George Town Literature Festival

I’ll be appearing at the London Book Fair Wednesday, March 13th at the invitation of The British Council. I’m excited by the topic of the conversation and to talk to some Indonesian writers after my trip there to The George Town Literature Festival in 2018. Here are the details.

Taboo
Laksmi Pamuntjak, Norman Erikson Pasaribu and Paul McVeigh; chaired by Phillip Kim
16.00-17.00, Cross Cultural Hub, Olympia

Indonesian writing today is becoming more bold, more inventive, and more determined to say the unsayable. How, through literary experiments, style and themes, are Indonesia’s writers tackling taboos and redefining norms? Laksmi Pamuntjak, author of The Question of Red – which counters the official government history of 1965; Norman Erikson Pasaribu, whose poems shine light on queer Indonesian life in the midst of erasure and oppression today; alongside Paul McVeigh whose writing touches on the complex layers of political oppression, violence and sexuality; discuss their personal reasons for writing on their chosen subjects, and the need to explore, and unsettle, the dominant narratives.

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I’ll be attending the George Town Literary Festival in Penang, Malaysia, 24/25/26. You can read about it The Malaysian Insight.

GTLFest

My first event is;

Conversations: The Monsters Within: Man versus Man

Speakers: Kosal Khiev, Paul McVeigh, Nisha Ayub

Moderator: Danton Remoto

Writing and talking about violence is painful but necessary. How do we deal with real violence and how do we deal with fictive violence? How do writers and activists resist and confront violence in themselves, their lives and their work? Here, we listen to three remarkable individuals who have overcome violence in their lives and have used the transformative forms of writing, poetry and activism to shape their stories and to help inspire others to tell their own.

Date: Saturday, 25 Nov at 11.15am–12.15

Venue: Earth, Wisma UAB

My second event is a little unusual as it’s poetry – I’ve chosen the work of 3 Northern Irish poets to read Stephanie Conn, Padraig Regan & Stephen Sexton.

Poetry Marathon

Poets: A. Samad Said, Al-Mustaqeem M. Radhi, Takako Arai, Jérôme Bouchaud, Maung Day, Jelena Dinic, Ulrike Draesner, Kosal Khiev, Gerður Kristný, Lynne Lawner, Kirsty Logan, M. Aan Mansyur, Paul McVeigh, Laksmi Pamuntjak, Rahmat Haron, James Shea, Darryl Whetter and Gündüz Vassaf

A non-stop performance by festival poets, translators and their work. A celebration of poets, poetry and the world.

Date: Saturday, 25 Nov 12.30pm–2.00pm

Venue: Earth, Wisma UAB

My third and final event is;

When Immortals Walked Among Us

Speakers: Gerður Kristný, Paul McVeigh, Arshia Sattar, Zen Cho

Moderator: Jason Erik Lundberg

There are many commonalities in the world’s mythologies and cosmologies. Greek legends, Norse and Celtic sagas, and Hindu epics all had gods and goddesses who were anthropomorphic and therefore resistant to Joseph Campbell’s argument – ‘that the secret cause of all suffering is mortality itself, which is the prime condition of life.’ Did the immortals deny humans the right to live uninterrupted, guilt-free lives? What is the notion of ‘god’ and its mythos in literature? We examine some of our most enduring myths, the power they still wield in our everyday lives and narratives, and how these stories have evolved from then until now.

Date: Sunday, November 26 at 11:15 AM – 12:15

Venue: Bangunan UAB

I hope to see some of you there.

Thanks to Culture Ireland for their support.