Mr. Marshall Reviews the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival

Mr. Marshall Reviews the 2019 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival

I attended the 16th annual Ubud Writers and Readers Festival this past Saturday (it was a 4 day event but a pesky thing called work prevented me from going to the whole thing).  As a non-Indonesian but also holding a KITAS, my admission price was 720,000 IDR. I paid online and picked my pass up at the event box office on Saturday morning…despite warnings on the website, no one asked for my ID for pickup (or if I even owned a KITAS visa), checked my wristband at any event throughout the day or generally seemed to be noticing if patrons actually had tickets/passes or not. 

The festival, while featuring many panels and talks about a wide variety of issues (ethics, politics, literature, religion, travel, culture and more) was also largely focused on providing guidance and assistance for aspiring writers (in the form of workshops, book launches and guest speakers). Since I am not an aspiring writer I decided to attend 4 talks throughout the day that focused on issues other than learning how to be a future published author. The summary of each talk on the website gave me a general sense of what each panel would be about as I chose my schedule, since multiple events were happening at different venues at the same time. Luckily, all events were located on the same strip of busy road and separated by 5 minutes walking distance (being sure to watch out for cracks and actual holes in the pedestrian walking areas). 

The first talk was at 9 o’clock at a temple on Jalan Raya Campuan and was called “Language Life Support”. This talk was billed as a discussion to “pause to reflect on the impact of this loss (of native languages) and share strategies for keeping languages alive.” Starting 10 minutes late as we awaited one of the panelists to arrive, it kicked off with a native “First Nations” song by a panelist from Canada who sang in the Cree language of that country’s central plains. It was a beautiful albeit short rendition, but it was already 9:15 before any discussion of language began. This session was a bit disappointing.  Though the 3 panelists (plus the moderator) were very diverse and offered a great variety of perspectives, (from the aforementioned Cree language to a Balinese poet and a partially deaf Jamaican/British fellow poet to still an indigenous Australia author) the conversation lacked any real investigation into the possible consequences of the loss of language and instead simply exposed the audience to their various experiences and perspectives. This held value, but it simply was not what the event was billed as. The high point was the deaf poet Raymond Antrobus’ insights into the evolution of sign language while the low point was a downright pathetic reciting of a poem by the aforementioned Balinese poet (who revealed afterward the poem was actually his friend’s) chastising the physical appearance of some tourists….I think one line was actually “They wear bikinis / It is disrespectful”. Enthralling stuff!

The next talk was scheduled 15 minutes after the language talk concluded and was a short distance down the road. This talk was “Vice Up Your Life”, an examination on the positives and negatives of vices such as drug and alcohol abuse and how history has been altered and influenced by such behavior. The panel featured a journalist who covered the Medellin drug cartel and Pablo Escobar up close, 1 recovering drug addict from Australia, 1 current drug user from America (who spoke so professionally about hallucinogens that I felt the need to crack open a textbook and grow a beard) to an Indonesian man who was taking prescription drugs to help deal with a traumatic brain injury and the successes and struggles of that experience. All panelists were competent and added to the conversation authentically in spite of the moderator, who was not only painful and unhelpful but actually got in the way of some of the panelists’ insights. Her attempts at comedy and crowbarring in her own opinions made the discomfort from the humid, non-air conditioned room even more so. The moderator gave more time to the “Western” personalities when the majority share of the attention should have gone to Valiant Budi, the Indonesia author and song writer who easily had the most interesting line of the day when he revealed that for the first 20 minutes after he wakes up he “doesn’t know who I am”, and needs his medications to “get right”. How do you not immediately follow up and stick with that for the majority of the allotted time?

After a 3 hour break for lunch and sweating, I attended a talk by Tony Wheeler, one of the co-founders of the Lonely Planet travel book series that have become so prevalent all across the world, from cafes to airports to unwashed backpack pockets. Mr. Wheeler was kind and funny but a little subdued for someone with so much success and influence on the traveling world today.  The audience was basically full, though after some audience questions (and some grandstanding comments masquerading as supposed questions), I wasn’t sure if these were fans of his or people looking to admonish and confront him about how Lonely Planet has somehow been a terrible atrocity thrust upon the world. To hear some in the audience tell it, Mr. Wheeler is responsible for everything from increased carbon emissions from low budget airlines to offending all sorts of cultures by encouraging tourists to reveal skin on their holiday in areas previously only populated by locals, and the urbanization and development of Bali itself. The delusion was prevalent, though there were some appreciative audience members, including one Indonesian man from Java who thanked Mr. Wheeler for “introducing my country to myself”. My favorite part was when Mr. Wheeler revealed he actually sold his stake in Lonely Planet a decade ago (no reveal on how much money) and you could almost literally hear the confusion and quiet disappointment mixed with disapproval of the audience members (he profited! he isn’t authentic! he can’t include what I just said in the next edition!). Low marks again go to the moderator, Ms. Fiona Wright, a critic (is there really any other worst profession that criticizing other people for actually doing things you never could?) and author as well as a self-described “essayist” (what is that anyway? someone who writes essays? if so, every student at BIS in Grade 7 and above is also one), who interrupted Mr. Wheeler at least 5 times to squeeze in her own comments, additions and jokes she somehow thought were more important than the person who the entire room had come to see. Ms. Wright was akin to a mosquito buzzing in my ear during the talk, something obnoxious and distracting from the purpose of the talk itself. As you can see here, a common theme of the conference was poor, sometimes downright bad moderators. 

The last talk I attended, kicking off at 3:45 pm, “Talking About a Revolution”, thankfully bucked this trend. Artful, thoughtful, learned and perfectly passioned moderator Norman Ince expertly danced the proper moderator’s steps as he carefully set up the 3 authors on this panel for success by 1) showing he actually read and appreciated their books 2) asked gentle but informed leading questions, allowing the authors themselves to speak and shine without him and 3) and let the flow of the talk go to where it was most interesting while still respecting each speaker’s time and opinions. The Festival should clone Mr. Ince and have him moderate every talk, every day, every year. 

The “Revolution” talk was billed as a review of 3 revolutions in history (Indonesia at the end of the Sukarno regime, Angola and Zimbabwe) but really was an investigate into 3 fiction books about some of those revolutions. Each author featured was thoughtful, funny, and a downright good writer. Each read from their books without being egotistical or boring. Indonesia author and Aceh native Azhari Aiyub, who spoke in Bahasa translated into English (the translator more than once hesitated  before transcribing Aiyub’s words, thinking them maybe too inflammatory, but Aiyub never flinched), stole the show with his criticism of the government, his self-deprecating manner about the fact that his book was not well received or even read in his home area and his salesmanship of his own story, which sounded quite interesting. Honorable mention goes to Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, a commanding figure and personality who spoke unapologetically about her country of Zimbabwe’s state of affairs, their historical experiences with their revolution and her cynicism regarding the general public’s perception of Zimbabwe. Her book, House of Stone, was also sold well by her and Mr. Ince, so much so that at the conclusion of the talk, there was a line to purchase it. The BIS Library will be purchasing all of the books featured in this talk.

To conclude, the 2019 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (at the least the Saturday portion) was an overall insightful, enjoyable and relaxing experience, albeit a tad disappointing due to incompatible descriptions and the actual reality regarding the content of some talks and of course, moderators in desperate need of some…let’s say….talent. Still, the Festival is worth a shot, is not terribly crowded, has a calm, welcoming sense and does feature some pretty good authors and books. And, at the end of the day, maybe you could sneak in for free.