featuring more than 80 writers from 23 countries, the festival promises book readings and lunches, as well as meetings between international publishers and authors through literary lunches and nighttime gatherings.

Under the theme of "Compassion and Solidarity", the festival this is year is focusing on themes of religion, identity, ethnicity, gender and human rights in general.

"Our theme is one of great significance and I am sure there will be spirited and thought-provoking discussions based on this topic," festival founder and director Janet DeNeefe wrote in introducing the event.

Held from Oct. 7 through Oct. 11 in various venues in Ubud, the festival invites the public for a discourse with Pakistani writers Fatima Bhutto and Mohammed Hanif, while also appreciating excellent works from seasoned Indonesian writers such as Seno Gumira Ajidarma and N.H. Dini.

The works of poets Afrizal Malna and Nirwan Dewanto will also be discussed, in an event that seems to be a teaser for another festival starting Oct. 20: the Utan Kayu Literary Biennale.

Malna's Teman-temanku dari Atap Bahasa (My Friends from the Language Roof) has won Tempo magazine's best literary book in 2008, and Dewanto's Jantung Lebah Ratu (Queen Bee's Heart) recently won the Khatulistiwa Literary Award.

Taking the theme "Traversing", the fifth Utan Kayu biennale aims at widening the literary discourse into an artistic genre that can shift and be interpreted in other forms of art, an attempt that the Utan Kayu Community and its offshoot Salihara have seemed to focus on in these past years.

Just as art crosses ethnical and geographical boundaries, it also goes beyond certain chosen media. Words can be transformed into visual art, words can be sung into a melody.

That's pretty much the idea of this year's biennale.

Presenting works such as that of Triyanto Triwikromo to Sapardi Djoko Damono - including foreign writers - the biennale, which will open in the Bogor Botanical Gardens, promises more than just book discussions.

A visual art exhibition involving 17 artists at the Galeri Salihara in South Jakarta will be part of the main event, which consists of readings and discussions, as well as music and literary performances.

Reading and discussion with Hari Kunzru
Oct. 1
Serambi Salihara
Jln. Salihara 16, South Jakarta
www.salihara.org

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2009
Oct. 7-11
Ubud, Bali
www.ubudwritersfestival.com

Discussion of works of Afrizal Malna and Nirwan Dewanto
Oct. 19
Serambi Salihara
Jln. Salihara 16, South Jakarta
www.salihara.org

Utan Kayu Literary Biennale 2009
Oct. 20-24
Bogor Botanical Gardens and Salihara Community
www.utankayu.org
www.salihara.org

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