This year’s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) theme is Memayu Hayuning Bawana. While the original Javanese philosophy refers to harmonizing our shared physical and spiritual world, the UWRF interprets it as “uniting humanity”.
The 2022 festival program of events, featuring not only writers but also artists, activists and performers from Indonesia and beyond, thus responds to our ability as individuals to come together as one global family, arguably more important than ever.
Appropriately, the 19th UWRF is also returning to its regular format following a COVID restriction hiatus. As festival founder and director Janet DeNeefe says, “It’s such a joy to return to the festival’s in-person format in October, bringing Indonesian and international writers together in discussions and conversations after the pandemic has torn us apart. for so long”.
The composition is impressive. More than 150 writers and thinkers. More than 50 chats. Not all of them are just about what brings us together. But what separates us as individuals and communities?
“In a year that has been so difficult for many, with wars and conflicts, natural disasters and political unrest affecting our lives and those of our neighbours, friends and loved ones, we ask ourselves how can we unite the many strands of different cultures and perspectives to create a deeper understanding, mutual respect and equality,” says DeNeefe.
Highlights include celebrating the life and achievements of Indonesian author and activist Puta Oka Sukanta, recipient of the UWRF Lifetime Achievement Award. And a discussion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with Ukrainian writers Oksana Maksymchwk and Maz Rosochinsky.
Other programming luminaries are Carma Citrawati, Ki Purbo Asmoro, Esther Vincent Xueming, Elaine Pearson, Andreas Harsono and long-listed Booker Prize author Audrey Magee.
Complementing the literary long weekend, a temple festival at Pura Gunung Lebah, the ancient temple of Ubud in Tjampuhan, is a tribute to the divine. Celebrated every 210 days according to the Balinese calendar, it will be the biggest of its kind since the pandemic took hold in 2020, promising to add to an unforgettable experience for all festival-goers.
“For the past 19 years, our festival has been the place to celebrate the writing and stories of emerging and established authors,” says DeNeefe.