The 13th Ubud Writers and Readers Festival ended on Sunday. The event successfully engaged literary luminaries with an eager audience.

The last day of the festival started with attendees participating in “Literary Jalan-Jalan”, a morning walk with some of the festival’s finest storytellers along the hidden paths of Penestanan, through lush rice fields and a permaculture garden, all the while listening to tales from near and far over a delicious brunch.

The morning program also featured a “Herb Walk” workshop that introduced participants to the wealth of natural remedies made from the wild herbs and plants that grow around Ubud.

Paying tribute to the late renowned architect and author Made Wijaya, who was beloved in Bali by the expatriate community and the Balinese alike, the festival’s team organized a special session on “Remembering Made Wijaya”. Friends and contemporaries gathered to remember his life and celebrate his legacy. His death in September shocked many who had known him as a “larger than life” member of the community.

As part of this year’s film program, some short films were played at the local indie cinema. One of the films was Prenjek (In the Year of the Monkey), a short film by the young, much-awarded Indonesian film-maker Wregas Bhanuteja. Prenjak was named Best Short Film at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

“It’s been a wonderful festival. The overall feeling has been one of peace and happiness. It has all been an extremely smooth ride filled with impressive sessions and lots of surprises such as the twilight tribute to Cervantes with Ananda Sukarlan on the piano and Mariska Setiawan on vocals and Tibetan music with Tenzin Choegyal,” festival founder and director Janet De Neefe commented.

American author Hanya Yanagihara, who attended the festival for the fourth time, praised the event for serving as a melting pot for literary enthusiasts from many parts of the world.

“One of the wonderful things about the festival is finding out about Asian writers that I haven’t heard about in the US, so we really get a sense of local writers and what their particular difficulties and challenges are,” she said.

“It’s great that the writers and readers are so closely engaged with one another, and it’s always an honor to meet people that read your books and want to talk to you about it,” said the author of the searing and unflinching novel A Little Life, which has made an indelible impression on readers the world over.

Author Lionel Shriver, lauded by readers and critics alike for “the most acclaimed and compelling works of fiction of recent years”, shared her views about the event, saying that the most interesting and invaluable part of the festival was to engage with readers in great discussions.

“This is a well organized festival with a lot of good writers and, most importantly, an enthusiastic audience. I’ve been pleased with the attendance and the attentiveness. I was only frustrated that the Q and A session couldn’t be longer because I like talking with the audience.”

Known for her insightful fiction-meets-social commentary, Lionel discussed her 12th novel The Mandibles, which imagines a dystopian US after an economic collapse.

A closing party at the Blanco Renaissance Museum on Sunday evening marked the end of the festival. The party featured a unique performance from Scotland’s favorite avant-garde noisemaker Neu! Reekie! — a mash-up of music and spoken-word poetry.

Svara Samsara, The Brothahood and Udayana University’s marching band also performed live on stage.

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